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In this episode of Denatured, as part of our series on the European life sciences investment ecosystem, you’ll be hearing from Ksenija Pavletic, partner and chief commercial officer at Jeito Capital and Thierry Laugel, managing partner at Kurma Partners. We dive into France’s biotech ecosystem and what still needs to happen for more early innovation to translate into investable, scalable biotech.
FEATURED STORIES
From Eli Lilly’s David Ricks to Pfizer’s Albert Bourla, the top five highest paid CEOs made a combined $157.8 million in 2025.
Partners Summit Therapeutics and Akeso are expected to steal the show at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual conference with data from their potential Keytruda rival, alongside Revolution Medicine’s groundbreaking pancreatic cancer candidate and other assets that could reshape patient care.
The tragic tale of TIGIT is well known. However, RIPK1, myc, STING and alpha-synuclein have also left a trail of failed clinical trials, canceled partnerships and sunk investments in their wake.
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Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
The Department of Health and Human Services is spinning its wheels, unable to establish steady leadership at three major divisions—the CDC and the FDA’s two primary review units.
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Slate Medicines will move forward with a migraine drug from a Chinese biotech, while Alveus Therapeutics will advance a dual GLP-1/GIPR fusion protein for weight loss.
Eli Lilly notches another win over Novo Nordisk, as Zepbound bests CagriSema in a head-to-head trial sponsored by Novo; The FDA kicked off Rare Disease Week, providing draft guidance on its new plausible mechanism pathway, while a bipartisan senate hearing on Thursday will focus on the authorization process for rare conditions; Another leadership change shakes up CDC; and Gilead acquires CAR T partner Arcellx for nearly $8 billion.
Regulators overseeing rare disease treatments need better tools to weigh competing risks in real time. Sarepta Therapeutics’ Elevidys is a prime example of why.
LB Pharma needed $350 million to advance a promising schizophrenia candidate at a time when the biotech markets were locked up tight. Fortunately, it wasn’t CEO Heather Turner’s first rodeo.
Rare disease drug developers struggle to survive in a biopharma investment market that prioritizes large patient populations. Initiatives like the Orphan Therapeutics Accelerator are attempting to solve what CEO Craig Martin says is not a science problem, but a math problem.
The company plans to divest a drug it has made for 40 years, citing increasing production costs and falling prices.
Following Monday’s clinical defeat by Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk cut the 2027 list prices for its three GLP-1 medicines by as much as 50%, while boasting Phase 2 data for its invesigational triple-G agonist.
Eli Lilly’s win in a head-to-head trial drove Novo Nordisk’s market cap to pre-Wegovy levels not long after the victor became the first pharma company to top a $1 trillion valuation. It seems one company can do no right, while the other can do no wrong.
In August last year, the Health Department cut around $500 million in mRNA research funding, with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. saying the agency would instead divert the money “toward safer, broader vaccine platforms.”
Ecnoglutide, which Pfizer licensed from Sciwind Biosciences, is already approved in China for type 2 diabetes mellitus, and a marketing application for weight loss has been accepted by regulatory authorities in the country.