👋 Good morning! The GLP-1 gold rush has produced plenty of contenders. Few have produced numbers that make analysts sit up straight before the first coffee.

Structure Therapeutics just did.

The biotech reported new Phase 2 data showing its once-daily oral GLP-1 candidate aleniglipron delivered 16.3% placebo-adjusted weight loss at 44 weeks. In the world of obesity drug trials, that number lands firmly in the “pay attention” category.

Why the excitement? Because the next phase of the obesity drug race is moving from injections to pills. Eli Lilly is racing toward approval for its oral candidate orforglipron, while Novo Nordisk is pushing its own pill version of Wegovy, which is already on store shelves.

Structure’s results suddenly put it in the same conversation.

Analysts at BMO Capital Markets said the drug appears competitive with the leading oral programs. Investors seemed to agree. Shares climbed nearly 11% in premarket trading following the announcement.

The company now plans to push aleniglipron into late-stage trials later this year.

The GLP-1 boom has already reshaped the pharmaceutical industry. But if multiple companies manage to crack the pill format, the market could get even bigger.

And the leaderboard might get a lot more crowded.

👊 Lilly Fires New Shot in the Compounded GLP-1 War
Eli Lilly is escalating its fight against compounded versions of its blockbuster diabetes and obesity drugs. The company says internal testing uncovered significant levels of an unknown impurity in certain compounded tirzepatide products that combine the drug with vitamin B12. Lilly warned that the chemical interaction between the two ingredients has never been studied and could affect how the drug is absorbed or metabolized. The company has alerted the FDA and is urging regulators to recall compounded tirzepatide products containing untested additives. Compounding pharmacies are pushing back, arguing Lilly has not provided enough data for independent experts to evaluate the claim. Translation: the GLP-1 turf war just added a chemistry debate.

🚢 The Strait of Hormuz Could Quietly Hit Your Medicine Cabinet
Nearly half of U.S. generic prescriptions originate in India, and much of the country’s pharmaceutical manufacturing depends on petrochemical inputs that travel through the Strait of Hormuz. That narrow shipping lane between Iran and Oman handles a massive share of global energy traffic, including the crude oil that ultimately feeds into chemical ingredients used in many medicines. Distributors currently maintain roughly 30 to 60 days of drug supply, meaning patients are unlikely to see immediate disruptions. But supply chain experts say a prolonged conflict in the region could eventually push up drug costs or trigger shortages. The connection between Middle East geopolitics and a U.S. pharmacy counter may feel distant, but the supply chain tying them together is surprisingly direct.

🧬 FDA Clears First Human Trial for Novel Epilepsy Cell Therapy
The FDA has cleared a first-of-its-kind clinical trial testing a stem cell therapy designed to treat epilepsy. Developed by Shanghai-based Unixell Biotechnology, the therapy uses donor-derived stem cells engineered to produce GABA, a neurotransmitter that helps calm excessive electrical activity in the brain. The goal is to address the root neurological imbalance driving seizures rather than simply suppress symptoms. Current epilepsy drugs work for many patients but often carry side effects and fail to control seizures in others. The trial also highlights the rapid evolution of China’s biotech ecosystem, which is increasingly moving beyond follow-on drugs toward first-in-class therapies.

⚖️ White House Growing Uneasy With RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Stance
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reportedly facing increasing frustration from senior officials inside the Trump administration over his vaccine rhetoric and broader policy decisions. According to reports from Washington, some advisers worry his skepticism toward vaccines could become a political liability heading into a major election cycle. Officials have also clashed with Kennedy over canceled health grants and turbulence at the FDA. Despite the internal tensions, President Trump continues to back his health secretary publicly, and the administration insists it remains aligned with Kennedy’s broader agenda. Still, the growing friction suggests health policy debates inside the White House may be getting louder behind closed doors.

🧬 Sana’s Diabetes Cell Therapy Keeps Producing Insulin. One patient treated with the company’s transplanted islet therapy has continued producing insulin for 14 months without immunosuppressive drugs.

✌️ Astellas Walks Away From $1.6B CytomX Deal. The Japanese pharma ended its long-running partnership exploring T-cell engaging bispecific cancer therapies.

🏭 Lilly Expands Japanese Manufacturing. The company is investing roughly $126 million to expand its Seishin production site in Kobe with a new production line and warehouse.

💪 BridgeBio’s Muscle Disorder Drug Impresses in Phase 3. The biotech reported statistically significant results for BBP-418 in limb-girdle muscular dystrophy ahead of a planned FDA filing.

⚖️ J&J Files Trade Secret Lawsuit. The company alleges a former oncology employee downloaded more than 7,000 confidential documents before joining Summit Therapeutics.

🧬 Ultragenyx Gene Therapy Hits Phase 3 Milestone. The company’s DTX301 treatment lowered ammonia levels in patients with a rare urea cycle disorder during a pivotal trial.

💰 Pfizer CEO Earns $27.6M Pay Package. Albert Bourla’s 2025 compensation ranks as his second-largest since taking the helm of the company in 2019.

Twelve months ago, the pharmaceutical industry looked unstoppable.

Drugmakers were riding a wave of blockbuster launches, obesity drugs were rewriting revenue forecasts, and quarterly earnings calls sounded more like victory laps. Fast forward to today and the tone has changed. Across the latest round of earnings reports, many large drugmakers are now preparing investors for slower growth or even declining sales heading into 2026.

