Doug Drysdale

Biopharma Operator & Strategic Advisor | Founder, Katogen | Board Member | Healthcare Investor | PubCo CEO | M&A, Capital Strategy | Substack: insidepharma

[Doug Drysdale @insidepharma]

Three companies will walk on stage at ADA this week and claim the obesity market. Only one of them is really talking about the liver.

The American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions open this week, and the obesity readouts are crowded. Boehringer Ingelheim and Zealand Pharma are presenting full Phase III SYNCHRONIZE-1 data on survodutide, their glucagon/GLP-1 dual agonist: 16.6% average weight loss at 76 weeks versus 3.2% on placebo. Pfizer is presenting VESPER-3 on its long-acting GLP-1. The weight-loss numbers are now table stakes.

What separates survodutide is the glucagon arm, and Boehringer is reading out SYNCHRONIZE-MASLD alongside the obesity data. That is the tell. The glucagon component drives liver-fat reduction, and the real prize here is MASH, where the LIVERAGE program is still running. In a field with Lilly and Novo as the Goliaths, a third entrant does not win on another percentage point of weight loss. It wins by owning an adjacent metabolic indication the incumbents have not closed out. Watch where the data leans, not just how much weight came off.

The honest caveat: the topline weight numbers were reported back in April. The new element at ADA is the full dataset and the MASLD readout. MASH is a harder endpoint than weight, and the cirrhosis trial has not read out yet.

If you are building or investing in metabolic, where is the second wave of value, in better weight loss or in the liver?

#Obesity #GLP1 #MASH #Biopharma #DrugDevelopment

[Doug Drysdale @insidepharma]

In a major boost for the longevity field, @newlimit has secured $435 million in Series C funding, led by @foundersfund with participation from @ThriveCapital , @Greenoaks , @QuietCapital, and returning backers including Eli Lilly Ventures.

Co-founded by @Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, the biotech is pioneering epigenetic reprogramming to partially reset aged cells, helping them recover function without the risks of full cellular reset.

With a promising compound already in hand, the company plans to launch a Phase 1 trial next year targeting alcohol-related and metabolic liver disease - a common issue in aging populations linked to obesity, diabetes, and broader decline.

This funding accelerates what could become a new paradigm in treating age-related conditions at their root.

Exciting times ahead for biopharma innovation that bridges metabolic health and healthy aging. What are your thoughts on reprogramming as the next frontier?

[Doug Drysdale @insidepharma]

@Jason Enabling at this stage will help the US thrive. Being greedy will stifle innovation and backfire long term.

[Doug Drysdale @insidepharma]

@NoubarAfeyan described current U.S. policy as taking a sledgehammer to our “miracle machine.” He’s right. But after 35 years in this industry, here’s what I’d add:

The damage won’t show up where most people are looking.

Headlines track lagging indicators — this year’s approvals, this quarter’s market caps, the drugs already on pharmacy shelves. Those numbers will look fine for a while. They’re the output of capital, talent, and science decisions made 8–12 years ago.

The miracle machine isn’t a moment. It’s a system. Decades of NIH-funded basic research, risk-tolerant capital, regulatory predictability, and a talent base that chose to build here rather than anywhere else. That system produced things like lenacapavir — a twice-yearly injection that prevents HIV. A genuine man-made miracle.

The next one is being seeded right now. Or it isn’t.

What worries me isn’t the lagging data. It’s the leading indicators: where first-in-class INDs are being filed, where early-stage capital is rotating, where the best young scientists are deciding to spend their careers. Those signals move quietly, scattered across hundreds of regulatory and financial sources, and by the time they surface in the headlines, the decade is already lost.

That gap is exactly why I built Katogen — to give CEOs and boards a way to read these signals early, while there’s still time to act on them rather than explain them in hindsight.

We’re very good at measuring what’s easy. We’re dangerously bad at measuring what matters.

The question I’d put to every biopharma leader and investor: are you watching the pipeline of the 2030s — or just admiring the output of the 2010s?

Afeyan’s full letter: https://t.co/2GooSSFqCA

[Doug Drysdale @insidepharma]

https://t.co/syzEwBManK

[Matthew Herper @matthewherper]

People who don't follow cancer research often ask me why we haven't cured cancer. That perception masks a wonderful reality: We make amazing, stepwise progress every year, and the result is that many people live much longer today than they would have previously.

Right now we're in the thick of the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the biggest research meeting on new cancer medicines, and this morning a bunch of really important studies dropped. I'm going to review them here.

