👋 Hey, let’s get into it. After decades of disappointment, the RAS revolution in pancreatic cancer may have finally arrived. Revolution Medicines unveiled full data on daraxonrasib at ASCO this weekend, showing the drug doubled overall survival and progression-free survival while nearly tripling response rates versus chemotherapy.

The presentation earned multiple rounds of applause and even a standing ovation from what many consider one of oncology's toughest crowds. Truist analysts called the dataset approval-derisking and suggested the opportunity could exceed $2 billion annually if the drug reaches its potential. Not bad for a target once considered undruggable.

There are so many highlights from the ASCO Annual Meeting that we dedicated the Deep Dive section to the conference. More on that halfway down.

💰 Lilly Finds Two More Ways to Spend Billions
Lilly's business development team apparently took the weekend off from sleeping. The pharma giant licensed Hanmi's phase 2 GLP-2 candidate sonefpeglutide in a deal worth up to $1.26 billion, adding a potential monthly treatment option for patients with short bowel syndrome. Hours later, Lilly announced a separate research collaboration with China's Haisco worth up to $3 billion across as many as five undisclosed programs. Combined, the two agreements add more than $4 billion in potential deal value and reinforce a trend that has become impossible to ignore: when Lilly sees something it likes, it usually reaches for the checkbook.

🇨🇳 Pfizer Places a $10B Bet on Chinese Innovation
Just days after Bristol Myers Squibb expanded its China strategy, Pfizer followed suit with a massive oncology collaboration with Innovent worth up to $10.5 billion. The agreement covers 12 cancer programs spanning antibody-drug conjugates and multispecific antibodies, with Innovent handling early development before Pfizer takes the global lead. The structure gives Pfizer access to China's increasingly productive biotech ecosystem while leveraging its own global development engine. Big Pharma executives spent years talking about Chinese innovation. Now they're spending billions to secure it.

🤩 China's Star Cancer Drug Delivers Another Win
Akeso's ivonescimab generated one of ASCO's most closely watched datasets and largely delivered. In a phase 3 study, the PD-1xVEGF bispecific reduced the risk of death by 34% versus a PD-1 inhibitor plus chemotherapy in first-line squamous non-small cell lung cancer. The result exceeded many analysts' expectations and marked the first China-only phase 3 dataset presented in ASCO's prestigious plenary session. The celebration comes with caveats, however, as American partner Summit Therapeutics still needs to reproduce similar outcomes in a patient population more representative of the U.S. market.

💪 Servier Pays Up to $2.65B for Muscular Dystrophy
Servier agreed to acquire Edgewise Therapeutics' muscular dystrophy business for up to $2.65 billion, securing sevasemten ahead of pivotal Becker muscular dystrophy data expected later this year. The deal includes $1.55 billion upfront plus milestone payments and allows Edgewise to focus entirely on its cardiovascular pipeline. For Servier, it's a chance to strengthen its neurology portfolio with a late-stage asset. For Edgewise, it's enough cash to potentially carry its heart disease program all the way through approval.

🏆 Kelonia's CAR-T Scores 100%
Kelonia reported a 100% response rate across 18 multiple myeloma patients treated with its in vivo CAR-T candidate KLN-1010. Lilly’s proposed $3.2 billion acquisition of Kelonia, announced in April, remains pending. It’s safe to say Lilly execs are feeling good about the deal right now.

✌️ Gilead Walks Away From MiroBio Asset
Gilead discontinued the lead BTLA agonist acquired through its $405 million MiroBio acquisition after reviewing available clinical data.

🦠 Hepatitis B Cure Progress at GSK
GSK reported that nearly one-fifth of chronic hepatitis B patients achieved a functional cure with bepirovirsen in phase 3 studies.

💸 Agios Buys Blood Disorder Drug for $165M
Agios licensed Oscotec's cevidoplenib for up to $165 million despite the SYK inhibitor previously missing expectations in phase 2.

💉 CVS Restores Zepbound Coverage
CVS Caremark, the largest PBM in the country, restored coverage for Zepbound and added Lilly's obesity pill Foundayo to its formulary lineup.

✅ AbbVie Scores Another ADC Approval
AbbVie earned FDA approval for Decnupaz, a rare blood cancer ADC acquired through its ImmunoGen acquisition.

🌍 Moderna's Ebola Vaccine Gets CEPI Backing
CEPI committed up to $50 million to support development of Moderna's experimental Ebola vaccine amid a growing outbreak.

