Hello, my fearless formulators!
This week’s roundup is all forward thrust: Merck lands an EU nod for desmoid tumours, Gilead bags a platform to take CAR-T in vivo, and Lilly hikes weight loss prices just in time for private sector pain. The funding freeze is beginning to thaw, and climate-smart crops may finally get their financial due.
Keep the data flowing,
Dodo
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💉 Mounjaro manufacturer to hike UK price of weight loss drug by up to 170% | UK News (Sky News): The highest dose will rocket from £122 to £330 monthly from September, though NHS patients dodge the bullet under separate agreements while private healthcare providers get walloped. Lilly claims the adjustment aligns UK pricing with other European markets, following its initial low pricing, with a timing that coincides with the US overseas price hikes. This will create a two-tier market where private patients face the full brunt.
Our take: Lilly's cleverly using NHS's restricted coverage to reset European pricing expectations without breaching public contracts. This creates an awkward precedent where private patients essentially subsidise public access, whilst giving manufacturers fresh leverage over European payers. It's been quite the year for dynamic pricing strategies, and the move suggests European pricing assumptions may be more fluid than biotechs anticipated, particularly where public access remains patchy.
🎯 Merck unit gets first EU nod for a desmoid tumour treatment (pharmaphorum): Recently acquired SpringWorks' Ogsiveo has snagged European approval for these locally aggressive but benign soft tissue growths, marking the first targeted therapy for the condition. The oral gamma secretase inhibitor delivered a 71% reduction in disease progression versus placebo, alongside a 41% response rate and notable pain improvements. With roughly 1,300 to 2,300 new EU cases annually, this approval advances Merck's rare tumour strategy.
Our take: Desmoid tumours are non-metastatic connective tissue tumours but frustratingly require repeated interventions with high recurrence rates, making this the first time regulators have properly recognised targeted systemic therapy over surgical defaults. Gamma secretase inhibition was long considered too toxic for chronic use, but the DeFi trial cleverly showed that symptom relief can be just as valuable as tumour control in overlooked indications.
🧬 Kite to buy Interius for $350 million (The Pharmaletter): Gilead's Kite unit is snagging Interius BioTherapeutics innovative in vivo CAR-T platform that generates therapeutic cells directly inside patients' bodies according to their press release. The approach ditches preconditioning chemotherapy and complex cell processing for a single intravenous infusion, potentially broadening access for rapidly progressing patients. Interius's team will join Kite's operations whilst the deal will ding Gilead's 2025 earnings by $0.23-$0.25 per share.
Our take: Kite is buying time as well as tech, with in vivo CAR-T poised to trim logistics, expand eligibility, and move delivery closer to the bedside by eliminating the two-week manufacturing window that loses patients with rapidly progressing disease. The $350M upfront cost plus ongoing R&D expenses are the culprits behind the $0.23-$0.25 earnings hit. Clearly, Gilead's willingness to absorb near-term pain for platform technology that could transform cell therapy into traditional drug distribution.
⛔ After a 'complete standstill,' private biotech market reaches new normal, investor says (Fierce Biotech): The first half of 2025 has been brutal, with agency shakeups and an equity crash sending layoffs soaring and shuttering 14 startups entirely. Now stability is creeping back, according to industry insiders, with investors cleverly backing near-clinic plays in immunology, oncology, cardiorenal, and neuropsych that align perfectly with pharma's patent cliff desperation, while vaccines and CGTs remain in a cool spot.
Our take: Regulatory uncertainty is reshaping platform risk perception entirely, with gene therapy and vaccines retreating due to scalability concerns and political scrutiny. Meanwhile, the IPO drought is cleverly rebalancing incentives, pushing biotechs toward structured acquisition deals rather than waiting for public markets to reopen. What emerges is capital deployment that favours mechanistic clarity over hype, with small molecules quietly benefiting from perceived regulatory predictability.
And finally…
🌱 Proposed policies would reward farmers for climate-smart biofuel crop practices (phys.org): Experts are proposing new policies to reward farmers for adopting climate-smart biofuel practices, including cover-cropping and optimised fertiliser use that could slash global emissions by 4-8 billion tons annually. Current policies frustratingly lack incentives for sustainable methods. The proposal cleverly merges biofuel feedstock and climate-offset markets into a single system, providing premiums for low-carbon crops, with digital technologies simplifying verification of carbon sequestration practices.
Our take: By tying carbon intensity to farming practice rather than crop type, this creates performance-based markets favouring precision tools and carbon monitoring. It opens juicy revenue streams for biologicals and soil additives that previously struggled to demonstrate ROI to sceptical growers. The model rewards interventions through embedded energy market value rather than voluntary offsets, creating integrated supply chains that could cleverly accelerate agbiotech adoption.
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🧠 Why AI Won't Save the 90% of Clinical Trials That Still Fail: AI is speeding up early drug discovery, but it won’t solve the 90% failure rate. The real bottleneck is biology – and clinical trials aren’t going anywhere just yet
🦷 CRISPR, stemcell banking, and a football world cup: CRISPR joins the NHS, stem cell tooth banks spark concern, and UK doctors bring home football silverware. From regulation to recreation, this one covers it all.
📉 Sick as a Dog: the cheapness of US healthcare stocks, and the battle over publicly funded science research: US healthcare stocks are looking cheap, but not in a good way. This deep dive explores what’s dragging them down – and who’s fighting over publicly funded research.
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💼 Client Partner (Life Sciences), Endava: Can you charm biotech boardrooms and balance sheets? Lead key accounts, steer digital strategy, and turn pharma problems into commercial wins.
🧪 Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Catalyst Project Coordinator, University of Manchester: Biotech, but make it organised? Keep a multi-university programme ticking – from diaries to dissemination – and help industrial biotech thrive in the North West.
🧬 Research Manager, Wellcome Trust: Know how to fund brilliant ideas and fix systems? Support bold ideas, fix the pipeline, and help build a better research culture from the inside out.
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🚨 17–18.09 | The Emergency Tech Show | Birmingham, UK: Meet 8,000+ emergency service pros, explore 150+ exhibitors, and get hands-on with tech across AI, comms, drones, robotics, data, and more.
🧭 18.09 | From Idea to Market – Strategic Planning for Innovation and Growth | Online: This IBIC webinar explores how to build a three-to-five-year strategic roadmap, avoid common planning pitfalls, and align short-term actions with long-term biotech growth.
🥐 21–23.08 | 11th International Conference on Bioengineering and Biotechnology | Paris, France: This hybrid gathering offers in-person and reduced-fee virtual attendance, enabling global bioengineers and biotechnologists to present, discuss and network.
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