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.
3 Ways to Invest in the Growing GLP-1 Weight Loss Market
The global GLP‑1 receptor agonist market is set to nearly triple, reaching roughly $185 billion by 2033 with a 12.4% compound annual growth rate. Investors can tap the surge through a direct play in Structure Therapeutics, whose aleniglipron candidate posted a 16.3% weight‑loss result and is backed by $1.4 billion in cash, or via two ETFs that bundle exposure to the sector. Roundhill’s active OZEM ETF has delivered about 45% return over the past year, while Amplify’s passive THNR ETF has returned roughly 30% in the same period, both charging a 0.59% expense ratio. Analyst consensus rates Structure Therapeutics as a buy with a $110 price target, suggesting upside potential as it approaches a Phase 3 trial.
Pfizer Unveils Nanoparticle Platform to Sharpen Cancer Treatment
Pfizer disclosed a new nanoparticle platform designed to deliver cancer drugs directly to tumors, promising higher precision and fewer side effects. The initiative is led by Puja Sapra, head of the Targeted Therapeutics Unit in Oncology R&D, and is part...
Viking Therapeutics Gains Strong‑Buy Consensus as Obesity Market Eyes $100B by 2030
Wall Street analysts have given Viking Therapeutics (VKTX) an average brokerage recommendation of 1.33, bordering on a strong buy, as its GLP‑1 obesity candidates move through phase‑3 trials. The stock’s 121% one‑day surge in early 2024 and a $100 billion market...
A Treasure Trove of Food for Thought From Julia Belluz
Julia Belluz’s New York Times essay examines GLP‑1 medicines as broad metabolic tools, not merely weight‑loss drugs. She outlines emerging cardiometabolic, brain‑health, and inflammation benefits while stressing that scientific proof lags behind rapid real‑world adoption. The piece gives weight to patient experiences...
Bringing New Delivery Methods to Treatments: Q&A with Richard Lowenthal
In March 2025 the FDA cleared ARS Pharmaceutical’s neffy, a needle‑free epinephrine nasal spray, marking the first major delivery innovation for the drug in over 35 years. CEO Richard Lowenthal explained that the spray eliminates needle anxiety, simplifies administration, and improves portability,...
The Turning Point for Oral Biologics: Q&A With Morten Graugaard
Orbis Medicines CEO Morten Graugaard says the FDA’s approval of Icotyde validates oral biologics as a viable drug class. He frames the decision as a proof point that macrocycle chemistry can translate biologic efficacy into a pill, but cautions that...
Karnataka Approves AI Centre of Excellence in Bengalurus Electronics City
The Karnataka government approved a four‑year AI‑Biotechnology Centre of Excellence at the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology in Bengaluru’s Electronics City, allocating roughly $2.4 million. The project partners the institute with the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C‑CAMP) and...
The Innovators Working to Make in Vivo Cell Therapy a Reality
First‑in‑human trials of in‑vivo CAR‑T therapies are now underway, delivering therapeutic genes directly inside patients via viral or lipid‑nanoparticle vectors. Big‑pharma interest is evident after AstraZeneca’s $1 bn purchase of EsoBiotec and Eli Lilly’s $2.4 bn acquisition of Orna Therapeutics, despite limited clinical...
Anavex Withdraws EU Application for Alzheimer’s Drug Blarcamesine
Anavex Life Sciences has withdrawn its European marketing authorisation application for blarcamesine, a small‑molecule therapy aimed at early Alzheimer’s disease, after the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use concluded in December 2025 that the drug’s benefits did not...
First Patient Receives JANX014 Dose in Janux’s Trial for mCRPC
Janux Therapeutics announced the dosing of its first patient in a Phase I trial of JANX014, a prostate‑specific membrane antigen (PSMA)‑directed T‑cell engager for metastatic castration‑resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The multicenter, open‑label study will evaluate safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and early...
Bavarian Nordic Reports Swissmedic’s Approval of Vimkunya to Prevent Chikungunya
Swissmedic has granted approval to Bavarian Nordic’s Vimkunya, a single‑dose, virus‑like particle vaccine for chikungunya, targeting individuals 12 years and older. The vaccine is designed to elicit protective immunity as early as one week after injection. Bavarian Nordic has also...
