My thoughts on the $BIIB <> $APLS.
86% premium is overblown. The true value Biogen is paying for a key commercial foothold for its nephrology pipeline.
This is Viehbacher culminating a 4-year transformation from dying MS business to diversified player.
www.bigpharmasharma.com/p/biogens-gr...
"And now, this."
Just launched "Last Week Tonight in Biopharma"—applying John Oliver's formula to biotech drama. Press releases decoded. Macro trends connected. Deals dissected.
Weekly, free to all subscribers.
www.bigpharmasharma.com/p/last-week-...
Why can a tech founder's dog cancer vaccine capture the zeitgeist while Moderna and BioNTech's efforts get buried?
Because tech leaders tell stories. BioPharma leaders give compliance speak.
As AI enters medicine, this gap matters more than you think → www.bigpharmasharma.com/p/reclaiming...
2/ YT: youtu.be/HLv6N1G2pr8?...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/0hB9...
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
Substack: www.bigpharmasharma.com/p/drug-deali...
1/ A scene from Apple TV's "Shrinking" highlights how patients don't know clinical trials exist or how to find them.
In our latest Drug Dealin' episode with Kenny, we show how to use ClinicalTrials.gov & AI to navigate Phase 3 trials and have better conversations with your doctor.
Why Gilead $GILD Really Bought Arcellx $ACLX
Does this mean autologous cell therapy is back in favor? Not quite.
www.bigpharmasharma.com/p/why-gilead...
Major reversal: The FDA is reportedly doing a 180 to review Moderna’s application
This marks yet another overrule of CBER Director Prasad. With this much public friction and "re-reversals," you have to wonder how much longer his tenure can last.
My thoughts on the far reaching impact of the FDA/CBER/ Prasad's decision to block $MRNA flu vaccine
During the pandemic, Moderna was in the right place at the right name. Now under the RFK-led HHS apparatus they are in the wrong place at the wrong time.
open.substack.com/pub/bigpharm...
7/ The incoming CEO must still invest heavily in BD&L, but the challenge will be doing so without triggering the massive bidding wars that this Board historically shies away from.
6/ Turning a ship this size takes time. But if Sanofi is benchmarking against AstraZeneca—which Pascal Soriot famously turned around in 6 years—it’s easy to see why they moved on following flat performance and pipeline misses.
5/ Commercial-side execs are rarely price-conscious in M&A, so the hesitation likely came from a Board unwilling to "open the purse" and push hard enough.
4/ Sanofi was reportedly "in" on several major deals but ultimately got outbid on Horizon, Seagen, Prometheus, and Televant (plus Medivation under the previous CEO).
3/ There is a palpable cultural disconnect between the BoD and past non-French CEOs (Viehbacher and Hudson). While Hudson’s tenure saw flat growth, he did scale DUPIXENT into a monster and unlocked capital via the Opella spinout to fuel R&D.
2/ Sanofi CEO success hinges on deep alignment with a Board of Directors that appears far more "hands-on" than its peers. Some Boards favor a "let them cook" approach with new leadership; Sanofi’s clearly isn’t one of them.
1/ Some longer form thoughts on the somewhat surprising Sanofi CEO change as a former Big Biopharma Corporate Strategy guy:
4/ Telehealth has more to gain working WITH drug makers to create more value for patients as opposed to working against them. The smart ones will realize that and follow suit. The others will fall by the wayside.
3/ Other telehealth players are likely already calling their existing patients trying to unload compounded inventory before they will be forced to pull them off the market.
2/ $NVO dragged its feet, but $HIMS launching its illegal oral Wegovy knock off was the tipping point for it to take serious legal action to protect its IP from open and blatant theft.
1/ Today marks the beginning of the end for compounded GLP-1s writ-large.
6/ Instead, HIMS has opted to sell a drug that at best won’t do anything and deceive patients.
Absolutely shameful.
5/ In the latest episode of "Drug Dealin’" – Kenny and I spend a lot of time discussing how Telehealth players acting as this front door can actually improve patient health and agency.
Listen here: youtu.be/BWLdXCsWrdQ?...
4/ Companies like HIMS should stick to being the “front door” for pharm-to-table vs. doing shady stuff like this.
There is a great benefit to patients when platforms reduce the friction to get treatment with real, regulated, and approved medications.
3/ Option B: Their copycat DOES use SNAC and it works, but they are blatantly infringing on one of Novo’s most closely held IPs.
That sound you hear is an army of lawyers marching to sue the crap out of HIMS.
2/ By launching this $49 "copycat" pill, HIMS is committing a massive crime one way or another:
Option A: Their copycat doesn’t use SNAC and effectively doesn’t work, but they are telling patients it does—meaning they are defrauding patients.
1/ I am a little triggered by this news: HIMS is selling a knock-off of Oral Wegovy for $49.
Novo’s oral Wegovy only works because of a specific, patented absorption enhancer called SNAC. Without it, stomach acid destroys the medication before it ever hits the bloodstream.
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/13e4...
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWLd...
NEW EPISODE of our podcast, Drug Dealin'
We predict 2026 in biopharma: M&A heating up, FDA shifts, psychedelics breakthrough year, DTC rising & branded drugs slipstreaming GLP-1 success.
Watch highlight clip + full episode links in the first comment
Who wins: mega-check muscle or platform-seed patience?
Full breakdown, tables, and the ShAbbVie inversion that almost was: www.bigpharmasharma.com/p/changing-o...
Rick Gonzalez burned > $100 B on splashy “WTF” acquisitions like Allergan & ImmunoGen.
New skipper Rob Michael? He’s firing cheaper shots-on-goal right after Phase 1 PoC—BBB tech, in-vivo CAR-T, amylin, siRNA—to grow future blockbusters in-house.
Humira built the war chest, but AbbVie’s big-game-hunting era is over.
