AlphaFold3 Boosts Engineered Toad Pathway 40‑fold in Tobacco
They ported the 5-MeO-DMT pathway from the Sonoran Desert toad into tobacco plants and then used AlphaFold3 to debug the protein structure, leading to a 40x yield increase. Prompt psychedelic design.
Incretin Modulators Boost Health, Happiness, and Longevity
Life is a marshmallow test. Incretin modulators help you win while staying happy. I often ask big audiences - "how many of you are on GLP1?" and only a couple hands go up. Sometimes, none. That's when I understood that...
NBTXR3 Surpasses 70% Enrollment, on Track For
$NBTX update: Their lead cancer drug NBTXR3 is now over 70% enrolled in its crucial Phase 3 trial. Target: complete enrollment by end of 2025. With cash into late 2027, they're funded to reach this major milestone. Biotech
5‑MeO
I mis-spoke here. This study showed 5-meo-DMT much more effective than psilocybin. This was specifically on treatment resistant depression. A 15 point MADRS reduction there is ~2x psilocybin and ~3x ketamine. 5-meo-DMT really is the most potent antidepressant known to...
Time-to-Market Is SynBio’s Biggest Scaling Hurdle
Great conversation with Jamie Bacher about the one challenge synbio must solve: time to market. Jamie argues that scaling biotech requires more than great strains—process dev, downstream, analytics, and new financing models all matter. Excited to have him at #SynBioBeta2026. Read the...
Intranasal EV Vaccine Delivers Broad, Cross‑protective Flu Immunity
An intranasal vaccine using extracellular vesicles displaying inverted influenza hemagglutinins induced broad, cross-protective immunity in mice, offering a promising strategy for universal flu prevention at the mucosal level. vaccines
Trump Proposes $5 B NIH Cut; Congress Unlikely to Approve
NIH would get $5 billion cut under Trump’s 2027 budget, but Congress unlikely to go along https://t.co/PPQbrSBwi0 via @statnews
Trump Targets NIH Funding Amid $1.5T War Spend
Trump once again going for draconian cuts to NIH, though not as catastrophic as he sought for the last round (and didn't get). Meanwhile, he wants $1.5T for war. I doubt he'll be any more successful with NIH cuts than...
GEN's First Top‑10 Organoid Companies and Growth Drivers
3April: Which are GEN's first-ever Top 10 Organoid Companies (5 publicly traded, 5 privately held)? And what's driving growth for these and other organoid companies? Check out my latest A-List for @GENbio: https://t.co/6D589lVk9s
Trump's Pharma Tariff Won't Lower Prices, Study Finds
Trump's proposed 100% tariff on pharma imports would have limited impact, analysis says. Why? 68% of U.S. prescription drugs are already made domestically. Prices are driven by patents & rebates, not import costs. Healthcare
Debating Brainless Clones as Personal
Are you pro-bodyoid or anti-bodyoid? For the purpose of this poll, a bodyoid is: a newborn clone of you lacking a cortex, a.k.a. a brainless clone, gestated by a paid surrogate. It's organs are a perfect match (isogenic) to you...
Black‑Box Warnings Can Slash Drug Revenues—Investors Beware
Approved drugs can have a "black box" (aka boxed) warning, the highest safety-related warning that FDA can put on an approved drug Usually applied to multiple drugs in the same class it can hamper revenue potential if alternatives exist Investors should be...
Japan Approves Conditional Stem‑cell Parkinson’s Replacement Therapy
Woah. I'm slightly embarrassed that I missed this for a few weeks. Finally there is approval, in a Large Nation, for a stem cell-based REPLACEMENT therapy for an age-related condition. The condition is, no surprise, Parkinson's, which I always highlight...
Personalized NAD Boosting Needed; Redox Fingerprints Reveal Disease
Dynamics of blood NAD and glutathione in health, disease, aging and under NAD-booster treatment “In healthy population (n=299;18-70 year-olds) redox metabolites follow normal distribution in blood and remain unchanged during aging. NAD-boosting increased 4-6 fold the blood NAD+ depending on individual,...
Cell‑Free DNA Production Ends Decades‑Old Cloning Bottleneck
Most of synthetic biology has been completely transformed in the last decade. DNA manufacturing? Still running on cloning workflows from the 1970s. That's the bottleneck Jodi Barrientos, CEO of @ribbonbiolabs, is tackling head-on — and she's on the @SynBioBeta Main Stage on...
