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Good morning, everybody. Damian right here with an in-depth preview of a sure annual biotech convention, a have a look at the slicing fringe of weight problems drug improvement, and yr’s first IPO submitting.
The necessity-to-know this morning
- Eli Lilly issued an “open letter” warning in opposition to using its GLP-1 medicine Mounjaro and Zepbound for “beauty weight reduction.”
- A choose really useful the dismissal of a defamation lawsuit filed by Cassava Sciences in opposition to two neuroscientists, Geoffrey Pitt and David Bredt, who had petitioned the FDA to halt the event of the corporate’s experimental Alzheimer’s drug.
- It’s a giant morning for “2024 company replace” press releases from biotech corporations — too many to record right here.
Your information to #JPM24
Will there be offers? Why is Nvidia right here? And might biotech’s good vibes survive?
We rounded up all of the burning questions heading into the 2024 iteration of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Convention, which begins Monday in San Francisco. That features a record of the company displays which may truly be fascinating, a have a look at how enterprise capitalists are feeling concerning the new yr, and the way the specter of a pugilistic FTC may solid a shadow over the entire affair.
Learn extra.
And talking of JPM, beginning Sunday, this article will develop into your one-stop supply for all of STAT’s reporting from the convention, delivered to your inbox every afternoon.
A gentler strategy to genome enhancing
CRISPR genome enhancing, for all its utility, depends on slicing into strands of DNA, a prospect that may restrict its advantages for sure ailments and result in problematic off-target edits. Feng Zhang, the Broad Institute’s resident CRISPR pioneer, co-founded an organization to push ahead a much less violent strategy to tinkering with the genome.
As STAT’s Allison DeAngelis stories, the corporate is known as Moonwalk Therapeutics, and the concept is epigenetic enhancing. The place most genome enhancing applied sciences are aimed toward DNA itself, Moonwalk is concentrating on the encompassing chemical compounds that influence gene expression, crafting medicines which may change genes on and off with out making everlasting modifications to DNA.
Amongst Zhang’s co-founders is Alex Aravanis, who helped begin the blood testing agency Grail and can function CEO. The corporate’s funding syndicate contains Alpha Wave Ventures, Arch Enterprise Companions, and Khosla Ventures.
Learn extra.
Novo is searching for weight-loss medicine on the innovative
Novo Nordisk, maker of the blockbuster weight problems therapy Wegovy, has a long-term imaginative and prescient of revolutionizing the therapy of metabolic illness. Getting there may be going to require turning some speculative science into efficient medicines.
In weight problems, meaning turning to genome enhancing. Novo mentioned in the present day that it has partnered with Omega Therapeutics, a Flagship Pioneering firm, to develop a novel remedy that may manipulate an individual’s DNA to successfully flip up the warmth and burn power, thereby resulting in weight reduction. In MASH, the prevalent, obesity-related liver illness, Novo is working with one other Flagship startup referred to as Cellarity searching for a small-molecule drug.
Every deal is comparatively small, including as much as a possible $1 billion if each corporations hit sure milestones. However every provides to Novo’s rising mosaic of potential medicines which may succeed Wegovy and Ozempic, together with RNA-based remedies, cannabinoid-targeting therapies, and medicines designed to protect muscle mass throughout weight reduction.
Learn extra.
The primary check of 2024’s IPO waters
Final yr’s biotech rebound introduced a lift in dealmaking, features for biotech shares, and some huge enterprise capital rounds for newfangled startups. However IPOs, an integral a part of the trade’s monetary ecosystem, obtained left behind in 2023, which noticed the fewest biotech corporations go public in a decade.
We’ll quickly discover out whether or not 2024 shall be totally different. First up is CG Oncology, which filed its IPO paperwork with the SEC yesterday. The corporate, headquartered in Irvine, Calif., is in Part 3 with a therapy for bladder most cancers, enrolling sufferers who’ve already tried the usual of care. The drug, referred to as cretostimogene, is CG’s solely pipeline asset.
CG doesn’t precisely have the markings of a bellwether biotech IPO. The corporate’s record of traders doesn’t embrace any of the trade’s name-brand VCs, and it had simply $10 million in money as of Sept. 30. However its success or failure going public will present a doubtlessly instructive datapoint in a yr that’s more likely to see many extra startups trying IPOs.
Extra reads
- Canada approves Pfizer’s gene remedy for bleeding dysfunction, Reuters
- Bain is exploring €1 billion sale of Centrient Pharma, Bloomberg
- Well being tech’s 2024 hiring outlook: Steadiness suggestions towards employers, STAT
- Daiichi Sankyo settles its cardio drug lawsuit with Esperion, Endpoints