Alexandra

[STAT @statnews]

Tonight in San Diego: Join STAT for STAT@AACR: Outsmarting Cancer — a free evening to connect with colleagues across oncology and hear from leaders live on stage. RSVP or just stop by. #AACR26
https://t.co/xP4OZjhhOP

[Matthew Herper @matthewherper]

A heads up: starting Sunday, and through the beginning of next week, STAT is going to be taking the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research by storm.

This is one of the best venues for spotting new ideas in cancer research and drug development, and @angRchen, @damiangarde and I will be on the ground, writing a daily newsletter, staging an live in-person event in San Diego that you want to attend if you can, and hosting a virtual recap next Thursday.

It's a moral imperative that you sign up for newsletter, and, if you can, come bother the speakers at the events. Here's a photo of me doing crowd work for the algorithm

[STAT @statnews]

The 2026 #STATBreakthrough Summit East agenda is live.
On March 19, hear STAT interview leaders from @EliLillyandCo, @bmsnews, @biogen, @AstraZeneca, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and more.
🎫 https://t.co/M3UpY2n02j

Why people attend — in their own words:

[Matthew Herper @matthewherper]

🚨🚨🚨LIVE EVENT ALERT🚨🚨🚨

The final session of STAT's #JPM26 event will feature former CDER director Richard Pazdur, former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, and former CBER deputy director Julie Tierney. For anyone who cares about the future of drug development, this session is not to be missed.

We'll also talk to $ALNY CEO Yvonne Greenstreet, and @adamfeuerstein will interview investors Agustin Mohedas and Roderick Wong. You don't want to miss a moment.

Registration for his event is already almost at capacity. We're opening another batch of tickets today. If you want to attend, sign up now. I expect these free tickets to go quickly.

https://t.co/MB6mePxOhl

[Matthew Herper @matthewherper]

Are you going to #ASH25, the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology? STAT is - and we're hosting one of our amazing live events featuring @adamfeuerstein, @damiangarde, and @kathmacphail -- as well as executives and physicians from $JNJ, $GILD, $BMY, Blood Cancer United.. and ASH!

The event is Friday night. It will feature:

Damian interviewing J&J exec Yusri Elsayed and research veteran Lore Gruenbaum about why hematology is oncology's breakthrough foundry;

Katherine interviewing Bethany Samuelson Bannow, an ASH researcher able to look out over the hematology field -- and who's own research recently went viral;

And Adam interviewing Lynelle B. Hoch from $BMY and
Cindy Perettie from Kite about the future of CAR-T.

There will be food, drinks, and great company. If you're in Orlando, check it out!

You can sign up here:
https://t.co/x9scFzefrz

[STAT @statnews]

In a few hours (1 p.m. ET)!
@Jasonmmast and @damiangarde go live to talk about STAT’s reporting on Moderna, what Jason uncovered in his story, and what could be ahead for the company. Bring questions.
https://t.co/nCxVFSPYch

[Matthew Herper @matthewherper]

Well. I have the absolute best news for fans of @statnews. Quite simply: @damiangarde is returning.

Damian will be working with me on STAT's events, including our Summits. He'll also be writing the kind of amazing profiles that are his stock in trade. I'll include a few in a thread after this post in case you haven't read them, in which case you are in for a treat.

Damian's one of the most fluid and creative writers I have ever worked with, and he knows the biopharma industry like few others. He shared a Polk Award with @adamfeuerstein and me for STAT's reporting on controversies around the Alzheimer's drug aducanumab, and I can tell you that story relied not only on his skill as a writer but on his incredible ability to get sources to open up.

He was also a person who added heart and soul to STAT -- it's really difficult to have an argument with anyone when Damian is around.

I can't wait to work with him again. I'm really, really excited. Welcome home.

[Matthew Herper @matthewherper]

What do some of the top thinkers in biotech and healthcare hope? And what do they fear?

We got to ask that of speakers and attendees at last week's #STATBreakthrough conference. Hear their answers, on everything from AI to funding of science, from speakers including biotech legend and former Gates Foundation CEO @SueDHellmann, Tempus AI COO @RyFukushima and venture capitalist @deenashakir.

