Episode 158 - October 10, 2025

On this week’s episode, Tess Cameron, Brian Skorney, Sam Fazeli, Yaron Werber, and Luba Greenwood, kick off with a pop quiz on the last time the $XBI hit 105 (spoiler, it was 2021) driven by recent positive news. The co-hosts highlight a steady rate of M&A activity, including Novo Nordisk’s acquisition of Akero Therapeutics highlighting continued interest in metabolic conditions and BMS’ acquisition of Orbital Therapeutics reflecting growing momentum around in vivo CAR-T delivery platforms. The LB Pharma and MapLight IPOs are also mentioned. The conversation shifts to AI pharma deals, spotlighting AstraZeneca’s partnership with Algen Biotechnologies and Sanofi’s collaboration with BenchSci, both designed to accelerate discovery and target identification. In other financing news, the co-hosts cover Nilo Therapeutics’ $101 million Series A financing and the debut of Ascenta’s $325 million biotech fund. In data news, the group covers Arcus’ HIF-2a monotherapy data in kidney cancer, Dyne Therapeutics’ encouraging results in DM1, and Ionis’ pipeline and platform updates presented at its Innovation Day. The episode concludes with Lexeo Therapeutics’ regulatory updates for its Freidreich’s ataxis gene therapy and discussion on Peter Marks’ transition from the head of CBER to Eli Lilly, noting the pharma-agency “revolving door.” *This episode aired on October 10, 2025.