The front page of AI-driven biology
Thursday, October 15, 2026Thu, Oct 15
Updated 9:31 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.
In the Phase 3 Daybreak study in wet age-related macular degeneration, Kodiak Sciences showed that tarcocimab tedromer matched Regeneron's VEGF inhibitor aflibercept on the primary vision-gain endpoint at one year.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority committed an initial $18.5 million to advance SCY-247, an oral and intravenous antifungal candidate, into a Phase 2 trial for invasive fungal infections.
Tolerance Bio licensed ex-Japan rights to MT-2990, a clinical-stage human IgG1 monoclonal antibody targeting IL-33, in an agreement carrying potential milestones of up to $560 million.
Adding the Nodamura virus protein NoV B2 suppresses intracellular immune defenses against self-amplifying RNA, boosting protein production in both stem cells and regular cells, researchers at Queen Mary University of London report in Nature Communications.
The FDA cleared tavapadon, marketed as Juvmo, as a once-daily oral selective D1/D5 dopamine receptor agonist for use as a monotherapy or alongside levodopa.
BioNTech will shut down three facilities across Germany after negotiations to find outside buyers for the locations collapsed.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved AbbVie's therapy for adults with Parkinson's disease, according to the agency's website.
Merck and Daiichi Sankyo have voluntarily withdrawn their application to the FDA for accelerated approval of their experimental lung cancer therapy, patritumab deruxtecan.
Viatris unit Mylan has filed a federal lawsuit in Delaware seeking a court ruling that its proposed generic version of semaglutide, sold by Novo Nordisk as the obesity injection Wegovy, does not infringe Novo's patents.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Mirum Pharmaceuticals' therapy to treat a rare bone condition.
ADARx Pharmaceuticals raised $446.3 million in gross proceeds, reported as $446 million by Fierce Biotech, by pricing an upsized offering of 26.3 million shares at $17 each alongside a separate $100 million private placement from AbbVie.
The FDA has expanded the approval of belzutifan (Welireg), Merck's oral HIF-2alpha inhibitor, into second-line therapy for kidney cancer.
Researchers at the University of Otago have developed phage Tn-seq, a platform that pairs transposon insertion sequencing with CRISPR and anti-CRISPR selection to systematically identify essential genes across diverse bacteriophages.
Novo Nordisk has acquired exclusive rights to Nanexa's PharmaShell drug delivery technology for up to five peptide programs across obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other cardiometabolic indications, in an agreement valued at up to €1.165 billion ($1.33 billion, reported as $1.3 billion elsewhere).
Genentech is paying $55 million upfront in a multi-target oncology collaboration that could exceed $1.5 billion with development, regulatory, and commercial milestones.
The FDA has approved Elevar Therapeutics' targeted therapy Lyrfigtu for the treatment of bile duct cancer, also known as cholangiocarcinoma.
Acadia Pharmaceuticals said its Phase 2 Radiant trial evaluating remlifanserin in patients with Alzheimer's psychosis missed its primary endpoint with a p-value of 0.0603.
Merck announced that its experimental therapy met the primary endpoint in a mid- to late-stage trial evaluating adult patients with vascular eye disease affecting the retina.
Kyverna Therapeutics reported that a single dose of its autologous cell therapy mivocabtagene autoleucel (miv-cel) maintained a 49% median improvement in mobility at 12 months in a 26-patient registrational trial for stiff person syndrome.
Anthropic announced that its wet biology lab discovered an enzyme system hidden in bacteriophage DNA that functions similarly to CRISPR by cutting, copying, and pasting genetic material.
An FDA advisory committee voted 7 to 2, with one abstention, that the benefits of Grail's Galleri multi-cancer early detection blood test outweigh its risks for indicated patients.
Genialis and Inventia Life Science have partnered to match bioprinted 3D pancreatic cancer models with specific clinical patient subtypes.
Chemists at New York University created an open-source machine learning model called Tautomer-Predictor to determine the most stable structural forms of drug candidates by predicting hydrogen atom positions.
The partnered monthly antisense injection sefaxersen significantly lowered protein in the urine of patients with IgA nephropathy at an interim check, the companies announced.
The U.S. Department of War has awarded venture creator Flagship Pioneering a five-year, $47 million contract to build medical countermeasures against emerging biological and chemical threats.
The funding supports clinical expansion for two lead oral small molecules, including mid-stage trials of ENV-294 in atopic dermatitis and asthma after early data showed an 85% symptom reduction by Day 42.
The German drugmaker added over $250 million in potential upfront, license, and milestone payments to tap Variant's machine-learning platform for cardiovascular drug targets.
S32 led the oversubscribed Series C round for Basecamp Research, which uses its EDEN biological foundation model to design in vivo cell therapies that reprogram patient cells inside the body.
Immunovant has halted development of its anti-FcRn antibody IMVT-1402 in cutaneous lupus erythematosus after the drug failed a 57-patient Phase 2 trial against placebo.
Celldex reported that its monoclonal antibody barzolvolimab met primary and secondary endpoints in two randomized Phase 3 trials enrolling 1,939 patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria.