Hello, my fellow tattoo artists,
It’s been an ink-teresting week in the world of biotech: big pharma braces for waves of patent expiries over the next few years, Pfizer stakes $500M on emerging protein degrader treatments, scientists create light-sensitive disappearing tattoos, a new antipsychotic for schizophrenia unveils promising phase 2 results, and an anti-ageing skin treatment could give our skin’s biological clock a two-year touch-up.
May your ink never run dry!
Dodo
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🤑 Pharma’s $500B patent problem will come in waves – not as a cliff (BioPharma Dive): Big Pharma is approaching a major patent cliff, and the race to replace its blockbuster drugs is intensifying. Some $99B in sales could face generic competition in 2028 alone, including Merck’s cancer blockbuster Keytruda, with exposure set to peak at $158B in 2031. With expiries arriving in waves rather than all at once, the industry is now rushing to bring new treatments to market before revenues erode.
Our take: The looming loss of billions of dollars in protected drug sales could fundamentally change the negotiating power in pharmaceutical dealmaking. Companies like Merck and AbbVie face increasingly fixed deadlines to replace blockbuster revenues, and they are already spending to meet them – Merck has announced $30.9B across six deals since the start of 2024, and AbbVie $22.3B. As those deadlines approach, biotech companies with promising late-stage assets could find themselves in a stronger position.
💡 Pfizer pens $500M Enodia pact to join Lilly in emerging protein degrader field (Fierce Biotech): Pfizer has signed a half-a-billion-dollar deal with French biotech Enodia Therapeutics, a week after Eli Lilly formed an $870M pact with Gate Bioscience. Both biotechs are developing protein degraders that target Sec61, a channel proteins pass through on their way to the cell surface; blocking it means disease-causing proteins are broken down before they can cause damage. Long considered difficult to target safely, Sec61 is now emerging as a promising new therapeutic target in cancer, inflammation and immunology.
Our take: Historically, Sec61 has been considered too fundamental to cellular function to inhibit safely. The recent investments by Pfizer and Lilly suggest growing confidence that selective inhibition can overcome that limitation. Kezar Life Sciences has already shown safe Sec61 inhibition is possible in a phase 1 solid tumour trial, so the question is shifting from whether the channel can be targeted to where; however, neither Enodia nor Gate has yet disclosed which diseases their deals cover.
Chemists create full-colour tattoos that can turn on and off (C&EN): Scientists have developed a rewritable tattoo ink that can change colour or disappear in response to light. Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder created PhotoTat using nanoparticles containing light-sensitive dyes that can be switched on and off using UV and visible light. The technology could let tattoos be redesigned without removal; however, questions around long-term stability, safety and production costs remain before commercialisation. (Read the paper in Matter & Light)
Our take: The most significant innovation may be the ability to store and alter visual information directly within the skin. PhotoTat’s nanoparticles effectively turn skin into a rewritable optical surface, suggesting possibilities far beyond decorative tattoos. Building on the team’s earlier work on radiation-sensing inks, future versions could encode medical information or flag environmental exposure, appearing only when activated.
🧠 Tortugas’ Phase IIb schizophrenia trial of obuprazine meets primary endpoint (Clinical Trials Arena): Tortugas Neuroscience’s schizophrenia drug obuprazine has met its main goal in a phase 2b trial run by its partner, Hansoh Pharma. In 363 recently hospitalised adults in China, all three doses significantly reduced symptoms compared with placebo after six weeks, with the lowest dose (1.5–3mg) performing best and cutting symptom scores by 16.7 points more than placebo. Tortugas now plans to pursue US clinical trials in what its CEO calls a market with significant unmet need.
Our take: The approval of Cobenfy has revived interest in developing new approaches to schizophrenia, but Tortugas is pursuing a different strategy. Obuprazine targets established dopamine and serotonin pathways, raising the possibility that improvements in receptor selectivity and pharmacological profiles could deliver meaningful clinical advances without new mechanisms of action. If its early efficacy and tolerability hold up, it could strengthen the case for revisiting established psychiatric targets.
And finally…
🪞 A new anti-ageing drug looks to turn back the clock on skin age (Wired): California biotech Rubedo Life Sciences has reported early evidence that targeting senescent cells could reverse some biological markers of skin ageing. In a small clinical study of 11 people with eczema, its experimental cream reduced the estimated biological age of participants’ skin by an average of two years after four weeks, alongside improvements in collagen and inflammatory markers. The treatment targets damaged ‘zombie cells’ associated with ageing and tissue deterioration.
Our take: Rubedo’s reported two-year reduction in skin age depends on an epigenetic clock (a test that estimates biological age from chemical marks on DNA) developed by Mitra Bio. As longevity treatments advance, companies that measure biological ageing could become increasingly influential in determining which therapies appear effective. However, many research groups and companies are developing their own ageing clocks (and experts caution that it isn’t always clear what each one measures), raising questions about reproducibility, standardisation and clinical relevance.
Tune in 🎧
🧬 Saudi Arabia’s biotech momentum: inside RGMBS 2026: A leader from the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center discusses the Riyadh summit’s SAR5B in agreements and the country’s growing genomics ambitions.
💰 AI, China, and biotech investing with SR One’s Simeon George, M.D: How SR One sizes up biotech investments, the red flags it watches for and how AI and China are reshaping the field.
🫀 Targeting residual inflammation in cardiovascular disease: Rezera’s CEO on the company’s phase 3 NLRP3 inhibitor in peripheral artery disease and a brain-penetrant follow-up for neuroinflammation.
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😷 Medical Science Liaison Manager – Breast, AstraZeneca: Interested in advancing cancer care through scientific engagement? You’ll work with leading oncology experts, healthcare professionals and clinical investigators to identify unmet medical needs, address evidence gaps and support AstraZeneca’s oncology portfolio.
🌍 Director / Senior Director FSP Operational Delivery Lead – EMEA, Thermo Fisher Scientific: Passionate about shaping global clinical research delivery? In this role, you’ll head up strategic FSP accounts across multiple therapeutic areas, oversee portfolio performance and operational transformation, and work with clients and senior leadership.
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🇬🇧 20.10 | Bionow BioIgnite Conference | Daresbury, UK: This life sciences conference combines industry and academia to explore emerging innovations, sector initiatives and funding opportunities, with a focus on collaboration and networking.
🇪🇸 23–27.10 | ESMO Congress 2026 | Madrid, Spain: The international oncology congress brings together clinicians, researchers and experts to share the latest advances in cancer research, treatment and care.
🇳🇱 27–28.10 | World Orphan Drug Congress Europe | Amsterdam, Netherlands: Europe’s largest rare disease and orphan drug meeting features biotech, pharma, policymakers and researchers across cell and gene therapy, diagnostics, market access and real-world evidence.
🤝 09–11.11 | BIO-Europe | Cologne, Germany: Europe’s largest partnering conference for biotech and biopharma, where C-suite leaders, investors and partners meet to strike deals and collaborations.
🧬 10.11 | Genomics and Precision Medicine Congress 2026 | London, UK: A one-day congress from Public Policy Projects, bringing together international experts and national genomics leaders to work out how to move genomics and precision medicine into routine clinical care.
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