📉 In 2023, Pfizer acquired Seagen for a hefty $43 billion. The companies were certain, at the time, that the buyout would be transformative. Rather than a traditional deal headline, Pfizer’s press release read “Pfizer invests $43 billion to battle cancer” at the top. In the deal, Pfizer received multiple approved and experimental antibody-drug conjugates as it attempted to boost its cancer pipeline and stave off upcoming patent cliffs for Eliquis, Ibrance, Xtandi and Xeljanz. 

That plan ran into a roadblock this week, as the most advanced experimental ADC, called sigvotatug vedotin, failed a Phase 3 trial in metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer. The disappointment builds on two other Seagen-originated programs that failed, though Pfizer had talked them up as potential future growth drivers since early 2025. Sigvotatug vedotin also represents a possible strategic miss for Pfizer’s clinical development team, as the company moved it straight into Phase 3 after an early-stage trial showed impressive data. 

Pfizer still believes it can reach its previously stated goal of having at least eight potential blockbusters by 2030. “One trial result does not define the trajectory of a pipeline of this depth and breadth,” a Pfizer spokesperson said. But investors may start getting jittery. Pfizer’s shares have gained about 3.8% in the last 12 months, a far cry from the 23% jump in the S&P 500 or the 80% surge in the XBI. Read more from Elizabeth Cairns here.

🇨🇳 Nature Medicine retracted a high-profile paper it published in February, detailing results of a China-based trial suggesting that cancer immunotherapy was more effective if given to lung cancer patients early in the day. After a four-month investigation, Nature editors concluded the number and nature of problems with the study mean they “no longer have confidence in the integrity of the results.”

The retraction comes at a particularly bad time for Chinese research, as the country is just beginning to gain real credibility as a research powerhouse. As an anti-China lobby seems to be building in the US, the withdrawal of such a prominent paper could provide ammunition to those already predisposed to mistrust Chinese research. Read more here. 

Additionally, HHS said this week that the FDA will accept public comments for a new pilot program that would make it quicker to go from drug identification to first-in-human trials. The program is designed to make the US more competitive with China, which has become a hotbed of early-stage clinical development, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said. 

But funding continues to pour into US companies with assets from China. Ollin Biosciences grabbed a $330 million Series B to push forward its eye drug from Innovent, while Serapha Bio and its experimental base editing drug went public in a $230 million reverse merger.

🤝 The announced buyout marks AbbVie’s biggest acquisition since Allergan in 2020, Kyle LaHucik reported. The deal centers around Apogee Therapeutics’ long-acting IL-13 agent zumilokibart, which is slated to enter Phase 3 studies for eczema later this year. Zumilokibart fits squarely in AbbVie’s autoimmune portfolio, which includes blockbusters like Humira and later on Skyrizi and Rinvoq. 

Clinical trial data suggest that zumilokibart maintenance doses could be administered quarterly or twice yearly, which AbbVie said could be “highly convenient” for patients. AbbVie’s $10.9 billion deal for Apogee continues a bonanza of biotech dealmaking, coming just weeks after GSK earmarked over $10 billion to buy Nuvalent. Read more here.