Metabolic disorders
After years of contraction, investors see biotech reentering a growth cycle driven by scientific progress, asset quality and renewed conviction in oncology, obesity and neuroscience innovation.
Roche aims to become a “top three player” in obesity, Teresa Graham, CEO of the group’s Pharma unit, said Thursday during a presentation of the company’s full-year 2025 earnings.
Roche’s obesity candidate achieves 22.5% weight loss in Phase II; Moderna pulls the plug on late-stage vaccine trials as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s anti-vaccine policies and rhetoric continues; and embattled gene therapy maker Sarepta announces new data in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Roche said the Phase II results help build the case for advancing CT-388 into late-stage testing, which is set to get underway this quarter.
While Baseline Therapeutics declined to disclose its starting capital, the startup said it will use the funds to push its GLP-1 asset BT-001 into late-stage development, with two trials planned this year.
Corxel will use the fundraising proceeds to advance the oral GLP-1 therapy CX11 through mid-stage development in the U.S., as well as prepare for its Phase III studies.
The obesity market and Most Favored Nation drug pricing were among the topics de jour at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference last week, while smaller biotechs sought to assure investors that their regulatory ducks are in a row; Novo Nordisk’s oral obesity pill got off to a hot start while the FDA delayed a decision on Eli Lilly’s investigational offering; and SpyGlass Pharma and AgomAb Therapeutics join the 2026 IPO club.
Biohaven has suffered a few setbacks in recent months, including an FDA rejection and a missed $150 million benchmark payment, but CEO Vlad Coric looked for the brighter side at JPM, specifically emphasizing a serendipitous discovery that could get the company in the obesity game.
Despite ushering in the current GLP-1 era, Novo Nordisk has fallen behind its chief rival Eli Lilly, which has exceeded the Danish pharma in terms of sales.
Target action dates for drugs sponsored by Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim and Disc Medicine have also been pushed back despite assurances of swift reviews under the FDA’s new Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program.
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