Today's Pharma Pulse
Ona lands $86.6M Series B, one of Spain’s biggest biotech rounds
Spanish biotech firm Ona announced an $86.6 million Series B financing, ranking among the largest venture rounds in Spain’s life‑science sector this year. The round was led by Seventure Partners with participation from existing backers and new strategic investors. The funding will be used to scale Ona’s AI‑driven drug discovery platform and accelerate its pre‑clinical programs.
HealthcareWATCH
Within3 unveiled Dataverse, a unified real‑world data ecosystem that merges electronic health records, claims, and specialty analytics to sharpen pharmaceutical launch decisions. Avalere Health released a global framework to broaden genomic profiling in cancer care, while Emota’s report highlighted rising HCP expectations for interactive, digital congress experiences. Teva outlined a strategy to hit at least $5 billion in innovative medicine sales by 2030, and the FDA approved both leucovorin for a rare cerebral folate deficiency and a nasal‑spray bumetanide formulation for outpatient edema treatment.
Inventiva Reports 2025 Full Year Results and Provides a Business Update
Inventiva posted 2025 revenues of €4.5 million (≈ $4.9 million) and ended the year with €99.3 million ($108 million) in cash and €131.6 million ($143 million) in short‑term deposits. The company raised $172.5 million (≈ €149 million) in a U.S. public offering and expects its cash runway to last until...
Mantis Biotech Launches AI‑driven Digital Twins to Create Synthetic Data for Drug Discovery
New York‑based Mantis Biotech unveiled an AI platform that builds physics‑based digital twins of humans, producing synthetic biomedical datasets for drug discovery and other high‑risk biomedical research. The startup says the technology can fill data gaps in rare diseases and...
RFK Jr.’s Peptide Deregulation Threatens the Foundations of Drug Safety
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr announced on a podcast that the federal government will lift restrictions on 14 injectable peptides, allowing compounding pharmacies to produce and sell them without the usual FDA review. The move bypasses the scientific advisory...
BullFrog AI Shares Jump 126% After Sealing AI‑driven Drug Discovery Deal with Top Pharma
BullFrog AI Holdings saw its Nasdaq‑listed shares climb 126.24% to $1.15 after announcing a commercial agreement with a leading global pharmaceutical company. The deal gives the pharma partner exclusive access to a novel target candidate for major depressive disorder and...
SCOUT-HCM: Mavacamten Can Benefit Teens With Obstructive HCM, Too
The phase III SCOUT‑HCM trial showed that mavacamten (Camzyos) significantly reduced left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) gradients in adolescents with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) compared with placebo. Forty‑four patients aged 12‑17 were randomized to weight‑based doses of 2 or 5 mg daily, achieving a...
STAT+: Doctors Without Borders Calls Gilead ‘Unconscionable’ for Refusing to Sell HIV Prevention Drug to the Organization
Doctors Without Borders has condemned Gilead Sciences for refusing to sell its long‑acting HIV prevention drug lenacapavir directly to the humanitarian organization. The company had previously negotiated a limited‑supply request, while a separate deal with the Global Fund aims to...
Drug Trials Snapshots: INLURIYO
Eli Lilly’s oral selective estrogen receptor degrader INLURIYO (imlunestrant) received FDA approval on September 25 2025 for adults with advanced ER‑positive, HER2‑negative breast cancer harboring an ESR1 mutation after endocrine therapy failure. The decision rests on the EMBER‑3 trial, which enrolled 874...
After Missing Kezar Buyout in 2024, Tang Returns as CEO of Aurinia With $50M Offer
Kevin Tang, newly installed CEO of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, has revived his bid for Kezar Life Sciences with a $50 million offer of $6.95 per share, roughly matching Kezar’s $47 million market cap. The proposal follows Tang’s earlier, unsuccessful $1.10‑per‑share attempt made through...
#ACC26: Merck Touts Comparator Data for Oral Cholesterol Drug
Merck reported that its experimental oral PCSK9 inhibitor, enlici‑tide, outperformed a range of commonly prescribed cholesterol‑lowering medicines in a head‑to‑head comparator trial. The data bring the drug a step closer to becoming the first oral PCSK9 therapy on the market....
Centivax Closes $37 Million Financing
Centivax, a clinical‑stage biotech focused on universal vaccines, closed an oversubscribed $37 million financing round led by Structure Fund. The round also attracted Meiji Seika Pharma, Sigmas Group, Kendall Capital Partners, and Stripe co‑founder Patrick Collison. The capital will fund pre‑clinical...
