🔬 Latest pharma industry updates 👇

🤝 Vertex Pharmaceuticals will buy Crinetics Pharmaceuticals for $10B, its largest acquisition ever, expanding into endocrinology with Palsonify.

💊 Kailera Therapeutics’s obesity pill succeeded in a late-stage China trial, producing about 10% weight loss over 10 months, though high gastrointestinal side effects raised analyst concerns.

🤝 Novartis will acquire Myricx Bio for up to $1.5B, adding next-generation ADC payload technology using NMT inhibitors and preclinical B7-H3 and HER2 solid tumor candidates.

💰 MeiraGTx raised up to $400M, to start commercial launch of 3 late-stage gene therapies.

🤖 Anthropic is launching its own preclinical drug research program, starting in rare diseases, building physical labs, and using Claude Science to move beyond selling AI tools to pharma.

🟢 Vera Therapeutics, Inc. won FDA approval for its closely watched IgA nephropathy drug, setting up a commercial battle with Otsuka in a fast-evolving kidney disease market.

❌ Roche discontinued 2 Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.-partnered Huntington’s programs after tominersen failed to delay disease progression and another candidate raised preclinical safety concerns.

📈 The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index is up 18% year-to-date, outperforming the S&P 500 and pharma indexes, with Morgan Stanley expecting fundamentals and M&A to drive the second half.

📉 AstraZeneca and Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’ Wainua unexpectedly failed its Phase 3 ATTR-CM trial, missing the primary cardiovascular endpoint and boosting competitors Alnylam and BridgeBio.

🤝 AstraZeneca licensed ex-China rights to Sino Biopharmaceutical Limited’s late-stage COPD drug for up to $2.1B.

🚨 The Ebola outbreak in DRC reached 1,759 confirmed cases and 600 deaths, with treatment centers near capacity and insecurity, displacement and weak health infrastructure hampering containment.

💉 Ipsen’s Dysport met Phase 3 goals in chronic and episodic migraine, potentially opening a major new market where AbbVie’s Botox lacks an episodic migraine indication.

💰 Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) awarded $160M to multiple projects to accelerate personalized rare disease therapies.

🎯 GSK’s Hansoh-partnered B7-H3 ADC risvutatug rezetecan improved survival in advanced small cell lung cancer in China, supporting its broader global development program.

💰 Cancer and immunology biotechs dominated venture funding in 2026, representing more than 40% of both funded companies and total capital raised so far.

🤝 Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will acquire iRenix Medical, Inc. for $75M upfront plus up to $490M in milestones, adding IRX-101, an ocular antiseptic being tested for pain reduction after intravitreal injections.