👋 Good morning! Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill is moving fast and breaking records.

Novo is making the most of its oral GLP-1 head start. In just its second week on the market, Wegovy pills logged roughly 18,400 prescriptions, with some trackers putting the number closer to 20,000. That’s already outpacing the early launches of injectable Wegovy and Lilly’s Zepbound, a strong signal that patients and physicians are more than ready to swallow GLP-1s instead of inject them.

The irony? This momentum may end up validating Lilly’s upcoming oral entrant just as much as it helps Novo claw back market share it lost last year.

🛑 Moderna Pulls Back From Late-Stage Vaccine Trials
As vaccine skepticism reshapes U.S. public health infrastructure, Moderna is stepping away from new Phase 3 vaccine trials in the infectious disease space. CEO Stéphane Bancel made it blunt: the current climate is directly affecting investment decisions. Instead, Moderna is doubling down on oncology, buoyed by five-year data showing its personalized cancer vaccine cut recurrence risk nearly in half when paired with Keytruda. The science still works. The politics just don’t.

💰 BMS Writes An $850M Check For Janux’s Tumor-Activated Tech
Bristol Myers Squibb is paying $50M upfront and dangling up to $800M more to tap Janux’s tumor-activated T-cell engager platform. Janux will handle preclinical work before handing the asset off for human trials. It’s another reminder that Big Pharma is still very willing to pay for smarter immuno-oncology, even if the market says biotech is “out of favor.”

⚖️ Former Zynex Executives Charged In $873M Billing Fraud Case
Federal prosecutors charged Zynex’s former CEO and COO with orchestrating a massive scheme involving unnecessary devices and improperly billed supplies. The indictment alleges nearly $900M in fraudulent collections and claims the pair inflated revenues to juice the stock price. The case lands as scrutiny around medtech billing practices continues to intensify.

❌ NIH Reinstates Ban On Abortion-Derived Fetal Tissue Research
The NIH has reinstated a Trump-era ban on federally funded research using fetal tissue from elective abortions. While alternative models like organoids and tissue chips are being promoted, critics argue the move further narrows already constrained biomedical research pathways. The agency says usage was already declining. Scientists aren’t convinced that makes the impact negligible.

🤑 Samsung Biologics Becomes Korea’s First 2T Won Profit Biopharma
Samsung Biologics crossed a milestone few others globally can claim: more than 2 trillion won ($1.4 billion) in annual operating profit. Fueled by relentless CDMO demand, the company now expects another 15–20% revenue growth in 2026. Scale still wins in manufacturing, and Samsung keeps proving it.

🛒 Revolution Medicines’ Buyout Odds Stay Alive.
Merck reportedly walked away after talks failed to settle on a $28B–$32B valuation, but takeover chatter continues with Bristol Myers Squibb and Novartis still seen as potential suitors.

💉 New ACIP Chair Questions Long-Standing Vaccine Policy.
Chairman Kirk Milhoan emphasized individual autonomy over population-level guidance on a podcast, signaling a philosophical shift that could reshape U.S. vaccine recommendations, including for polio.

💊 Corxel Raises $287M to Push an Oral GLP-1 Forward.
The Shanghai-based biotech will use the Series D to fund global Phase 2 studies of CX11 and prepare for Phase 3 development in type 2 diabetes.

🦠 CEPI Backs a Next-Gen Ebola Vaccine With $30M.
Merck and partners will update Ervebo’s manufacturing to improve thermostability and scale, aiming to make Ebola vaccines easier to deploy in low-resource outbreak settings.

💥 Bausch Health’s Xifaxan Follow-On Fails Phase 3.
Two Red-C trials missed primary endpoints, wiping out a hoped-for $2B growth driver and sending shares down roughly 9%.

🧴 Sanofi Presses Ahead After Mixed Eczema Data.
Despite missing some Phase 3 endpoints for amlitelimab, Sanofi plans global filings in atopic dermatitis based on what it called the “totality of the data.”