#AAD26 Roundup: Takeda, Alumis, Priovant and Incyte Take the Stage
At the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) meeting in Denver, Takeda, Alumis, Priovant and Incyte each unveiled late‑stage dermatology data, ranging from novel biologics to targeted small molecules. Sanofi and Biogen also presented, highlighting mixed results in eczema and lupus...
Pharmaceutical Executive Daily: Eli Lilly Presses U.K. Government to Raise NHS Drug Pricing
Eli Lilly is pressuring the U.K. government to raise NHS drug prices and eliminate the VPAG rebate scheme before it resumes new investment in Britain. The company is also exploring outcome‑based pricing for its anti‑obesity medicines. In parallel, Lilly struck a...
Peptides Shift From Biomarkers to Feeling Control, Raising Risks
I think peptides are popular because they give people a feeling of power and control. One feels helpless when they can't sleep, stop scrolling, eat well or exercise consistently. A few injections wrestles back a feeling of control. Evidence...
What if Deleting the Oncogenic Protein Is the Wrong Move?
The article questions the prevailing belief that fully degrading oncogenic proteins outperforms merely inhibiting them. While inhibition has become a cornerstone of targeted cancer therapy, the piece argues that outright removal can trigger unforeseen biological responses. It highlights that protein...
Accord, Intas, and Bio-Thera File Four IPRs Against Janssen Golimumab Patents
Accord BioPharma, Intas Pharmaceuticals and Bio‑Thera have filed four Inter Partes Review petitions challenging four Janssen patents covering golimumab treatment methods for ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis. The petitioners contend that the claims are anticipated or obvious based on publicly...
Gene Therapy Reduces Geographic Atrophy Lesion Growth
Ocugen’s phase‑2 ArMaDa trial of the modifier gene therapy OCU410 showed a 31% reduction in geographic atrophy lesion growth and a 27% slower rate of ellipsoid zone loss at the medium dose, with 55% of treated eyes achieving at least...
LQDA's Superior Delivery Threatens UTHR's Orphan Edge
The $UTHR news today is great for IPF patients. But it is also very good news for $LQDA given they have better delivery of the same drug. UTHR has 7-year orphan protection in IPF, but that can be overcome by...
Depression Improves with Mebufotenin
A phase‑2b trial of inhaled mebufotenin (GH001) in 81 adults with treatment‑resistant depression showed rapid symptom relief, with 57.5% of the active‑treatment group achieving remission by day 8 versus none on placebo. The mean MADRS score fell by 15.2 points compared...
Your Trial Recruitment Fails at the Website Front Door
Everyone complains that clinical trial recruitment is hard. Fair. 📍 But here is a question not enough people ask: Have you looked closely at your 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲? I ran one through https://t.co/f9IW600hsB. The science was solid. The 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁. 📉 That is the disconnect. Too...
US Stocks: Viridian Shares Plunge 34% as Eye Disease Drug Disappoints on Efficacy Despite Trial Success
Viridian Therapeutics’ shares tumbled 34% to $18.66 after its late‑stage trial of elegrobart for thyroid eye disease (TED) fell short of investor efficacy expectations, despite meeting the primary endpoint of reducing eye bulging. The four‑week regimen showed a 54% improvement...
Avutometinib and Defactinib
The FDA granted accelerated approval to the oral co‑pack Avutometinib and Defactinib for adults with KRAS‑mutated, recurrent low‑grade serous ovarian cancer (LGSOC) after prior therapy. The regimen pairs a RAF/MEK inhibitor with a FAK inhibitor, marking a rare “novel‑novel” combination...
InvestorTalk Alert: Brent Willis From Voyageur Pharmaceuticals Ltd. To Host on Tuesday, March 31, 2026
InvestorNews announced an InvestorTalk on March 31, 2026 at 9 AM EST featuring Brent Willis, President and CEO of Voyageur Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (TSXV:VM). Voyageur is advancing a vertically integrated strategy to produce barium and iodine contrast agents, highlighted by a 132,000‑tonne, 98.8% pure barium...
Discontinuing Beta-Blockers After MI Reasonable in some Patients
The SMART‑DECISION trial showed that stopping beta‑blockers one year after a myocardial infarction is non‑inferior to continuing them in stable, low‑risk patients without heart failure or reduced ejection fraction. Among 2,540 participants followed for a median of 3.1 years, the...
