Eli Lilly and obesity rival Novo Nordisk stole the show at the American Diabetes Association conference, though plenty of other companies also had data to show for their own weight loss assets; GSK strikes the biggest traditional pharma buyout of 2026; and FDA initiatives still lack clarity.
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Everything came up roses for Eli Lilly at the American Diabetes Association’s Scientific Sessions in New Orleans this past weekend, as the pharma boasted positive results for its new pill Foundayo and next-gen asset retatrutide—not just for weight loss but also for other indications, including sleep apnea, knee pain and menopause.
Obesity rival Novo Nordisk, meanwhile, is also looking to expand semaglutide to more conditions, such as kidney, liver and cardiovascular disease and presented supportive data at the meeting. Novo executives also held a dinner, during which they may have convinced analysts that the company is turning a corner after a rough couple of years with the successful launch of the Wegovy pill.
Also check out ADA updates from Roche and partner Zealand Pharma, Boehringer Ingleheim, Pfizer (touting results from its Metsera buy), AstraZeneca, Kailera Therapeutics and more.
Outside of ADA, the biggest news of the past week came on Tuesday with GSK striking the biggest traditional pharma/biotech M&A of the year so far with its $10.6 billion acquisition of oncology focused Nuvalent Bio. And on Monday, J&J notched a smaller deal, buying out Firefly Bio for $1B. These deals add to continued uptick in M&A seen in biopharma this year, with much of that momentum being driven by Eli Lilly and its GLP-1 cash.
Over at the FDA, Acting Commissioner Kyle Diamantas continues to run the show as rumors swirl that the White House is considering Norman Sharpless for the top post. Sharpless, who previously led the National Cancer Institute, has been a pretty vocal critic of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine policies.
In the meantime, programs started under former Commissioner Marty Makary carry on, with the industry still clamoring for clarity. Last week, the FDA held a listening session to collect feedback on the Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program and ended up getting multiple calls to pause it. Confusion also still persists around all of the new rare disease pathways, including the new plausible mechanism framework. The FDA also announced this past week that it would encourage the use of prior knowledge to speed up development timelines for cell and gene therapies, but external controls have been at the root of a handful of recent rare disease drug rejections or rebuffs.