FDA's Future: New CBER Chief & Rare Disease Flexibility
On this week’s pod, we chatted with @docrodwong about the FDA, the next CBER chief and regulatory flexibility for rare diseases https://t.co/f6L7gwcNsr via @statnews
Seeking List of Pharma Firms Without US Agreements
Any one know which pharma companies have yet to strike a deal with the US? (I don't ... my sense is that most have but haven't kept a tally) 1/2 https://t.co/bYYde5ZaIm
Blocking KDM4 Reactivates Tumor Suppressor, Halts AML
Scientists have restored a silenced tumor-suppressor gene in mice with acute myeloid leukemia by blocking KDM4 enzymes, suggesting a potential new therapeutic approach that avoids harming normal blood cells. leukemia
Small Pharma Must Strike Pricing Deal in 180 Days
New: Small pharma companies are in talks with the White House to sign drug pricing deals of their own. Small companies will have to cut a deal in the next 180 days to fully avoid tariffs on branded drugs. https://t.co/XFalvi3i3D
Lowering Barriers Unlocks Biotech’s Biggest Potential
What if the biggest unlock in biotech is simply access? Douglas Crawford built MBC BioLabs to lower barriers and enable 500+ startups. Excited to have him at SynBioBeta 2026. Visit the @SynBioBeta website to read the full article. https://t.co/HEfhvmwZ8i
Grok 4.1 Surpasses Newer Models in Drug Discovery Benchmarks
Whoa, @grok 4.1 beats many newer models in BVP. Btw. it is surprising that Grok does such a good job (not SOTA but better than frontier foundation models) in many drug discovery tasks https://t.co/UWaQZucawU
BeamTx's Risto‑cel Shows Promising Phase
1/@BeamTx announced the publication of clinical data from its Phase 1/2 BEACON clinical trial evaluating risto-cel - formerly known as $BEAM-101 for the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD). The data was presented at #ASH25 🧵👇 & was published in...
Patients Maintain Weight Loss After Discontinuing GLP‑1s, Epic Shows
Interesting data from Epic medical records - suggests that for many patients in the "real world", they are able to keep the weight off after stopping GLP1s... https://t.co/dHfYdG6rEX #EpicResearch
Creatine Plus Probiotic Eases Depression via Gut‑brain Energy Boost
1/2) New placebo-controlled human randomized controlled trial finds creatine + a specific probiotic is effective in treating depression. The mechanism is fascinating, involving the probiotic increasing creatine transporters in the gut, leading to increased brain energy metabolism. If you're passionate about this...
Biotech Gains as Pharma Approval Success Diverges
Pharma has varying levels of success developing drugs. That's a boon for biotech Here are the biopharma companies ranked by likelihood of first approval (LoA%) from 2006-2022 $AMGN, $NVO, #Eisai top the list $GSK, #Astellas, $ABBV are at the bottom #learnbiotechinvesting #BiotechPrometheus
Clinicians Invited to Join Controlled MDMA Study at UCL
Clinicians: UCL and Drug Science invite you to contribute to a controlled exploration of MDMA’s psychological effects. Eligible participants will undergo two medically supervised sessions at UCL. This work aims to build a psychoanalytically grounded model of its therapeutic action....
China’s Clinical Trials Surge, Outpacing US and Europe
In 2010, China accounted for fewer than 8% of global clinical trials. By 2020, it had surpassed both US & Europe in registered trials. By 2024, China was initiating more than 5,000 clinical trials a year — a more than...
New FDA‑approved Oral Weight‑loss Pill Expands Patient Options
So… hot off the press: a NEW weight loss PILL just got FDA approved. We’ve had oral (non-injectable) GLP-1s before — but this is one of the first specifically for weight management. When it reaches Malaysia, it could significantly increase demand...
NEJM Review Overlooks Inflammation in GLP‑1 Drugs
A new review of the GLP-1 receptor drugs @NEJM https://t.co/PK03jApZWB surprisingly, the word inflammation only appears once, in this diagram https://t.co/1PeBakBAQb
CBP and FDA Seize 5,000 Peptide Packages, Including GLP‑1 Drugs
5000 packages of peptides seized by CBP and FDA “The seized materials included several GLP-one medications such as retatrutide, semaglutide, and tirzepatide. Officers also found various other peptides prohibited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, including MOTS-C, TB10, semax, and...
AI-Driven Biology Could Slash Drug Trial Failures Dramatically
AI for biology will have bigger near term wins. The ability for AI to learn from experiments and predict human biology will have very broad impacts in predicting targets, clinical trials, and precision medicine. Tackling the biggest challenge in Pharma (80%...
