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In this episode of Denatured, you’ll be listening to Jane Hughes, President of R&D and Co-founder of Verdiva Bio, and Jon Rees, CEO and Co-founder of MitoRx Therapeutics. We’ll discuss next-generation obesity solutions tackling GLP-1’s muscle loss and adherence challenges, through innovative muscle preservation, oral administration and combination therapy.
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Many scientists-turned-CEOs paradoxically abandon scientific principles when it comes to commercializing their innovations. But applying the scientific method to business decisions can help life science entrepreneurs avoid common pitfalls, attract investment and ultimately bring transformative technologies to market.
FDA vouchers are normally a coveted prize for biopharma companies, but a surprise rejection for Disc Medicine’s rare disease drug has biopharma reconsidering.
PitchBook’s 2025 biopharma VC analysis clocked $33.8 billion in capital dispatched in 2025, mainly to companies with later-stage programs ready to roll into the clinic.
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Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
The FDA’s refusal to review Moderna’s mRNA-based flu vaccine is part of a larger communications crisis unfolding at the agency over the past nine months that has also ensnarled Sarepta, Capricor, uniQure and many more.
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Novo Nordisk pulled back from cell therapies last October, scrapping development of a type 1 diabetes therapy and laying off most employees working on this modality.
Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, plans to open the facility in 2029 to ramp up capacity to make obesity candidates, including the dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist CT-388.
Ahead of GSK are Bristol Myers Squibb and Merck, which have already won FDA approvals for subcutaneous formulations of their respective PD-1 blockers Opdivo and Keytruda.
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.
At some point in your research career, you may find yourself transitioning from academia to industry or vice versa. To best set yourself up for success, adapt your approach to the specific scientific culture where you work.
As drug candidates discovered via AI move into later-stage clinical trials, the technology seems to be doing as promised: speeding drug development.
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.
In November, Pfizer was reportedly looking to divest its stake in BioNTech, though the German biotech at the time denied these rumors.
The arrangement will boost AstraZeneca’s cell therapy portfolio as the pharma targets $80 billion in revenue by 2030.
The star of the acquisition, anti-IgE antibody ozureprubart, is being tested as a prophylactic treatment for food allergies, potentially setting up a competition for GSK with Roche’s Xolair.