#42 - Just drug it? New Nike minds & pharma binds
The coffee break biotech roundup, by SomX.
Lace up, lab lovers
The EU’s AI Act is off to a wobbly start with delays that could throw diagnostics into regulatory limbo, Pfizer stumbles in the oral obesity race, giving Viking Therapeutics a surprise boost, the UK pumps £600M into clinical trials health data infrastructure, Oak Hill Bio dusts off Roche’s shelved drug, and Amgen? They've recruited a data whiz from Nike to bring some serious algorithmic muscle .
See you at the finish line,
Dodo
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🇪🇺 The EU AI Act: What’s (not) going according to the plan (The Recursive): The world's first comprehensive AI regulation is taking shape, but its technical foundations are wobbling! Originally set for April 2025, the 35 critical technical standards have been pushed to August 2025 – and even that's optimistic. Companies will have mere months to implement these standards before high-risk systems face compliance requirements in August 2026, creating a nerve-wracking timeline for businesses scrambling to adapt.
Our take: Well this could end up quite the pickle! This delay could be a nasty headache for biotech firms deploying AI-driven medical products. Smaller innovators, especially, will face an uphill battle with these complex requirements for diagnostics and clinical decision-support tools for an industry dependent on meticulous validation cycles. Without breathing room, we might see innovations yanked from European markets altogether.
⚔️ Viking rises as Pfizer’s oral obesity med falters (BioSpace): One company's stumble is another's springboard! Viking Therapeutics saw shares climb 13% after Pfizer dropped development of its oral GLP-1 candidate, danuglipron, due to liver safety concerns. With only one early-stage asset left in its obesity pipeline, Pfizer may now look to smaller biotechs like Viking, whose oral candidate VK2735 could help it rejoin the race against Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly’s injectable titans.
Our take: Pfizer’s one-two stumble – lotiglipron last June, now danuglipron – has cast doubt on this subclass of oral GLP-1s. But that vacuum puts Viking and Structure Therapeutics in sharper focus. Structure Therapeutics, for instance, has aleniglipron in the works, a structurally distinct candidate that’s now looking increasingly valuable. With $10–15 billion reportedly earmarked for M&A, Pfizer may go shopping soon.
💰 UK Government invests millions into new health data service (European Biotechnology): The UK is pumping a whopping £600M into a centralised health data platform aimed at accelerating clinical trials. The Wellcome Trust collaboration will create a standardised, secure access point, slashing trial preparation time by over 100+ days by March 2026. The move comes after a 2023 report showed the UK tumbling from 4th to 10th place globally for clinical trials, triggering 27 reform recommendations, including new regulations.
Our take: The UK's clinical trial scene has become rather unattractive since Brexit. This data platform tackles the problem head-on, cutting 100+ days off trial setup times! With the EU also eyeing centralised health data management, the UK's experiment might just become the case study everyone watches to see if streamlined data infrastructure really can revive a flagging research environment.
💎 Exclusive: A small biotech will bring Roche's Angelman drug back to life (Endpoints News): After Roche shelved rugonersen in early 2023, Oak Hill Bio has swooped in with plans to start Phase 3 trials by 2026. The antisense oligonucleotide aims to boost paternal UBE3A gene expression to tackle this rare condition affecting 500,000 people worldwide, many unable to speak due to developmental delays. Rugonersen joins at least 10 other abandoned candidates, while Roche continues developing alogabat, a small-molecule alternative.
Our take: One company's discard is another's treasure! Roche's decision was about not meeting internal benchmarks. Biotechs like this, nimble and often investor-backed, are uniquely suited to revive high-potential assets abandoned by Big Pharma. It’s a reminder that commercial viability and clinical potential don’t always align – and that persistence often lives in smaller labs.
And finally…
👟 Why Amgen hired an AI head from Nike (Forbes): Last summer, Amgen’s CTO Dr. David Reese, recruited Sean Bruich – formerly of Google, Facebook, and Nike – as SVP of AI and data. It raised eyebrows. However, life sciences companies can lag behind in AI adoption due to the heavily regulated nature of the business, but Bruich isn't fazed. While he's new to healthcare, he's well-versed in complex data systems and corporate partnerships and the underlying technology transcends industries.
Our take: Historically, the industry has clung to domain expertise, but Amgen's hire signals they're ready to shake things up. By bringing in Bruich's consumer tech-savvy experience, they're acknowledging that savvy scientists need diversity. His algorithmic sorcery at Nike hopes to create more scalable drug discovery workflows. It's a clever cross-pollination strategy that might just give Amgen the edge in the AI-driven pharma race.
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🌙 Biotechnologist (Nights), Lonza: Night owl with cleanroom skills? Join a cell and gene therapy team keeping biomanufacturing running round the clock – gown up, follow SOPs, and make a global impact.
🔬 Bioprocessing Scientist, Hobson Prior: Good with GMP and gene therapy? Step into a hands-on upstream role in sterile biomanufacturing, where precision and compliance, know-how are all in a day’s work.
💉 Manufacturing Technician (Scientist), Valneva: Fancy crafting the next generation of vaccines? This role’s all about executing manufacturing steps, supporting process validation, and keeping your bench (and records) spotless.
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💬 24.04 | BioAmass | Nottingham, UK: Join founders, companies, marketing folk, investors, TTOs, students, postdocs, professors, regulatory, NHS – anyone in the biotech eco-system for a night of casual socialising.
🇬🇧 28–30.04 | LSX World Congress Europe | London, UK: The congress features senior life science industry decision-makers from the world's most innovative biopharma, medtech and healthtech companies.
🌏 22–23.04 | BioTecnica 2025 | London, UK: Join Healthcare and Biological Sciences Research Association (HBSRA), an international community of researchers, practitioners, students and professionals to discuss current research in healthcare and life sciences.
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