The Crucial Role of Payload Linker Innovation in the Growth of ADCs
Antibody‑drug conjugates (ADCs) are becoming a cornerstone of oncology, with the global market expected to reach $65.2 billion by 2031. The number of ADC programs has more than tripled, rising from 557 in 2020 to 1,643 in 2025, driven by advances...
The Dosing Problem That Precision Medicine Has Yet to Solve
Only about 45% of cancer patients receive a dose within the optimal therapeutic window, leaving many under‑dosed or over‑dosed. True Dose is introducing an at‑home capillary blood‑spot kit that lets patients collect finger‑prick samples for therapeutic drug monitoring, with results...
Lilly Races to Become First Longevity Big Pharma
Eli Lilly has signed a deal with AI‑focused biotech Insilico Medicine valued up to $2.75 billion, with $115 million paid upfront and the remainder tied to milestones. The agreement grants Lilly an exclusive worldwide license to several preclinical oral candidates and access...
Eli Lilly Seeks Agreement with U.K. Government to Raise Prices for Medicines: Report
Eli Lilly is negotiating with the U.K. government to raise NHS drug prices and overhaul the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG). The company argues that current rebate rates of 25‑33% of revenues are unsustainable and threaten...
Prilenia and Ferrer Announce First Participant Enrolled in the “PREVAiLS” Phase 3 Study of Pridopidine in ALS
Prilenia Therapeutics and Ferrer have enrolled the first participant in PREVAiLS, a pivotal Phase 3, 500‑patient, randomized, placebo‑controlled trial of the sigma‑1 receptor agonist pridopidine for rapidly progressive ALS. The study, launched at Mass General Brigham, will span 48 weeks with...
Meiji Seika Pharma Invests in Centivax to Develop Next Generation Universal Vaccine Platform
Meiji Seika Pharma announced a strategic investment in U.S. biotech Centivax to accelerate its universal influenza vaccine, Centi‑Flu 01, currently in Phase 1 trials. The partnership leverages Meiji’s pharmaceutical expertise and Centivax’s computational immune‑engineering platform to target conserved viral regions, aiming for...
Biocytogen Grants Taisho Pharmaceutical a License to Its RenNano® Fully Human Heavy Chain-Only Antibody Discovery Platform
Biocytogen has licensed its RenNano® fully human heavy‑chain‑only antibody discovery platform to Japan’s Taisho Pharmaceutical, granting access to RenNano mice for in‑vivo generation and screening of VHH candidates. The agreement, whose financial terms remain undisclosed, adds to Biocytogen’s expanding portfolio...
Kardigan Blood Pressure Drug Proves Hypothesis Despite Split Phase 2 Readout
Kardigan reported that its experimental hypertension drug tonlamarsen achieved a 67% average reduction in the angiotensinogen biomarker after five monthly doses, confirming target engagement. However, the Phase 2 trial showed no statistically significant difference in office systolic blood pressure between the...
Biogen Bounces Back With FDA Nod for High-Dose Spinal Muscular Atrophy Drug
The FDA approved a high‑dose formulation of Biogen’s SMA drug Spinraza, cutting the loading phase from four to two injections and adding a four‑month maintenance schedule. The new regimen, backed by the DEVOTE study, showed significant motor‑skill gains versus sham...
Triple Therapy Momentum: Caterina Brindicci of AstraZeneca on Breztri in Asthma
AstraZeneca is testing its COPD triple‑inhaler Breztri Aerosphere in uncontrolled asthma. Phase III KALOS and LOGOS trials showed 76‑90 mL improvements in FEV₁ and a 14% reduction in severe exacerbations versus standard ICS/LABA therapy. The studies enrolled about 4,300 patients across 20...
Human E3‑ome Atlas Maps 672 High‑Confidence Enzymes, Redefining Biology and Drug Targets
An international team of more than 40 scientists released the human E3‑ome, a curated atlas that consolidates 672 high‑confidence E3 ligases from over 1,100 candidates. The resource offers a gold‑standard reference for basic research and drug discovery, addressing long‑standing inconsistencies...
