October 15, 2026

The need-to-know this morning

Privately held U.K. biotech OMass Therapeutics raised $310 million to support the clinical development of a drug to treat congenital adrenal hyperplasia, an inherited endocrine disorder.
The investment firm Orbimed raised nearly $3 billion for two, new private equity funds that will invest in U.S, European and Asian health care companies.

stat summit

Investor: China's biotech boom threatens U.S. venture capital

From STAT’s Allison DeAngelis: The rise of Chinese biotech isn’t just impacting U.S. companies, one investor is warning. It’s threatening VC firms.

Francisco Gimenez, a partner at VC firm 8VC, told the audience at the STAT Summit yesterday that the traditional model of building up and investing in U.S. biotech companies is atrophying right before our eyes.

Investors are acting more like importers, reliant on licensing new medicines that were developed in China. "I don’t see how the [traditional bio] model has, in its default state, a future in 10 years," he said.

Gimenez's comments echo what other investors have told STAT: The biotech VC sector is at a critical juncture, and must adapt to survive. There's no obvious new model for the next generation of biotech investing, yet. But Gimenez would like to see more biotech venture capitalists — which, as a group, have stayed relatively quiet on debates playing out in Washington — become more vocal and put forward more ideas for more favorable regulations and infrastructure.

STAT will dig into how the "China problem" is affecting biotech VC on day 2 of the STAT Summit today.

markets

Biotech stocks have risen, but investors are suffering

Biotech stocks may be up for the year, but plenty of investors are losing money anyway. The XBI index has gained 24% in 2026, despite falling 11% from its August peak, STAT’s Adam Feuerstein writes in his weekly Biotech Scorecard newsletter.

Beneath that relatively rosy performance, however, popular biotech stocks like Revolution Medicines, Insmed, and BridgeBio have taken a whipping. Meanwhile, heavily shorted stocks have rallied. The divergence has been particularly painful for hedge funds with concentrated positions, forcing some to unwind their bets by selling shares and covering shorts — putting further pressure on biotech stocks. The upshot, per Creek Drive Capital’s chief investment officer, “is an extraordinarily severe dislocation in the positioning of an entire group of specialist investors.”

oncology

Verastem's KRAS inhibitor shows promise in pancreatic cancer

Verastem Oncology is reporting encouraging early results for its KRAS G12D inhibitor, which it’s studying in more than 200 patients with advanced solid tumors like metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and non-small cell lung cancer. The data offer some validation for Verastem’s decision to shift R&D resources toward the drug earlier this year, FierceBiotech notes.

In a phase 1/2 trial, the treatment, VS-7375, produced a 50% response rate among eight patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer receiving it as second-line therapy.

The findings come on the heels of the FDA's August approval of Revolution Medicines' daraxonrasib — the first RAS inhibitor approved for pancreatic cancer. This has intensified interest in drugs targeting KRAS mutations. Verastem plans to launch a Phase 3 trial by year-end and is exploring a potential partnership to help advance the drug.

drug pricing

U.S. delays new rule that could restrict imported meds

The Trump administration is delaying by 90 days a federal rule that could prevent Americans from obtaining prescription drugs from licensed international pharmacies.

The rule, which will require drugs mailed from abroad to go through a customs process that mandates a licensed broker and a financial guarantee in the form of an entry bond, is intended to crack down on the shipment of illegal goods, STAT’s Ed Silverman notes. But in recent weeks, patient advocacy groups and dozens of congressional lawmakers urged the administration to rethink its approach, saying it would have unintended consequences.

“This gives the FDA time to work with CBP to ensure a pathway for patients to continue importing more affordable prescription drugs for personal use when the rule is implement, based on identifiable safety criteria,” said Gabriel Levitt, who heads Prescription Justice, an advocacy group.

psychedelics

Compass to chart cautious course if it wins approval

Compass Pathways is nearing a potential FDA approval for its psilocybin-based depression treatment, but CEO Kabir Nath says the company has no intention of rushing its rollout. Speaking at the STAT Summit yesterday, Nath touted the potential lasting antidepressant benefits — but said the company’s mindful that negative experiences among patients or providers could set back the entire psychedelics industry.

Steven Hyman, a Harvard University professor and former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, said the field’s credibility would depend on rigorous research, responsible marketing, and long-term safety monitoring.

“I don’t mean this as a pun,” Hyman said. “But being really sober about the way this research is presented — the only way to gain credibility is to be absolutely rigorous.”

Thanks for reading! Until tomorrow,