ASCO 2026 is wrapping up in Chicago, where thousands of oncologists gathered to debate data, compare survival curves, and consume enough hot dogs and deep-dish pizza to violate several wellness guidelines. Amid the noise, a handful of datasets stood out from the crowd.

🫁 Lilly's Retevmo continued its transformation from niche precision medicine to potential standard of care. In early-stage RET fusion-positive lung cancer, the drug reduced the risk of recurrence or death by an impressive 83%. Event-free survival reached 92% at 24 months versus 61% for placebo, reinforcing the growing importance of comprehensive biomarker testing.

🩸 Bristol Myers Squibb delivered one of the strongest multiple myeloma datasets of the meeting. Its CELMoD candidate mezigdomide more than doubled progression-free survival to 18 months compared with 8.3 months for standard therapy. The regimen reduced progression or death risk by 52%, potentially creating another important option for relapsed patients.

🎯 Johnson & Johnson challenged long-standing prostate cancer treatment conventions. In the phase 3 Proteus trial, Erleada given before and after surgery made patients nine times more likely to have little or no remaining cancer at surgery and reduced the risk of metastasis or death by 20%. For many patients, earlier intervention may prove critical.

🧪 AstraZeneca expanded the reach of its Imfinzi and Imjudo combination into earlier-stage liver cancer. When paired with Lenvima and TACE, the regimen reduced disease progression or death by 30% and extended progression-free survival to 13 months. Overall survival data remain immature, but the early signals look encouraging.

That's how much the list prices of 25 leading brand-name drugs have increased on average since launch in the United States, according to an AARP analysis. In comparison, prices for those same medicines fell an average of 13% across 19 other high-income countries. Drug pricing debates may change, but the gap remains enormous.

Here’s what biotech Redditors are talking about:

😓 The Six-Month Job Search Is Becoming Normal
A BioSpace LinkedIn poll showing that 53% of biotech and pharma job seekers have been searching for at least six months struck a nerve online. Many commenters argued LinkedIn applications increasingly feel like shouting into the void and suggested using company websites instead. Others noted a slight uptick in recruiter outreach recently, offering cautious optimism that hiring conditions may finally be improving after a prolonged downturn.

⏰ How Many Hours Do Biotech Employees Actually Work?
A Reddit thread asking "how hard do you work?" produced exactly the kind of answers you'd expect from biotech. Some researchers reported 10-hour lab days and weekend work, while others admitted they perform roughly 20 hours of actual work per week despite “busy” calendars. The consensus: work-life balance depends less on biotech as an industry and more on your company, manager, and team culture.

🧐 Thermo Fisher's Antibody Images Raise Questions
Researchers identified more than 100 apparently manipulated images within Thermo Fisher antibody catalogue entries, reigniting reproducibility concerns.

🚀 Hoth Pivots from Biotech to…Space-Tech?
Hoth Therapeutics rebranded as Rocket One, pivoted into AI semiconductors for space applications, and promptly watched its stock soar.

💉 Trump Signs Off on Vaccine Schedule Shake-Up
A new executive order backs HHS efforts to revise childhood vaccine recommendations, removing several routine vaccine recommendations.

🎬 Disney Enters the MRI Suite
Philips added Disney characters to MRI systems, helping distract anxious children during scans without requiring additional medication.

🏭 Wondercel Wants to Reinvent CAR-T Manufacturing
Nine years after helping launch what became CAR-T blockbuster Carvykti, Legend Biotech founder Frank Fan is back with a new venture called Wondercel. The company is developing a non-gene-editing universal CAR-T platform designed to dramatically improve manufacturing scalability. Fan claims a single healthy donor batch could eventually produce up to 3,000 patient doses, potentially lowering costs while avoiding some challenges associated with genome editing. Early data remain preliminary, but the ambition is impossible to miss.

🧫 June 2, 1881 — Louis Pasteur Silences the Doubters
Hundreds of skeptical farmers, journalists, and veterinarians gathered in Pouilly-le-Fort, France, expecting Louis Pasteur's anthrax vaccine experiment to fail. Instead, every vaccinated animal survived while nearly every unvaccinated animal lay dead or dying. The dramatic public demonstration transformed germ theory from controversial idea into accepted science and helped establish the foundations of modern vaccinology, clinical trial design, and evidence-based medicine.

Some companies spent ASCO presenting cancer data. Lilly somehow found time to present cancer data AND sign billions of dollars worth of deals on the side. At this point, we can only assume Lilly's business development team operates on a steady IV drip of espresso as they comb through spreadsheets and write billion-dollar checks with alarming efficiency. ☕️

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

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