Politics
Senate passes BIOSECURE Act
The Senate yesterday evening passed legislation that would restrict U.S. pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies from doing business with certain Chinese companies, potentially giving the president another way to pressure the industry into doing what he wants.
The BIOSECURE Act, which was passed as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, has been a long time coming, STAT's John Wilkerson reports. The legislation is not over the finish line yet, but it’s significant that the Senate included it in the National Defense Authorization Act, because the defense budget bill has passed every year for decades.
The House passed its version of the defense bill earlier in the year without the BIOSECURE Act, so the two chambers would need to agree to include BIOSECURE in the final version of the spending bill when reconciling differences between the two.
Read more.
pharma
AstraZeneca to make obesity drugs in new Virginia plant
AstraZeneca yesterday broke ground on a new $4.5 billion manufacturing plant in Virginia, as part of the company's previously announced plan to invest $50 billion in the U.S. for manufacturing and R&D.
The news comes as President Trump adds pressure on pharma companies to build in the U.S. He's been threatening tariffs on the industry for several months and has also complained that other countries benefit from investments and innovations made by pharma companies without paying enough for them.
“Today is a wake-up call, a wake up call to the global freeloading countries that are not carrying their load,” CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said at the event. “If you are swatching us from another country, please do your part. If not, we will be happy to welcome your businesses to our country, which is what we're witnessing today.”
Oz also said that AstraZeneca will be making its “fat pill” at the new plant, borrowing Trump's language of calling GLP-1 injectables “fat shots.”
AstraZeneca doesn't have any obesity drugs that are approved, but it has two small molecule candidates in Phase 2 testing — one targeting GLP-1, and the other targeting GLP-1, glucagon, and amylin.
quote of the day
“If you always find a hair in the soup, we are not going to eat any soup.”
That was from the new CEO of Novo Nordisk, Mike Doustdar, speaking to Bloomberg.
He was talking about Novo's announcement that it would acquire MASH drug developer Akero Therapeutics for up to $5.2 billion — and appeared to be trying to make a point about Novo's strategic decision-making. The company, he said, has historically focused on in-house assets, but if there are other drugmakers making better candidates, then is should recognize the opportunity and take risks with dealmaking. (Novo earlier this year halted development of its own drug that used a similar mechanism as Akero's.)
My colleagues and I were a bit puzzled by the metaphor, but we welcome any and all reader interpretations. Let me know what you make of it.
podcast
Is biotech so back?
My colleagues and I discuss that on this week’s episode of the “The Readout LOUD,” our weekly biotech podcast.
We bring on Mizuho health care strategist Jared Holz to discuss the rebound in biotech stocks and sentiment. We also talk about Peter Marks’ new role at Eli Lilly after leaving the FDA, an attempt by a biotech to revive a rare disease drug shelved by AstraZeneca, and new funds raised by China-focused Expedition Therapeutics.
Listen here.
Correction: An item in Wednesday's newsletter incorrectly stated that Laura Lande-Diner, who is leading a new life sciences investment group, Jefferson Life Sciences, was a partner at Flagship Pioneering. She most recently served as the business chief at startup Satellite Bio and as a senior associate at Flagship.
