#72 - The real housewives of bidding wars, regulations, and CRISPR

The coffee break biotech roundup, by SomX.

Dear Dodo Darlings, are you ready to uncork the drama?

This week brings infighting and substance in equal measure: Pfizer closes a billion-dollar bidding saga for Metsera’s obesity pipeline, Europe’s pharma leaders sketch their vision for a smoother biotech landscape, an in-vivo CRISPR trial pauses after a patient death raises questions about organ editing, Synchron secures $200M to push brain-computer interfaces toward everyday use, and finally, a bacterial duo produces rainbow cellulose that could rewrite materials manufacturing.

Ciao for now,

Dodo

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Discover 🔍

👰🏻 Pfizer’s winning bid for Metsera concludes ‘Real Housewives of Biopharma’ (BioSpace): Pfizer is acquiring Metsera for around $10B, securing an obesity-drug pipeline led by MET-097i and MET-233i. The brawling eight-day bidding saga spun up lawsuits, late-night counteroffers, and unusually watchful FTC interest, while Novo Nordisk’s unsolicited $8.5B bid lost momentum thanks to its slower closing plans. Metsera’s programme and well-built patient-cohort setup hands Pfizer firmer footing in an obesity market ballooning under the GLP-1 boom.

Our take: Eight days, three lawsuits, and one $10B finale – welcome to the Real Housewives of Biopharma! The bidding fireworks certainly kept everyone entertained, but Metsera’s patient engine is the real story. Obesity trials are tightening as drug-naïve volunteers thin out, washouts grow unpredictable, and early endpoints wobble under rebound physiology. By securing its cohorts early, Metsera gave Pfizer something far rarer than a headline deal: a stable trial environment many rivals would dearly like to borrow.

🇪🇺 EFPIA and Vaccines Europe call for a bold and innovation-friendly EU Biotech Act (EFPIA): The associations have urged the European Commission to build a more predictable landscape for biotech and vaccine developers with key priorities spanning IP protection, cross-border trial alignment, advanced manufacturing capacity and AI-enabled regulatory processes. At a time when investment and clinical trial activity are drifting to more predictable markets, the groups hope that bold legislation will strengthen Europe’s position.

Our take: EFPIA and VE’s message is simple: Europe won’t lead in biotech until its systems match its scientific ambition. Shared data standards, cross-border trial processes, and modern manufacturing hubs are the foundations the region still lacks. A Biotech Act that builds these foundations would reduce friction, accelerate development, and make Europe competitive again.

🧬 Patient dies after receiving Intellia’s CRISPR therapy (Fierce Biotech): A Phase III study of Intellia’s in-vivo CRISPR therapy nex-z (nexiguran ziclumeran) for transthyretin amyloidosis has been halted after an elderly participant developed severe liver toxicity and died. Both active trials for the treatment are now paused for dosing and screening as the FDA unpicks the event across delivery mechanics, disease stage and patient history.

Our take: In-vivo CRISPR meets the realities of human biology: fragile organs, layered comorbidities and very narrow physiological margins. Nex-z delivers its edit directly into the TTR gene in the liver, but patients with transthyretin amyloidosis and cardiomyopathy often start with reduced hepatic reserve and complex medical histories – making a one-time, irreversible gene edit a far more delicate undertaking than the theory implies.

🧠 Synchron raises $200M to advance brain-computer interface tech (HealthTech World): The D-series funding will help Synchron push its Stentrode BCI platform toward development and commercialisation of its whole-brain interface. Delivered via a non-surgical catheter procedure, the implant sits in the brain’s blood vessels and interfaces with the motor cortex, wirelessly translating neural signals into hands-free control of digital devices. Ten patients with paralysis in the US and Australia have already used the tech to type and communicate independently.

Our take: Synchron is stitching together a very different pathway for BCIs, built on vascular access, nimble implants and software that can keep pace with the chaotic reality of neural signals. Technical success hinges on dependable electrode anchoring, low-noise telemetry, and decoding models trained to behave themselves outside predictable lab conditions. If those pieces settle into place, BCIs shift from experimental to genuinely usable.

And finally…

🏳️‍🌈 A bacterial coculture produces cellulose in 7 different colours (C&EN): Researchers at the Korean Institute of Advanced Science and Technology have engineered a “one-pot” coculture of two bacteria: Komagataeibacter xylinus for cellulose production, and Escherichia coli to supply pigments. Together, the method produced red, orange, yellow, green, blue, navy and purple bacterial cellulose sheets in about 13 days. The material withstands washing, strong acids/bases and high heat, showing promise for textiles, films and membranes.

Our take: Bringing pigment metabolism and cellulose biosynthesis into the same production line gives engineers a single chassis for colour, structure and function. With E. coli feeding chromophores into K. xylinus’s cellulose machinery, the system could even grow far more than textiles. Conductive fibres, antimicrobial agents or sensing molecules could be embedded into the sheets, turning bacterial cellulose into a programmable materials factory.

Tune in 🎧

🌏 Is This Korea’s Biotech Moment?: A deep dive into South Korea’s fast-globalising biotech ecosystem and the opportunities it opens for Western partners.

📈 Biotech Breaks Out… And AI Impact On The Real Estate Industry: Biotech’s breakout run, what’s powering it, and why AI is beginning to unsettle the real-estate world.

👊Pfizer and Novo Nordisk’s $10bn battle over weight-loss drugs: Inside the $10bn clash between Pfizer and Novo Nordisk as both fight for control of Metsera and the future of obesity drugs.

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🧪 Senior Scientist I – Protein Characterisation, Immunocore: Fancy decoding the fine print of protein therapeutics? Apply LC-MS/MS, glycan profiling and structural analysis to map and monitor ImmTAX molecules, guide process development and refine analytical methods.

🛠️ Senior Design Engineer - Medical Devices, ETS Technical Selection: Got an eye for detail and a mind for medtech? Lead the design of next-gen tools for minimally invasive surgery – from rapid prototyping to design validation – and help build safer devices in a fast-growing startup environment.

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SomX is a communications and creative agency for healthcare. We are clinicians, scientists, creatives and communicators dedicated to servicing biotech, healthtech, pharma and public sector clients across strategy, content, PR, design, events and media production. Get in touch to learn more.