Argobio: The Venture Model Building Europe’s Next Biotech Champions
Argobio, led by Thierry Laugel, raised roughly $54.5 million in 2021 to launch a venture‑builder focused on European biotech. The model has already spun out three companies—Enodia, Laigo Bio and Elkedonia—that together secured over $46.9 million in seed funding for platforms in protein degradation...
Radiopharm Completes Final Patient Dosing of RAD 101 for Diagnosis of Brain Metastases in the US
Radiopharm Theranostics announced the final patient dosing in its U.S. Phase IIb trial of the 18F‑RAD101 PET imaging agent for recurrent brain metastases. The study enrolled 30 patients and interim results demonstrated 90% concordance with MRI, meeting the predefined efficacy...
Leiden University Seeks Postdoc for Next‑gen GPCR Drug Discovery
🚨 Hiring Postdoctoral candidate for next generation GPCR drug discovery Leiden University The Faculty of Science and the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) are looking for a:Postdoctoral candidate for next generation GPCR drug discoveryAre you excited about developing cutting-edge drug...
Stockholm’s BioLamina Secures €20 Million EIB Loan to Scale Cell Therapies for Chronic Diseases
Swedish biotech scale‑up BioLamina secured a €20 million (≈$22 million) venture‑debt loan from the European Investment Bank to accelerate its laminin‑based cell‑culture platform. The financing will fund expansion of manufacturing capacity, broaden the product portfolio and reinforce the company’s technology base for...
Want to Get the Pill without Seeing a GP? Here’s What You Need to Know
Australian states are expanding pharmacy access to oral contraceptives, with New South Wales set to let eligible pharmacists prescribe the pill to women 18 and older from June 2026. Victoria already permits first‑time users to obtain the pill at pharmacies...
Merck’s PD-1/VEGF Data Star in Stacked Lineup of AACR ‘26 Data Reveals
Merck will unveil early clinical data on MK‑2010, a PD‑1/VEGF bispecific antibody it licensed from LaNova for $588 million, at the AACR 2026 meeting. The readout will test Merck’s ability to compete with ivonescimab and other emerging bispecifics from Pfizer/BioNTech and BMS....
Cough Drops From Several Brands Being Recalled, FDA Says
On March 20, the FDA initiated a Class II recall of 15 cough‑drop products sold under five private‑label brands after an inspection of the Chinese manufacturer Xiamen Kang Zhongyuan Biotechnology revealed unspecified concerns. The affected items, many bearing lot 20241030 and expiring...
Enough Will They-Won’t They! FDA Pushes for Permanent Rare Pediatric Disease PRVs
The FDA’s FY2027 budget request asks Congress to make the Rare Pediatric Disease (RPD) Priority Review Voucher program permanent, ending its four‑year reauthorization cycle. A voucher lets sponsors shave FDA’s review time from ten to six months and can be...
Novo Nordisk Partners with OpenAI to Speed AI-Driven Drug Discovery
Novo Nordisk has struck a partnership with OpenAI to use generative AI for drug discovery, aiming to cut development timelines. The announcement lifted Novo’s stock 2.8% and intensifies its race with Eli Lilly for a share of the $100 bn obesity market.
FDA Receives sBLA for Zenocutuzumab Targeting NRG1‑Positive Cholangiocarcinoma
Partner Therapeutics submitted a supplemental Biologics License Application for Zenocutuzumab in advanced NRG1‑fusion cholangiocarcinoma, prompting the FDA to accept the filing and the NCCN to list the drug as a Category 2A/2B option. The move follows a phase 2 trial that showed...
Stem Cell Editing Programs the Immune System to Make Own Therapeutic Proteins
Researchers at Rockefeller University used CRISPR to edit hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs), programming them to produce therapeutic antibodies or other proteins after vaccination. In mice, as few as 7,000 edited HSPCs generated durable, high‑titer antibody responses that protected...
Biotech Insights - Spring 2026
The FDA’s post‑approval change framework now spotlights GLP‑1 products, exemplified by Wegovy’s tablet approval, and mandates reporting based on the change’s impact—major and moderate changes require supplemental NDAs, while minor changes go in the annual report. In parallel, the Federal...
Will Retatrutide Help Me Lose Weight or Look ‘Shredded’?