GLP‑1 Weight‑Loss Drugs Prompt Fashion Retailers to Rethink Sizing
Consulting firms are being tapped to help fashion retailers overhaul sizing and supply‑chain strategies as GLP‑1 weight‑loss drugs reach 23% of U.S. households. With 80% of users expecting new clothing and 55% already buying, the shift is upending traditional demand...
Examining the Architecture of Next-Gen Biotherapeutic Modalities
BioPharm Drug Digest will host a free webinar on April 17, 2026, exploring how the biopharma sector is redesigning antibodies, RNA therapies, and cell therapies with multifunctional architectures. The session highlights programmable biology, next‑generation delivery platforms, and digitized biology models...
Module 3, Section 1: HitID Screens
The module introduces HitID screens, outlining key strategies for early-stage drug discovery. It references recent literature on medicinal chemistry optimization, successful hit‑to‑clinical transitions, DNA‑encoded library (DEL) approaches, ultra‑low‑molecular‑weight crystallographic screening, and fragment‑based drug discovery (FBDD). By consolidating these sources, the...
Zongertinib a ‘Breakthrough’ for NSCLC with HER2 Mutations
Zongertinib (Hernexeos) received FDA accelerated approval for first‑line treatment of HER2‑mutant advanced NSCLC, based on Beamion LUNG‑1 data presented at the European Lung Cancer Congress. In previously untreated patients (cohort 2), the drug achieved a 76% objective response rate and a...
Gates Foundation Funds TesseraTx's Gene‑editing HIV Cure Research
1/🚨@TesseraTx has announced that it has received a grant from the Gates Foundation to fund an early-stage research which is aimed to develop a Gene Editing-based cure for HIV. This grant is build upon Tessera’s existing investment 🧵👇 from the Gates...
Predicting Late‑Stage Trial Outcomes Could Speed Drug Development
Accurately predicting success and failure rate of late stage trials for new drugs could legitimately accelerate pharma. The late stages are where most of the time and money go, and are a bottleneck on bringing drugs to market today.
UK Biotech Day 2026 | May 27-28 | London, UK
UK Biotech Day 2026 will take place on May 27‑28 at the Radisson Hotel & Conference Centre London Heathrow. The two‑day conference convenes executives, R&D scientists, investors, legal and finance professionals from pharma, biotech, medtech, and tech‑bio sectors. Positioned as...
Prediction Claims 100% Success for MLTX in Psoriatic Arthritis
Really interesting. One of their predictions is 100% success chance for $MLTX in psoriatic arthritis.
Setidegrasib’s KRAS Degradation Still Unproven in Cancer
Elegant in theory, unproven in practice: setidegrasib and the case (or not) for KRAS degradation in NSCLC and pancreatic cancer: https://t.co/NuaOJ2amgn https://t.co/i9FpK4W19W
The Likely Evolution of Generic Players in the U.S. Life Sciences Market
The U.S. generic drug market, long driven by the Hatch‑Waxman Act, now supplies about 90% of prescriptions but only 10% of drug spend. Price erosion of 70‑80% within two years and the entry of six to eight competitors have turned...
Lilly‑InsilicoMeds Partnership Grows to $2.75 B
30March: How did @EliLillyandCo and @InSilicoMeds begin and expand their collaboration into the up-to-$2.75B partnership announced Sunday? Read about $LLY and $3696 in the latest for @GENbio from me and colleague @xiaofei_lin: https://t.co/KtXOWFjGdq
Key FDA Decisions Shaping Biotech Q2 2026
New: 5 FDA decisions to watch in the second quarter of 2026 https://t.co/AVvu8i9kgh $REPL $LLY $AXSM $PFE $ARVN $IONS $ARWR #biotech
R3 Bio's Push for Brainless Human Clones Sparks Ethical Debate
Here's our story about R3 Bio and the entrepreneur dreaming of brainless human clones. https://t.co/ZJpdffTKNP
IMMX Completes NEXICART‑2 Enrollment, Paving Path
$IMMX hits a big milestone: NEXICART-2 enrollment complete BLA-enabling Strong prior efficacy (~75% CR) No approved therapies in R/R AL https://t.co/0iUBMaSetC
Beware: Longevity Tourism Sells Unproven, Risky Therapies
“Longevity tourism” Plenty of folks willing to travel & pay for “stem cells as magical thinking” and a growing panoply of unproven & sometimes dangerous “#longevity” therapies. Caveat emptor. By @PeterWardJourno in @Slate https://t.co/jq9rPrcRK2