BIO:ON Insight archive

Lilly's Foundayo weight-loss pill clears Europe's key hurdle, Beijing floats a ban on foreign takeovers of its biotech platforms, and AbbVie and BMS join the 340B court fight. When the rules change, so does the way you win.

Ono pays $80M upfront for Biohaven's IgG degraders with Japan, Korea and ASEAN rights, a Cochrane review links pharma perks to costlier prescribing, and hospitals sue to stop 340B rebates. This week's question: who pays first, and who gets paid later?

Novartis bets up to $7.8B on China's Abogen for an in-body T-cell engager, CMS finalises GLOBE to tie Medicare Part B benchmarks to foreign prices, and Teva and Samsung Bioepis add six more biosimilars. Discovery in China, manufacturing in Korea, price benchmarks set in the US.

Lilly commits up to $3.35B to China's InnoCare for five undisclosed targets, UK regulators rule Lilly's "transform obesity care" release promoted an unlicensed drug, and Foundayo takes one in three new oral GLP-1 starts after cash-price cuts. One company, three fronts, one week.

Novartis puts $1.2B into radiopharma manufacturing, Ultragenyx wins FDA approval for a Sanfilippo gene therapy once rejected over manufacturing, priced at $3.95M, and Roche bets up to $1B on screening 300,000 bispecifics. This week, the edge is in how drugs get made, moved and found.

Summit and Akeso's ivonescimab beats Keytruda on final overall survival at WCLC in Seoul, AstraZeneca's oral SERD wins FDA approval despite a negative advisory vote, and oral Wegovy resolves obesity in 40% of teens. Same word, "success": three very different grades of evidence.

Ionis wins FDA approval for an RNA drug in Alexander disease with no Big Pharma partner, autoimmune CAR-T trials stop after three patient deaths, and Lilly buys an antibody-degradation platform for up to $2.9B. Same word, "platform": three very different companies.

Roche bets up to $2.5B on Hanmi's muscle-sparing obesity drug, Regenxbio's gene therapy refiling hits an FDA hold, and Akeso's bispecific beats Keytruda head-to-head. Nobody was supposed to clear that wall. Someone did.

Merck and Moderna's mRNA melanoma vaccine plus Keytruda extends recurrence-free survival, AstraZeneca halts a bispecific lung cancer trial, and Amylyx's GLP-1 antagonist cuts severe hypoglycaemia by 55%. Stand beside a giant and you win; stand against one and you lose. Why?

BMS wins the world's first molecular glue approval, ex-Pfizer chemists raise $95M to turn injections into pills, and a biosimilar batch is recalled over glass particles. The week a drug learned to erase proteins, a recall came down to a shard of glass.

J&J offers $5.5B to settle 76,000 talc lawsuits, GSK pays $110M for AI biotech Relation's biological data, and twice-rejected cancer virus RP1 wins an FDA advisory vote. Can you put a price on failure?

Lilly's triple agonist retatrutide cuts weight by up to 22.6%, J&J's two-bispecific combo lowers myeloma progression risk by 89%, and Merck builds supply for a monthly HIV prevention pill before approval. Drugs keep getting more complex, so why is treatment getting easier?

Biogen takes its tau drug into Phase 3 despite missing the primary endpoint, the FDA resumes publishing drug rejection letters, and IQVIA data confirms Foundayo's slow start. Why do clinical success and market success keep diverging?

Lilly's oral obesity pill Foundayo starts slowly because of insurance coverage gaps, GSK and Hansoh's B7-H3 ADC extends survival in small-cell lung cancer, and AI startup Xaira goes looking for Big Pharma partners. Does a good drug always reach patients?

Takeda signs a $600M AI deal with Insilico, generic makers challenge Lilly's tirzepatide patents, and AbbVie buys Apogee for $10.9B. Three ways Big Pharma tries to survive the patent cliff.

China approves the world's first CAR-T for a solid tumour, Moderna unveils an in vivo CAR-T for lupus, and Corxel's oral GLP-1 shows competitive weight loss in Phase 2. How long does "impossible" last in medicine?

Insilico and SK Biopharm sign a $2.5B AI drug discovery deal, Novo's CagriSema improves blood sugar and weight together in Phase 3, and Pfizer lands a $10B cancer deal with Innovent after five months of secret talks.

The first golimumab biosimilar wins FDA approval, BioNTech and BMS show early lung cancer data for a PD-L1×VEGF bispecific, and Orion reports first-in-human results for an oral pan-TEAD inhibitor. Copy, combine or create?

GSK pays $10.6B for Nuvalent's lung cancer pipeline, Korean biotechs bring muscle- and heart-sparing obesity data to ADA, and Gilead and Merck's once-weekly HIV pill wins two Phase 3 trials. Buy, prove or partner?

Zenas files obexelimab with the FDA after a 56% cut in relapse risk, BPGbio brings a mitochondria-targeting glioblastoma drug to ASCO, and a biotech rebrands as an AI and space company. Where does a biotech's value really come from?

An AI-designed vaccine clears its first human trial, a KRAS drug doubles pancreatic cancer survival, and CRISPR Therapeutics pushes gene editing into heart disease. Three 'impossible' problems, one week.

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