Retatrutide, an experimental triple‑hormone peptide, has shown more than 20% body‑weight loss in a 48‑week clinical trial, outperforming existing GLP‑1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Researchers say it works by modulating GLP‑1, GIP and glucagon pathways to suppress appetite and...
Vivos Therapeutics Posts 16% Revenue Rise but Wider Losses in 2025
Vivos Therapeutics announced full‑year 2025 revenue of $17.44 million, up 16% from the prior year, but its net loss widened to $21.17 million, or $2.07 per share, compared with a $11.14 million loss a year earlier. The mixed results underscore the challenge of...
Wellcome Leap Announces $2M Prize in $50M Quantum for Bio Challenge Program
Wellcome Leap announced that Algorithmiq earned the $2 million prize in its $50 million Quantum for Bio (Q4Bio) Challenge, marking the first end‑to‑end quantum‑classical workflow that simulates a photosensitizer drug for photodynamic cancer therapy. The program, launched in 2023, devoted $40 million to...
AI-Driven CRISPR‑GPT Enables Fully Autonomous Lab Experiments
A junior researcher walks up to a CRISPR experiment they've never run before. An AI agent has already decomposed the workflow, selected the guide RNAs, anticipated failure modes, and drafted the protocol. They run it successfully on their first attempt. That's not...
Review Panel Finds Anti‑amyloid Alzheimer Drugs Offer Little Benefit
Medical Review Group Questions Usefulness of Some Alzheimer’s Drugs Group says anti-amyloid treatments don’t offer noticeable benefits https://t.co/Z9tRQquyZX
From Lockdown to the Lab: Researcher Develops 'Decoy Molecule' To Slow Down Coronavirus
During the COVID‑19 lockdown, Ph.D. candidate Koen Rijpkema engineered decoy molecules that bind tightly to the coronavirus Mac1 enzyme, which normally dampens immune signaling. By mimicking the enzyme’s natural substrate, the decoys keep Mac1 occupied, allowing the immune system to detect...
GLP‑1 Drugs Show Promise for Treating All Addictions
GLP-1 medications get at the heart of addiction: study Diabetes and obesity drugs show promise in treating and preventing all substance use disorders https://t.co/buHywnw9Wk https://t.co/0lunbQbjsb
AI Creates Orexin Activator to Boost Focus, Reduce Sleep
Two researchers just used AI to design a selective orexin activator. If you care about focus, steady energy, or needing less sleep, this is worth paying attention to. https://t.co/3qbzB6J7X3
Weight Loss, Obesity Drugs Bring Potential New MASLD, MASH Treatment Strategies
A new review in *Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism* shows that GLP‑1, GIP and glucagon‑based drugs, originally approved for obesity and diabetes, also improve liver outcomes in metabolic dysfunction‑associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and its progressive form MASH. A recent meta‑analysis...
Choose the Right Design, Not One‑Size Truth
n=1 is can work for cancer and infectious disease, but often you need a clinical trial. We need to always be asking what the best tool is to get to truth. Don't assume that one experimental design is always correct. And don't...
Kennedy: 90% Of FDA Reviewers Are Using AI For Faster Drug Approvals
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told the House Ways & Means Committee that more than 90% of FDA reviewers are now using artificial‑intelligence tools to speed drug approvals. The AI applications are also being rolled...
Biogen's Stock Slumps as Biosimilars Hit MS Sales and Alzheimer Setbacks Loom
Biogen (BIIB) saw its stock slip after reporting modest revenue growth, heightened biosimilar competition in multiple sclerosis, and lingering commercial challenges for its Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi. The biotech’s 2025 revenue rose only 2% to $9.9 billion while adjusted EPS fell 7%,...
Aurora Cannabis Buys EU GMP Cultivator Safari Flower for $26.5 Million
Aurora Cannabis Inc. completed the purchase of Safari Flower Company for $26.5 million, adding EU GMP‑certified manufacturing capacity. The deal includes $15 million cash, a $2 million contingent payment and over 2.4 million Aurora shares, positioning the Canadian firm to capture more of Europe’s...
Re: Managing Resistant Hypertension . . . And Other Research
A retired physician, David Levine, wrote to BMJ questioning the reported cardiovascular event numbers in a recent LDL‑lowering study, noting that the intensive‑therapy arm was listed with 147 events versus 100 in the conventional arm. He suggests the figures may...
