mRNA
In this episode of Denatured, Jennifer C. Smith-Parker speaks to Erik Digman Wiklund, CEO of Circio and Jacob Becraft, Co-founder and CEO of Strand Therapeutics. They discuss how post-COVID, emerging platforms like circular and logic circuit RNA are expanding the field’s therapeutic horizons.
After advancing in lockstep through the pandemic, the fortunes of the biotechs have diverged as their use of COVID-19 windfalls has taken shape.
Moderna will continue to lead clinical development and manufacturing of the asset, while Recordati will handle commercialization of mRNA-3927, which is under development for the rare metabolic disorder propionic acidemia.
Despite Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson’s confidence in vaccines, the French pharma has cut at least one mRNA flu shot program.
Attendance at the Biotech CEO Sisterhood’s annual photo of women leaders and allies in Union Square doubled this year. There’s still more work to do.
After winning a surprise approval for its hereditary angioedema drug Ekterly, KalVista is confident the oral offering will capture the lion’s share of the market for on-demand use.
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.
The companies have an expansive clinical program for the mRNA neoantigen therapy intismeran autogene in combination with immuno-oncology heavyweight Keytruda.
Henry Gosebruch, who has $3.5 billion in capital to deploy, is thinking broad as he steers the decades-old biotech out of years of turmoil.
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