Out of 25 pharmaceutical companies reporting more than $2 billion in quarterly revenue, only five expect their sales to grow faster next year than they did in 2025. Everyone else is either forecasting slower growth or outright contraction.

Several forces are colliding at once. The Inflation Reduction Act is beginning to reshape drug pricing dynamics in the United States. The Trump administration’s proposed most-favored-nation pricing framework is adding additional uncertainty. And blockbuster drugs that carried companies for years are finally losing patent protection.

Take Bayer. The company expects its pharmaceutical sales to decline as key products like Eylea and Xarelto face increasing competition. Biogen is projecting a drop in revenue as multiple sclerosis treatments face biosimilars and pricing pressure in Europe. Bristol Myers Squibb is preparing for another year of falling sales as older oncology blockbusters like Revlimid continue to fade.

Even companies that are still growing expect the pace to cool. Novartis is guiding to only low single-digit growth as the heart failure drug Entresto begins facing generics. AstraZeneca expects mid- to high-single-digit growth after years of faster expansion. Pfizer, still working through the post-pandemic unwind of its COVID products, expects another year of declining revenue.

There is one giant exception.

Eli Lilly continues to look like it is operating in a different industry. The company posted revenue growth of more than 40% last year, fueled almost entirely by the runaway success of its diabetes and obesity drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound. Combined, the therapies generated $36.5 billion in sales in 2025, more than double the previous year. Even with growth expected to slow slightly, Lilly still projects sales between $80 billion and $83 billion in 2026.

That contrast tells the real story. While the broader pharmaceutical industry is entering a period of slower growth, the companies that control the obesity market (mostly Lilly at the moment… sorry Novo) are effectively writing their own economic cycle.

Everyone else is bracing for a hangover.

That is how much Novo Holdings saw its assets shrink last year. The investment arm that controls Novo Nordisk reported total assets of roughly $107 billion in 2025, down from about $160 billion the year before. The drop largely mirrors Novo Nordisk’s stock slide as investor concerns around Wegovy sales and pipeline expectations weighed on the company’s market value. When your portfolio is tied closely to one pharmaceutical giant, even a temporary wobble can ripple through hundreds of billions in assets.

Here’s what biotech Redditors are talking about:

😬 Best company? Genentech. Worst? Moderna.
A Reddit thread asking biotech workers to name the best and worst companies to work for produced a surprisingly consistent answer. Many commenters praised Genentech’s historical reputation for strong culture and scientific focus, though some noted the environment has shifted somewhat since Roche’s deeper integration. Moderna, meanwhile, drew frequent criticism from commenters who described intense pressure and demanding internal expectations. Others argued the reality is simpler: the best or worst workplace often depends more on your manager than the company logo.

🤷 Big Pharma vs. Biotech: Take the Risk?
Another discussion centered on a scientist weighing a move from a stable big pharma job to a smaller biotech offering higher pay, a better title and remote work. The community consensus was predictable but practical. Small biotech firms can offer faster promotions and bigger responsibilities, but the trade-off is stability. Several commenters suggested a strategic approach: move to biotech for the experience and title bump, then return to big pharma later with a stronger résumé.

❌ Pfizer Shuts Down Its Ignite Biotech Incubator. The program designed to support early-stage biotech partners is quietly winding down.

💸 Rare Disease Drug Sales Still Heading for $400B. Analysts expect orphan drug revenue to exceed $409 billion globally by 2032 despite regulatory volatility.

😴 Eisai Teams Up With Pokémon for Sleep Campaign. The pharma company partnered with the Pokémon Sleep app to promote better sleep habits.

🧠 China Approves Brain-Computer Interface Implant. The Neuracle system pairs implanted electrodes with a robotic glove to help paralyzed patients grasp objects.

💧 Droplet Biosciences Wants to Read Cancer Signals in Lymph Fluid
Droplet Biosciences is building a new kind of liquid biopsy that skips blood entirely. The company analyzes lymphatic fluid collected from surgical drains after cancer operations, where tumor-derived biomarkers often appear in higher concentrations than in blood. That allows clinicians to detect residual disease faster and make earlier decisions about follow-up therapy. The approach also benefits from speed on the computational side. By using NVIDIA’s Parabricks platform, Droplet cut genomic variant analysis from roughly 36 hours to about three. The startup believes lymph-based diagnostics could become a new platform for monitoring multiple cancer types immediately after surgery.

⚛️ March 17, 1950 — Californium Enters the Periodic Table
Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley announced the creation of element 98, californium, one of the first synthetic elements with practical applications. The radioactive element turned out to be an exceptionally powerful neutron emitter, which makes it useful for starting nuclear reactors, studying materials through neutron diffraction, and even producing heavier elements in particle accelerators. Certain isotopes have also been used in specialized cancer treatments. Not bad for something that does not occur naturally on Earth.

If the GLP-1 race proves anything, it’s that a single breakthrough drug can send the entire pharmaceutical industry scrambling.

One company launches a blockbuster therapy. Within weeks every other pharma company has scheduled an emergency strategy meeting titled: “GLP-1 Opportunities.”

Science moves fast. Corporate panic moves faster.

That’s all for today. See you Thursday for the next issue. 👋

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