UK Says It Has Hit Target on Commercial Trial Set-Up Times
The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) reported that average clinical‑trial set‑up time fell to 122 days in the six months to March, beating its 150‑day target set for March 2026. The reduction follows a suite of reforms,...
MeiraGTx Reacquires Gene Therapy Candidate Bota-Vec for X‑Linked Retinitis Pigmentosa
MeiraGTx Holdings plc announced it has signed an asset purchase agreement with Johnson & Johnson to reacquire botaretigene sparoparvovec (bota-vec), its AAV‑RPGR gene‑therapy for X‑linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP). The company says the deal positions it to file Biologics License Applications...
The Category 2 Peptide Unwind: How a Rogan Appearance, 14 Withdrawn Nominations & a July PCAC Docket Will Reprice the...
Kennedy’s appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience announced that roughly fourteen peptides could be re‑classified from FDA Category 2 back to Category 1, but no Federal Register rule has been issued yet. The announcement highlights a procedural path where nominators withdraw nominations,...
RFK Jr. Defends FDA, Makary Following Republican Questions
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took the podium before the House Energy & Commerce Committee on April 16, 2026 to defend the Food and Drug Administration and its commissioner, Marty Makary, after a line of Republican inquiries. Kennedy asserted that the FDA’s approval processes remain...
OpenAI Debuts GPT-Rosalind, a New Limited Access Model for Life Sciences, and Broader Codex Plugin on Github
OpenAI unveiled GPT‑Rosalind, a domain‑specific reasoning model built to accelerate life‑science research, alongside a Codex plugin that links the model to over 50 public multi‑omics databases. The model demonstrated top‑tier performance on benchmarks such as BixBench and LABBench2, surpassing GPT‑5.4...
Flawed Study Groups Failed and Successful Alzheimer Drugs Together
This new analysis of Alzheimer's drugs is such a good example of why we can't make any headway as a society. There is probably a good debate to be had on whether the risks and costs of the two approved beta...
OpenAI Unveils GPT‑Rosalind for Pharma Drug Discovery
I truly believe OpenAI is hoping to drive a ton of revenue based on what it can do with health/medical -> OpenAI launches GPT-Rosalind, an AI model for life sciences research, including drug discovery, as a research preview for customers...
For Regrowing Human Limbs, This Salamander Gene Could Hold the Key
Scientists identified SP6 and SP8 as conserved genes that drive limb regeneration in axolotls, zebrafish and mice, and demonstrated that a viral gene‑therapy delivering FGF8 can partially rescue digit regrowth in mice lacking these genes. The work, published in PNAS,...
RFK Jr. Defends FDA Chief Amid Industry Backlash
RFK Jr. defends FDA, Makary following Republican questions - also defends the $REPL CRL: "Marty made the correct decision to not approve that drug. But everybody goes after him because the industry is so powerful." https://t.co/CuEeNFCYpp
OpenAI Debuts GPT‑Rosalind, Entering Biopharma After Anthropic
NEW: OpenAI is the latest tech giant to move into biopharma, launching Thursday GPT-Rosalind, a life sciences-tailored version of its LLM Trails behind the very similar launch of Anthropic's Claude for Life Sciences by ~5 months. More here: https://t.co/zkXDwY0BBI
FDA Signals Potential Expansion of Testosterone Therapy to Treat Low Libido in Idiopathic Hypogonadism
The FDA announced it will entertain supplemental new drug applications to add low libido in men with idiopathic hypogonadism as an approved indication for existing testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) products. The move follows a December 2025 expert panel review of...
Clinical Trial of a Prion Disease Drug Candidate Begins Enrolling Participants
Broad Institute and UMass Chan have launched the first human trial of a prion disease therapy, a divalent small interfering RNA designed to silence the prion protein gene. The phase 1 PRiSM study will enroll 15 symptomatic patients to assess...
High‑Resolution TORC2 Structure Opens Path to Age‑Related Therapies
Activating TORC2 holds potential in medicine for treating age-related memory & hearing loss. New study out today @MolecularCell reveals the structure of TORC2 in highest-ever resolution - which is good news for drug developers & all of us who age...