Episode 136 - March 28, 2025

On this week’s episode, Chris Garabedian, Tim Opler, Bruce Booth, and Sam Fazeli discuss the current investor mood, a PIPEs retrospective, and the contraction of new startups. The episode opens with a conversation on the biotech market updates, which have been driven by economic uncertainty and shifting investor sentiment, noting that macroeconomic factors continue to weigh on performance of biotech stocks in the market. Regulatory discussion centers on recent HHS personnel cuts, and the confirmations of FDA and NIH leaders. The conversation shifts to data with Soleno Therapeutics’ Prader-Willi drug approval, oncology readouts, and presentations at the European Lung Cancer Congress 2025. Tim Opler also discussed findings from a recent aging report. On the global front, China’s role in biotech continues to expand, with an increasing share of large pharma molecules originating from the country. The episode concludes with a look at obesity drug deals, including a major partnership with a China-based biotech and a preclinical asset with a novel mechanism targeting satiety and energy expenditure. *This episode aired on March 28, 2025.