🎯 Corcept Scores Phase 3 Survival Win in Ovarian Cancer.
Relacorilant improved overall survival in platinum-resistant disease, boosting the company’s FDA prospects ahead of a July 11 decision.

💊 Lexicon Clears Phase 3 Path for a Non-Opioid Pain Pill.
FDA alignment lets pilavapadin move into late-stage trials for diabetic neuropathic pain, targeting what analysts estimate is a $1B+ market.

A quiet crisis is forming in plain sight. Over the next decade, dozens of blockbuster biologics will lose patent protection, and many won’t have biosimilars ready to replace them. That gap has earned a name: the biosimilar void.

Sandoz calls it a “golden decade” for affordable medicines, pegging the combined generic and biosimilar opportunity north of $660 billion. More than 50 biologics are set to go off patent in just seven years, yet only a fraction have biosimilars in development. That mismatch isn’t about lack of demand. It’s about friction.

The U.S. has long made biosimilars harder, slower, and more expensive to develop than almost anywhere else. Regulatory burdens, switching studies, payer dynamics, and rebate traps have all worked against adoption. FDA leadership now admits the system overshot. New guidance aims to cut biosim development time and cost in half, and eliminate switching studies entirely.

If those reforms stick, the economics change fast. Lower barriers mean more entrants, faster launches, and real pricing pressure on biologics that currently dominate drug spending despite representing a sliver of prescriptions.

The void won’t fill itself. But for companies willing to navigate the mess, this may be the biggest underplayed opportunity in pharma right now.

U.S. airlines could save up to $580 million annually as GLP-1 drugs quietly shave weight, and fuel costs, from passengers.

Here’s what biotech Redditors had to say this week:

😮‍💨 Is r/biotech an Echo Chamber or Just Honest?
A Redditor argued the subreddit has become a loop of job-market despair, pointing out that plenty of people are still landing roles. The pushback was swift: LinkedIn is for optimism and humblebrags, Reddit is where people vent and don’t want to see celebration posts. Others noted the pattern is cyclical: in 2021, people were asking whether to leave jobs they liked for a 20% raise; today, they’re asking how to survive a hiring freeze.

🍳 Biotech to Chef Is Apparently a Thing.
In a thread asking how people feel after a year or more without work, the top response was “I’m becoming a chef,” with several others agreeing. Some suggested restaurant work might be less stressful than biotech, which immediately triggered warnings from anyone who’s actually worked in kitchens. If you love cooking, go for it. But don’t confuse passion with lower stress. Source: The Bear.

🏭 Pharma Manufacturing Growth Is Set to Cool in 2026.
After a tariff-driven 9.1% production surge in 2025, Atradius expects global output growth to slow sharply before rebounding in 2027.

⚖️ Former CytoDyn CEO Sentenced for Securities Fraud.
Nader Pourhassan received a 30-month prison sentence and was ordered to repay more than $5.3M for misleading investors and selling stock on false claims.

✅ FDA Opens Applications for Its PreCheck Pilot.
The agency will begin accepting submissions Feb. 1 for a program designed to fast-track domestic drug manufacturing reviews.

🧬 J. Craig Venter Launches Diploid Genomics
Genomics pioneer J. Craig Venter is back with Diploid Genomics Inc., a JCVI spinoff using AI to combine long-read sequencing, imaging, and health data for more powerful diagnostics. The company plans to leverage PacBio and Oxford Nanopore tech, JCVI infrastructure, and a new San Diego sequencing center to deliver AI-enhanced, clinical-grade insights. Another swing from one of genomics’ original architects.

🪏 January 27, 1950 — Pfizer Finds an Antibiotic in the Dirt
Science magazine announced terramycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic discovered in Indiana soil and developed entirely by Pfizer scientists. After testing 135,000 soil samples and running more than 20 million experiments, Pfizer proved that systematic biology, not luck, could power drug discovery. The breakthrough helped turn Pfizer into a research-driven pharma company.

On your 10th PCR run of the day? Eyes crossed from the microscope? Maybe go outside and play in the dirt. You never know… worked for Pfizer.

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

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