This first image is the result for daraxonrasib, a treatment for pancreatic cancer that is generating consdirable excitement. The green line is the probability of living for patients who got the new drug; the gray one is the chemo control group.

If you follow cancer drugs, a chart like this will make your breath hitch a little. I'm going to review these and some other data here.

[Doug Drysdale @insidepharma]

The race to conquer aging just entered a new geopolitical dimension.

In a development sending ripples through biopharma and longevity circles, Russia has poured $26 billion into its “New Health Preservation Technologies” initiative, a sweeping national program targeting the fundamental biology of aging.

Centered on gene therapies designed to slow cellular senescence, alongside advances in 3D bioprinting of organs and xenotransplantation research, the effort aims to extend healthy lifespan and address age-related decline head-on.

What makes this particularly noteworthy for those in neuroscience and neurodegeneration? Cellular aging processes are core drivers of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other conditions.

By investing at this scale in reprogramming biology, the program underscores a growing global recognition that intervening in aging itself could yield breakthroughs far beyond single-disease treatments.

While questions remain about execution and validation, the ambition signals a maturing field where longevity science moves from niche biotech to strategic priority.

For professionals in drug development, this is a reminder: the convergence of gene therapy, regenerative medicine, and metabolic insights is accelerating.

Who will translate these insights into safe, scalable therapies first? The next decade in biopharma could redefine how we approach brain health and lifespan.

What are your thoughts on state-driven longevity research - opportunity or overreach?

#Longevity #Neuroscience #Biopharma #AgingResearch #GeneTherapy

[Doug Drysdale @insidepharma]

@Josh__Hardman @Psyched_Alpha Katogen would be happy to write pieces for PA. Let us know how we can be helpful.

[Doug Drysdale @insidepharma]

The central unsolved problem in computational drug discovery is not structure prediction - Boltz-2 and AlphaFold 3 have largely commoditized that step - but affinity prediction at scale.

Without reliable Kd and ΔG estimates early in the funnel, computational campaigns still collapse into expensive wet-lab triage.

Katogen Engine Report here…https://t.co/PnBGidQojM

[Doug Drysdale @insidepharma]

@jrkelly Katogen BoardMemo™ - 2026 Strategic Action Plan for US Biotech CEOs - Engage or Compete with China’s Rapidly Emerging Biotech Industry

https://t.co/XonG7eqlZz

[Doug Drysdale @insidepharma]

Australia approved psychedelic-assisted therapy nearly three years ago. This month its regulator published what it has learned since - and it reads like a preview of everything the US is about to face.

In July 2023, Australia’s TGA rescheduled MDMA for PTSD and psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, letting specially authorised psychiatrists prescribe them. Approval turned out to be the easy part. After a targeted consultation, the TGA’s new recommendations tackle the messy operational questions that only surface once real patients are in the room:

Who’s qualified to prescribe? Either clinical-trial experience or supervised training - because almost no psychiatrist has the former.

Who’s on the therapy team? At least one nationally registered practitioner, with the prescriber personally responsible for vetting everyone else.

How much oversight is enough? The psychiatrist must be physically present when the medicine is administered, and must conduct screening and consent in real time.

Where can treatment happen? Not just hospitals - but within 15 minutes of an emergency department, with rescue medications on hand.

Every one of these is a live, unanswered question in the US right now.

Compass Pathways just posted its second positive Phase 3 for psilocybin and is targeting an NDA this year — potentially the first classic psychedelic ever approved in America. And it’s worth remembering why the FDA declined MDMA in 2024: not the molecule, but the therapy wrapped around it. Drug-plus-psychotherapy breaks the standard regulatory model.

Australia is showing that the real work - workforce, credentialing, oversight, site standards - begins the day after approval.

The US would be wise to watch closely.

[Doug Drysdale @insidepharma]

https://t.co/9ssQdMHbVW

[Doug Drysdale @insidepharma]

I'm optimistic — not because the challenges are small, but because the science is pointing somewhere meaningful and the industry is beginning to respond. That combination is rare. Don't overlook it.

[Doug Drysdale @insidepharma]

The Science Has Outpaced the Stigma — A Mental Health Awareness Month Thread

[Doug Drysdale @insidepharma]

From a biopharma lens, this isn't just a public health conversation. It's one of the most important areas of scientific opportunity right now. The problems are large. The momentum is real.

[Doug Drysdale @insidepharma]

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#Biopharma #CompetitiveIntelligence #DueDiligence #Biotech #BusinessDevelopment