Hello, my fellow early adopters,
This week: ‘superhuman’ AI can spot heart disease from ECG scans, three deaths halt Novartis’s autoimmune CAR-T trials, a congressional task force warns that China’s faster and cheaper trials are pulling research off US soil, Lilly spends $2.9B on a platform that strips out disease-causing antibodies, and UK spin-outs keep leaving because there is nowhere at home to scale up.
Try to keep up!
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Discover 🔍
🤖 ‘Superhuman’ AI tool spots heart disease in less than 2 seconds (The Guardian): Researchers at Imperial College London have built an AI tool that reads routine ECGs in seconds, extracting more detail than the human eye can see to flag heart failure and valve disease. Trained on millions of ECGs, the tool identified up to 81% of heart failure cases and up to 90% of valve disease cases in a 67,000-patient US trial, offering earlier triage ahead of specialist echocardiogram scans.
Our take: ECGs, which record electrical activity in the heart, can spot heart attacks and abnormal rhythms but cannot detect heart disease...until now. Diagnosing it typically involves an echocardiogram, which is expensive, specialist-dependent and often backlogged by months. ECGs, by contrast, are one of the most common tests in medicine. This ‘superhuman’ tech could therefore pick up heart disease alongside routine care at almost no additional outlay, shortening the wait for those already in the queue and finding cases in people who might otherwise be missed.
💀 Novartis halts autoimmune CAR-T trials after 3 deaths, as BMS also pauses studies (Fierce Biotech): Novartis has paused eight trials of its CD19 CAR-T therapy rap-cel in autoimmune and neurological diseases, after three patients died from a severe inflammatory reaction. Bristol Myers Squibb has separately halted enrolment in autoimmune trials of its own CD19 CAR-T, zola-cel, after transient, reversible inflammatory events. Both therapies use rapid manufacturing platforms, and analysts suspect faster production may be driving stronger T-cell expansion – and greater toxicity.
Our take: Severe inflammatory reactions are a recognised, and lethal, hazard of CAR-T. In blood cancer, where patients have usually run out of other options, that has been treated as a price worth paying (the fact that Novartis is continuing its rap-cel cancer trials speaks directly to this). However, autoimmune patients face a different predicament; non-terminal, and often with other treatment options to fall back on, they leave regulators and doctors willing to tolerate far less risk. Finding out what is causing these reactions – the manufacturing, the dose, or the patients themselves – is key to CAR-T ever reaching beyond cancer.
🇨🇳 China poses an increasing security risk as the US biotech innovation edge erodes (BioSpace): According to a congressional task force, China overtook the US in clinical trial numbers six years ago, and has since pulled ahead on R&D funding and translational science. The National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology warns that this leaves America exposed and dependent on a strategic rival for life-sustaining medicines should relations sour, with faster, cheaper Chinese trials also drawing early-stage research away from US soil.
Our take: Currently, the US is highly dependent on Chinese CDMOs and reagents, making this an infrastructure risk, rather than a scientific one. The BIOSECURE Act’s “companies of concern” rules, law since December 2025, will require federally funded labs and contractors to strip out Chinese equipment and services, but US domestic manufacturing capacity isn’t ready to absorb that shift. Expect stranded programmes and cost spikes long before any fix arrives.
💰 Lilly adds to immune drug pipeline with $2.9B Merida buyout (BioPharma Dive): Eli Lilly is acquiring Merida Biosciences in a multi-billion-dollar deal focused on its precision autoantibody-degradation platform, headlined by MER511, which is currently in Phase 1 for Graves’ disease. Rather than broadly suppressing the immune system, Merida’s biologics tag disease-causing autoantibodies for clearance while preserving healthy immune function. It’s Lilly’s third immunology acquisition of 2026, following buyouts of Ventyx Biosciences and Orna Therapeutics.
Our take: Graves’ disease is turning into a crowded contest for anything that strips pathogenic antibodies from the blood – FcRn blockers, TRAb antagonists, and now Merida’s degrader. But mechanism won’t decide the winner; durability will. Whoever can deliver lasting remission without leaving patients immunocompromised, or relapsing the moment dosing stops, takes the therapeutic and commercial prize. Lilly is betting it gets there first.
And finally…
🔬 UK science breakthroughs are being exploited overseas, minister says (The Times): Science minister Chris McDonald has warned that world-class UK research keeps being commercialised overseas, because university spin-outs can’t find enough growth capital, industrial lab space or scale-up infrastructure at home. He pointed to critical minerals firms built on British research that had to relocate to the US or elsewhere to scale up, and has called for greater private investment and expanded Catapult innovation centres to close the gap.
Our take: The UK’s real weakness may be the middle of its innovation system. Britain has strong universities and generous early-stage research funding, but very little support to carry a discovery from invention to commercialisation. The shortage isn’t simply venture capital; it’s industrial lab space, pilot facilities and translational centres, which matter every bit as much as the money.
Tune in 🎧
🏆 Picking biotech winners beyond the hype cycle with Andera Partners’ Olivier Litzka: A veteran European investor discusses how companies secure funding, keep focus and survive execution risk, plus the push to deepen Europe’s public markets.
🦠 Resetting severe allergies at their cellular source: Allergene AI Therapeutics Founder & CEO on the case for using mRNA and lipid nanoparticles to deliver CAR-T more simply and to far more patients, and what it will take to get there.
💉 The history and science behind GLP1 receptor agonists: From lizard venom to the world’s biggest-selling drugs, a reminder of how far basic research travels.
Apply ✍️
🧑🔬 Scientific Affairs Manager, Rhythm Pharmaceuticals: Ready to advance medical and scientific initiatives in rare MC4R pathway diseases? You’ll provide the scientific and medical leadership behind integrated tactical and engagement plans.
✅ Head of Quality, Smart4 Sciences: Interested in leading QA and QC functions, driving site-wide quality strategy in a regulated manufacturing environment? You’ll own the Quality Management System and lead the QA/QC teams, acting as primary MHRA contact and keeping manufacturing, licensing and parallel import operations within EU GMP.
🦀 Clinical Development Physician Medical Director Oncology, Astellas Pharma: Want to oversee the design and delivery of late-phase or multiple early-phase clinical trials in immuno-oncology? You’ll define study strategy, drive execution and lead cross-functional teams as a collaborative consultant.
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🧪 9.09 | Driving innovation through engineering biology | London, UK: Explore collaboration opportunities, develop project ideas and prepare for anticipated UKRI Engineering Biology Priority Programme calls.
🇨🇭 14-17.09 | Longevity Investors Conference 2026 | Gstaad, Switzerland: An exclusive gathering bringing together investors, family offices, scientists and industry leaders to discuss the latest trends, investment opportunities and insights in longevity and rejuvenation biotechnology.
🇬🇧 21-25.09 | Life Sciences Week 2026 | UK-wide: A week-long series of more than 30 events across the country, opening with a launch conference in Birmingham. Covers everything from early research to AI in biotech and medtech.
🩺 28.09-01.10 | LSI Europe ‘26 | Barcelona, Spain: Now in its fifth year, this summit puts emerging medtech and healthtech founders in front of active investors, with startup pitches alongside keynotes from the CEOs of Stryker, Edwards and Conmed.
🧫 29.09 | BioForward 2026 | Harwell, UK: A one-day exhibition and workshop programme at CO:LABS, connecting early-stage life sciences companies with CROs, CDMOs, IP specialists and lab space providers. Free to attend for the R&D community.
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