Episode 154 - September 12, 2025

On this week’s episode, Chris Garabedian, Tess Cameron, EricSchmidt, Sam Fazeli, and Brad Loncar open with a look at the market environment as biotech sees its first IPO since February -- LB Pharma -- and financings, including Maze’s $150M PIPE and Rapport’s $250M follow-on. The co-hosts discuss improving sentiment around rates, the $XBI, and insights from conversations at the HC Wainwright conference. Novartis’ $1.4B acquisition of Tourmaline Bio and broader deal-making dynamics are also highlighted. On thepolicy front, the group examines the latest China biotech news, including a draft executive order from the Trump Administration. The co-hosts debate access, geopolitical concerns, and the FDA’s slower trial-startup process. Indata news, the co-hosts examine Revolution Medicines’ pancreatic cancer therapy, emerging small-cell lung cancer data from the World Conference on Lung Cancer, Summit’s mixed readout and market reaction, and promising newnarcolepsy data from Takeda and Alkermes. Dianthus’ positive generalized myasthenia gravis results are also highlighted. Regulatory and safety updates cover the FDA’s withdrawal of Intercept’s liver drug, a patient death in Capsida’s gene therapy trial, Soleno’s FAERS-related stock drop, SEC action on Fibrogen data manipulation, and cancellations of several FDA ad comms raising transparency questions. The episode concludes with a discussion on BridgeBio accusing Alnylam and Pfizer of aggressive tactics in the ATTR-CM market, Arena Bioworks appointing veteran Harvey Berger as CEO, and Novo Nordisk’s 11% workforce reduction. *This episode aired on September 12, 2025.