Let's start by accentuating the positive....

[Allison DeAngelis @ADeAngelis_bio]

“Mr. Kennedy is wrong in everything he said… he lied,” APHA executive director Dr Georges Benjamin said about RFK Jr’s testimony in front of Congress today.

#STATBreakthrough

[Matthew Herper @matthewherper]

The entire STAT staff is updating this story about layoffs at HHS. There will be a lot of info.

But the short version is this: a lot of the people who would keep drugs safe and effective, to protect patients in trials, and to fight bird flu and future pandemics are gone -- even though it seems the scientists in charge of directly reviewing new medicines are mostly protected at FDA.

Per Robert Califf: "[The FDA] as we’ve known it is finished, with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed.”

https://t.co/BMrVUhlqvK

[Matthew Herper @matthewherper]

In just a 6 days, STAT will be holding our annual NYC summit, STAT Breakthrough East. It will represent a moment to look at what's going on in pharmaceutical R&D -- our normal bread and butter -- and also to look at how disruptions at the NIH, FDA and CDC are changing the research enterprise.

There are 13 spots left if you would like to attend.

This is my traditional pre-summit agenda run through! We'll have everything from MASH to the CDC to Bill Nye!

[Lizzy Lawrence @LizzyLaw_]

Don't have time to watch Marty Makary's confirmation hearing for FDA commissioner? Check out STAT's live blog for the highlights: https://t.co/I2XOXVcO90

[STAT @statnews]

Thousands of the institutions that claim to offer refuge from opioid addiction are among those most hostile to addiction medications like buprenorphine.

Part 5 of The War on Recovery series is here: https://t.co/UlWnQdH2cg

Read more insights from this yearlong investigation 🧵

[Matthew Herper @matthewherper]

A bit of news about #STATSummit, which is happening in less than 15 days.

We'll be joined by the co-CEOs of Summit Therapeutics -- Bob Duggan and Maky Zanganeh -- for an on-stage interview on Oct. 17. There's not a more talked about story in biotech.

That adds to a biotech lineup that includes Yvonne Greenstreet, Tony Coles, Daphne Zohar and Bruce Booth.

See the agenda (and buy tickets) here!

https://t.co/5LFUmXT0M9

$SMMT

[Brittany Trang @brittanytrang]

BREAKING: Epic, the largest electronic health records company in the US, which holds data on over 75% of Americans, sued over monopolistic antitrust practices by Particle Health

more @statnews:

https://t.co/ilgi3ltCaq

[STAT @statnews]

Drug patents pave the way to profit for pharmaceutical companies. But how exactly do they make drugs more expensive? Watch the full video in our 'Behind the Counter' series here: https://t.co/OQIiucNHFe 🧵

[Alexandra @Akhowley]

See you in NYC on March 21st for STAT Breakthrough Summit East?

[Matthew Herper @matthewherper]

In 15 days STAT will hold its Breakthrough Summit East in NYC, focused on how patients, and the patient experience, shape drug development. I want to take a moment to outline the whole agenda. I really think it’s a good one.

A 🧵.

(Photo of me interviewing @realmikefox) 1/

[Jonathan Wosen, Ph.D. @JonathanWosen]

A junior scientist. A prominent oncologist. Now, a clash at MD Anderson over who gets research credit. A @statnews exclusive, via @angRchen and yours truly.
https://t.co/g2PexiNkKb

[STAT @statnews]

Just announced: Our #STATBreakthrough Summit West, the second event in our 2024 Breakthrough series, is coming to San Francisco this May!

Join leaders and investors across biotech, health tech and beyond for this one-day event: https://t.co/uw4EfXeIne

[Bob Herman @bobjherman]

NEW with @caseymross: All year, we’ve been probing how Medicare Advantage plans have denied care based on predictions generated by an algorithm. New documents show the problem goes deeper at UnitedHealth Group and NaviHealth. https://t.co/dvnIRMS1zE