Genome Editing Shows Promise for Sickle Cell, Β‑Thalassemia
3 new trial results for genome editing of sickle cell disease and β-thalassemia @NEJM https://t.co/qGGdjgKqP5 (with summary Table below) https://t.co/RdiM3urCKJ https://t.co/W15cPAfMoS https://t.co/F3PHKuktPx https://t.co/t6Z35S8L7h
New Early-Stage Cancer Drugs Emerge at AACR26
A look at some promising early stage drug developments coming down the pike at #AACR26. A few of these concepts were not on the radar a couple of years ago: https://t.co/w6oD4CEckq https://t.co/kfR1AXG41K
LSD and DOI Reduce Opioid Intake and Withdrawal in Mice
Effects of Psychedelics Lysergic Acid Diethylamide and R(–)-2,5-Dimethoxy-4-Iodoamphetamine on Oral Opioid Consumption and Naloxone-Precipitated Withdrawal in Male C57Bl/6J Mice https://t.co/78DNsREzoR
New GLP‑1 Pill Approved: Orfoglipron Offers Easier Dosing
New GLP-1 pill approved Foundayo (orfoglipron). Not as much weight loss as oral wegovy but no issues with food or more liquid around taking it. Same price. Not April fools joke.
Doctors Will Swap Pills for Gene Therapies and Epigenetics
Longevity 2.0: Your next doctor won't prescribe pills—they'll prescribe gene therapies, epigenetic reprogramming, and personalized longevity protocols. Medicine is shifting from "treat symptoms" to "reverse aging at the cellular level."
Lilly's Obesity Drug Cleared, Heats up Novo Rivalry
Eli Lilly’s obesity pill approved by FDA, setting up fierce competition with Novo Nordisk https://t.co/8TyrKyyNYP
Biotech Platforms Valuation: From mRNA to AI Explained
Mackenzie published a detailed quantitative analysis of biotech platforms. Good place to start to understand how platform companies from Moderna with mRNA to Isomorphic with AI reach patients and are valued in markets.
FDA Threatens Unprecedented Ban Lift on Untested Injectables
If FDA does this, which is highly likely succumbing to pressure from RFK Jr, it crosses a new red line and, as far as I know, is unprecedented. Lifting a ban on drugs that are injected into the bloodstream without...
Metformin Undermines Exercise’s Insulin‑Sensitivity Gains
As a medical school professor, I've recommended metformin to countless patients. But a new double-blind trial just revealed something alarming. Metformin BLUNTED the insulin-sensitizing benefits of exercise in adults at risk for metabolic syndrome. The findings from a 16-week RCT: -> Exercise +...
FDA Grants RMAT Status to Caribou’s Anti‑BCMA CAR‑T Therapy
1/🚨@CaribouBio announced that the U.S. FDA has granted Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation to CB-011 - $CRBU allogeneic anti-BCMA CAR-T Cell Therapy for treating relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (r/r MM) cancer which is being evaluated in the CaMMouflage...
Paragon Launches Korsana Biosciences, Targeting Alzheimer's
Paragon launched its 7th company today -- Korsana Biosciences, merging into the $CYCN public shell. New ticker will be $KRSA. Lead drug candidate is a shuttled anti-amyloid beta antibody for Alzheimer's disease in early studies. https://t.co/RcJ8adMakm
Vertical AI Delivers Results; General AI Still Limited
Eli Lilly bet $2.75B on AI drug discovery. Best AI model in the world: 0.37% on a reasoning benchmark. Both facts are true simultaneously. Vertical AI that knows your domain: already working. General AI that reasons universally: still finding its ceiling. https://t.co/7iTOUGavT3
Wegovy to Reach 1.2 Million Additional NHS Patients
Novo Nordisk $NVO obesity drug Wegovy will be an option for about 1.2 million more patients in England’s National Health Service - Bloomberg
Cysteine Steers T‑cells Toward Proliferation or Tumor Killing
Cysteine directs T cells to either multiply or attack tumors by fueling distinct metabolic pathways, suggesting new strategies to fine-tune immune responses in cancer therapy. immunometabolism
Low Placebo Response Skews Psychedelic Depression Trial Results
I was interviewed about a study of GH001, vaporized 5-MeO-DMT, for treatment-resistant depression. I commented that, while promising and encouraging, the thing that popped out to me was the almost complete lack of placebo response in the placebo group. Even...
Add Biotech to Strategic Tech List, Stop China Outsourcing
We need to add biotech to the COINS Act list of strategic technologies alongside chips, AI, quantum, and drones. It is insane to outsource the genetic engineering industry to China with US VC's leading the way.
Killer Cells Eradicate Superbugs in a Single Day
Forget Antibiotics: These Killer Cells Wipe Out Deadly Superbugs in a Day by @ShellyFan https://t.co/KVAaK61555 https://t.co/cXP8loNRHn
First Primate Model of Congenital Deafness Created
Genetically modified marmosets lacking the OTOF gene now serve as the first primate model for human congenital deafness, offering a precise platform to advance gene therapies targeting hearing loss. genetherapy
Nature-Inspired Drug Discovery Discussed on The Long Run
Inspired by Mother Nature, Discovering New Drugs. @viswacolluru of @lifeschemistry is the latest guest on The Long Run. Sponsored by @AlphaSenseInc and Dash Bio. https://t.co/F01HMam6Ul