Frank Vinluan

Verdiva Bio's once-a-week oral GLP-1 drug is ready for Phase 2 testing. The drug, made with a proprietary technology that enables oral dosing, was licensed from Sciwind Biosciences.

Ouro Medicines' drugs deplete disease-driving immune cells, allowing the immune system to reset with naïve cells that don't attack the body. Monograph Capital founded the startup in partnership with GSK.

Gilead Sciences is acquiring LEO Pharma's oral small molecule inhibitors of STAT6, a protein key to two validated inflammation pathways. Other STAT6 drug developers include Kymera Therapeutics and Sanofi-partnered Recludix Pharma, which is presenting this week during the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.

Johnson & Johnson's agreement to acquire Intra-Cellular Therapies brings Caplyta, which is projected to become a blockbuster seller across several neurological indications. In other M&A news, GSK and Eli Lilly each struck deals to fill their cancer drug pipelines.

Revenue for the blockbuster Eli Lilly drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound continues to grow, but not as much as expected. At the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Lilly CEO David Ricks explained why the company revised downward its projections for fourth quarter 2024 revenue.

Galapagos and Gilead Sciences have both evolved since inking their R&D collaboration agreement in 2019. Separating Galapagos into two offers a way for that company to pursue its cell therapy strategy while also keeping the Gilead alliance alive, executives from both companies said.

AstraZeneca’s Calquence has expanded its FDA approval to include first-line treatment of mantle cell lymphoma. The regulatory decision makes Calquence the first BTK inhibitor approved as an initial treatment for this type of blood cancer.

AstraZeneca's Datroway, an antibody drug conjugate (ADC), is now FDA approved for advanced cases of breast cancer that is HR positive and HER2 negative. Datroway targets TROP2, the same cancer protein addressed by Trodelvy, a Gilead Sciences ADC also approved for breast cancer.

China has become a key piece of Foresite Capital's investment and company formation strategy. During the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Managing Director Michael Rome shared his thoughts on why biotech in China is booming as well as therapeutic areas where he sees promising science.

ArriVent Biopharma claims best-in-class potential in gastrointestinal cancers for its new asset, but it's not specifying the class. It's possible the Phase 1-ready drug goes after claudin 18.2, a hot target for GI cancer drug research that recently welcomed its first FDA-approved therapy and is in pursuit by several companies.