Alnylam just signed a deal worth up to $2B with Inceptive, an AI biotech co-founded by Jakob Uszkoreit π
The researcher who helped create the Transformer architecture behind ChatGPT.
The goal: use AI to design better RNAi drugs.
$ALNY
Germany's proposed drug pricing reforms just got a costly response.
π° Lilly is cutting its planned β¬2.3B investment roughly in half.
π° Boehringer is cutting β¬900M.
That's more than $2B in pharma investment disappearing as a result of drug pricing reforms.
$LLY
Anti-aging startup NewLimit just raised $435M.
The company uses mRNA-delivered transcription factors to "reprogram" aging cells and make them function more like younger versions of themselves.
It plans to enter Phase 1 next year.
#biotech#longevity
Lilly announced TWO more deals on the same day:
π Hanmi: GLP-2 drug for short bowel syndrome (up to $1.2B)
π¬ Haisco: 5-program R&D collaboration (up to $3B)
At this point Lilly is converting GLP-1 cash into biotech assets faster than most companies can pitch them.
$LLY
Biotechβs next big fight may be geopolitical. πΊπΈπ§¬π¨π³
Lawmakers are pushing to restrict U.S. investment and licensing deals tied to Chinese biotech as concerns grow America is outsourcing future innovation.
The debate: block Chinaβ¦or fix U.S. biotech competitiveness?
#biotech
Lilly just added THREE vaccine acquisitions worth up to $3.8B combined:
π Curevo β shingles
π§« LimmaTech β bacterial vaccines
π¦ Vaccine Company β West Nile, dengue & Zika programs
Lilly's 2026 acquisition list just keeps growing. GLP-1 cash is working overtime.
$LLY
@PharmaAlerts It could also discourage patient enrollment if they see odds are stacked against a successful trial. Not to mention how difficult it will be to track insider bets at scale.
You can already bet on sports, elections, and apparently aliens. Now biotech wants in π
Kalshi is listing drug milestone contracts and Endpoint Arena is testing clinical trial predictions.
Question: are we forecasting science...or starting to influence it?
BMS just partnered with Anthropic to deploy Claude across 30,000+ employees and global operations.
Goals include:
π§ͺ Drug target discovery
π Manufacturing
π» AI-powered development
π Unlocking disconnected data
BMS also wants to cut target-to-lead timelines by 50%.
$BMY
Regeneron just placed a $2.3B bet on Parabilis and its Helicon platform designed to target proteins pharma has long labeled "undruggable."
How it works:
π― Antibody finds target
π¦ Payload delivered
𧬠Goes after hard-to-reach intracellular proteins
$REGN
Pharma companies trying to avoid Trumpβs proposed 100% drug tariffs are finding out the exemption process is...not exactly simple π
Full story in the May 19 issue of BioNucleus Briefing. Link in bio.
#biotech#pharma#drugdevelopment
Novo just fired a shot back at Lilly.
High-dose Wegovy data showed certain early responders lost 27.7% body weight. With overall avg nearly 21%.
Zepbound average weight loss ~20% for context
Novo also reported oral pill data showing early responders hit 21.6%.
$NVO $LLY
Big Pharma keeps paying for speed.
Bristol Myers Squibb + Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals inked a deal worth up to $15.2B.
π° $600M upfront
𧬠13 programs
π― Oncology / Hematology / Immunology
Chinaβs faster R&D timelines may be the real asset here.
Time = money.
$BMY
Hantavirus headlines hitβ¦And vaccine stocks instantly woke up.
π $MRNA
π $INO
π $NVAX
π $EBS
Important context:
π§ͺ Modernaβs vaccine work is early stage
π¦ Most experts see slim odds of a major outbreak
Biotech reflexes from 2020 are still alive.
Zuckerberg-backed Biohub is dropping $500M on AI biology.
Goal:
𧬠Build predictive models of human cells
π Speed drug discovery
π Simulate disease before wet lab testing
$400M β internal work
$100M β global ecosystem funding
Partners include $NVDA + major research groups.
For the first time in 16 years: Obesity > Oncology in pharma pipeline value
Per Deloitte:
π Obesity = 25%
ποΈ Oncology = 20%
In 2022 it was:
1% vs 32%
GLP-1s changed everything. But 96% of obesity value sits with just 3 companies.
Huge upside. Huge concentration risk.
$LLY
20,000 patients before the ad blitz starts π
Eli Lilly says Foundayo has reached 20k patients since its April 9 launch.
π± 45% via LillyDirect
π» 35% via telehealth platforms
π¨ββοΈ 8,000 prescribers onboard
π 80% of users new to GLP-1s
$LLY $NVO
Biotech funding⦠but open to everyone
Rejuvenate Bio is crowdfunding its gene therapy pipeline
β’ $250 minimum investment
β’ Equity, not donations
β’ Focus: aging + chronic disease
Early stage biotech has been VC-only for decades
This could change that