The front page of AI-driven biology
Thursday, October 15, 2026Thu, Oct 15
Updated 7:01 PM PT
Clinical readouts, approvals, and setbacks, financing, dealmaking, platform progress, and reported research across biotech and biopharma, including the companies building AI into biology.
Topline Phase 2 data from 220 patients with obesity and Type 2 diabetes showed petrelintide drove up to 9.2% weight loss at 28 weeks compared to 2% for placebo, matching competitive amylin-agonist benchmarks.
Biohaven out-licensed Asian rights to three extracellular protein degraders to Ono Pharmaceutical for $80 million upfront, with an additional $20 million milestone payment and a 20% cut of regional sales.
Argenx said its anti-CD122 monoclonal antibody, FB102, significantly improved gut tissue architecture compared to placebo in a 126-patient Phase 2 trial of adults undergoing an oral gluten challenge.
A patent court in the Netherlands ordered Merck to halt manufacturing and sales of its subcutaneous formulation of pembrolizumab, an anti-PD-1 antibody marketed as Keytruda, across eight European countries including France, Italy, and the Netherlands.
China's drug agency approved a Phase 1/3 trial and the FDA cleared a Phase 1/2 trial for NouvSight001, an off-the-shelf cell therapy for the inherited blinding condition retinitis pigmentosa.
The California-based life sciences investment firm has raised its debut regional vehicle, the TCGX Asia Life Sciences Fund I, to back drug developers across Asia at multiple development stages.
Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai were awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering how to drive chemical reactions to favor one mirror-image structure over another, a property known as homochirality.
The San Diego biotech plans to offer 9.4 million shares at $15 to $17 each, targeting roughly $135 million in net proceeds to fund clinical trials through 2028.
London-based specialty pharmaceutical company Theramex has agreed to pay up to $250 million to license a non-surgical therapy for cervical precancerous lesions from Shanghai-based Asieris Pharmaceuticals.
Life sciences equipment giant Danaher plans to launch its first autonomous research lab run by AI by early 2027, according to Reuters reporting.
The FDA has granted an expanded indication for remibrutinib, an oral Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor marketed as Rhapsido, to treat both of the two most common forms of chronic urticaria.
The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub has unveiled an expanded $1.8 billion Virtual Biology Initiative in collaboration with Meta, Google DeepMind, Isomorphic Labs, the Department of Energy, and the National Institutes of Health.
Ultragenyx has agreed to sell an FDA Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher to an undisclosed buyer for $210 million in cash.
The board of Cadrenal Therapeutics is reviewing strategic options that include licensing its assets, partnering, or selling the company entirely.
The oral GPR6 inverse agonist, evaluated as an add-on to levodopa in 341 patients experiencing motor fluctuations, met its primary goal by cutting daily OFF time by 0.61 hours versus placebo at 12 weeks.
Researchers at Sungkyunkwan University are developing a hybrid digital twin that couples physical bioprocess equations with explainable machine learning to run bioreactors autonomously.
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health awarded Bexorg up to $28.3 million, reported by Endpoints News as $28 million, over a three-phase, 36-month contract.
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health introduced Surpass, a program using predictive computational modeling, shared trial infrastructure, common controls, and real-time analysis to modernize clinical trials.
The Hague court found Merck's under-the-skin formulation of Keytruda infringes Halozyme's European patent covering modified hyaluronidase enzymes used for rapid high-volume drug delivery.
Nextech Invest and Norwest co-led the round, joined by Sanofi Ventures, Digitalis Ventures, Invus, BB Biotech, the T1D Fund, and BOLD Longevity Growth.
In the Phase 1/2 portion of the Lighthouse trial, six of nine patients with X-linked retinoschisis who received the Phase 3 dose of ATSN-201 met the microperimetry response criteria, compared with zero of three untreated controls.
Caribou Biosciences will close and discontinue its clinical pipeline after failing to secure capital for a Phase 3 study of its lead allogeneic CAR-T therapy, vispa-cel.
MimiVax reported that its cancer vaccine, SurVaxM, narrowly missed its primary overall survival endpoint in a Phase 2b trial for glioblastoma.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will continually monitor artificial intelligence-based medical devices throughout their lifecycle, replacing the current one-time approval model.
GE HealthCare has agreed to acquire radiopharmaceutical company Sofie Biosciences for $945 million.
Nuvig Therapeutics has halted a Phase 2 trial of its lead fusion protein, NVG-2089, in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy, a rare nerve disorder.
Dutch venture capital firm Forbion gathered €2.3 billion across Forbion Growth Opportunities IV and Forbion Ventures Fund VIII to back up to 30 biotechnology startups.
The biotech's brain-penetrant oral EGFR inhibitor firmonertinib failed to significantly improve progression-free survival against platinum-based chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for non-small cell lung cancer with exon 20 insertion mutations.
The funding comprises a Series A round joined by OTB Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Recode Ventures, and other backers, alongside up to $20 million in non-dilutive grants from Slovakia and the European Union.