Follow me on X. This site has become unbearable.

So @statnews.com has had a LOT of coverage of the ouster of the FDA's Peter Marks. The news: statnews.com/2025/03/28/f... Analysis from @adamfeuerstein.bsky.social statnews.com/2025/03/30/f... Analysis from @matthewherper.bsky.social statnews.com/2025/03/31/r...

FDA’s ‘key man’ Peter Marks is out. Biotech investors will now deal with the consequences www.statnews.com/2025/03/30/f...

RFK Jr. misleads, deceives or simply lies when he claims the measles vaccine "routinely" causes deaths. IT DOES NOT. @matthewherper.bsky.social lays out the facts. www.statnews.com/2025/03/14/r...

The Senate confirmation hearing for FDA Commissioner nominee Marty Makary is scheduled to start at 10 am ET. STAT's live blog is here for those who want to check in during the day: www.statnews.com/2025/03/06/m...

How to eliminate biotech zombies: Buy them www.statnews.com/2025/02/27/b...

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla inflicts injury on his company — and all of pharma The hiring of a former top FDA official amplifies ‘revolving door’ criticism at the worst possible time www.statnews.com/2025/02/24/p...

Trump administration rehires some FDA employees it fired www.statnews.com/2025/02/23/f... via @lizzylawrence.bsky.social

A race to the bottom — too much weight loss? A new, must-read story from my colleague @elaineywchen.bsky.social Patients in trials of Eli Lilly's next-gen obesity drug think they're losing too much weight. One started skipping doses, another is making himself eat caloric foods. Link below...

This week's Biotech Scorecard newsletter: Why biotech’s future is threatened by zombies (Not the movie kind, the money-wasting, space-sucking negative enterprise value kind!) www.statnews.com/2025/02/20/w...

You absolutely must read this interview: FDA’s former top food official says Trump firings are ‘dismantling’ the division In candid interview, Jim Jones says moves will undercut RFK Jr.’s agenda www.statnews.com/2025/02/18/f... via @matthewherper.bsky.social

Biogen $BIIB partners with Stoke Therapeutics $STOK on drug for severe epilepsy www.statnews.com/2025/02/18/b...

Duchenne gene therapy from Solid Biosciences $SLDB produces promising results in early study www.statnews.com/2025/02/18/s... via @jasonmast.bsky.social $RGRX $SRPT

Drug inspectors, AI experts, maternal health workers: Trump’s health agency cuts are far-reaching In interviews w/ STAT, those who were fired, along with officials who remain, argued the cuts would be deeply felt. www.statnews.com/2025/02/17/t... via @helenbranswell.bsky.social

Trump administration lays off FDA employees www.statnews.com/2025/02/15/t... via @statnews.com

Remember the heroic Kate Winslet character in the movie Contagion? Well, they just fired the Kate Winslets... CDC cuts expected to devastate Epidemic Intelligence Service, a ‘crown jewel’ of public health www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/t... via @helenbranswell.bsky.social

A reminder that I can be reached on Signal at stafaf.54

BREAKING: Trump administration to fire thousands at health agencies www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/f... via @statnews.com

Biotech is in a dark place. The market offers one beatdown after another. Sentiment is lousy and the bad mood is relentless, to the point where people are seriously wondering if a sector turnaround is ever possible. Sorry, but it's just depressing out there... www.statnews.com/2025/02/13/b...

As outcry builds over Trump cuts to NIH payments, drugmakers are MIA On last night's earnings call, $VRTX CEO Reshma Kewalramani said nothing about the NIH, yet Vertex owes some of that $11B in cystic fibrosis drug sales to foundational biomedical research funded by NIH....

$ABSI and Generate Biomedicines say they’re using AI to conjure drugs from scratch. Documents, experts suggest otherwise www.statnews.com/2025/02/10/a... via @brittanytrang.bsky.social

The CRISPR companies are not OK Today, in @statnews.com - a must-read story from my colleague @jasonmast.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/02/06/c...

Austin Leclaire was a remarkable young man with Duchenne who raised awareness about his devastating disease, and as a patient advocate, played a pivotal role in spurring the development of the first medicines to treat it. Austin died on Feb. 1. He was 26. www.statnews.com/2025/02/06/a...

Personalized cancer vaccine shows potential in kidney cancer www.statnews.com/2025/02/05/p... via @statnews.com

VACCINES DO NOT CAUSE AUTISM. (Yes, I'm typing in my loud voice.) @matthewherper.bsky.social lays out the facts. www.statnews.com/2025/02/03/v...

Vertex wins FDA approval for non-opioid pain drug, setting stage for closely watched rollout www.statnews.com/2025/01/30/v... via @jonathanwosen.bsky.social

In this week's Biotech Scorecard newsletter: MASH drugs have reached a meaningful tipping point for patients and investors. $MDGL already topping $400 million in annualized sales. $AKRO reversing cirrhosis in F4 patients + $ETNB following ...

The 7 big topics RFK Jr. addressed during a fiery confirmation hearing www.statnews.com/2025/01/29/r... via @statnews.com

Hey folks -- STAT will be covering tomorrow's RFK Jr. confirmation hearing with a live blog run by our indefatigable DC correspondents. Stay tuned tomorrow morning for a link. Thank you!

FDA cancellation of the Feb. 25 adcomm for Novartis' drug Fabhalta is NOT Trump related, Novartis told me. FDA decided adcomm wasn't needed to complete the drug review.

RFK Jr. says he doesn’t want to take away vaccines — he just wants to make sure they’re safe. But he's already sketched out a blueprint that could subject recommended vaccines to renewed scrutiny, redirect research, strip legal protections, and change how vaccines are advertised.

Daiichi Sankyo AstraZeneca — Enhertu expanded FDA approval covering “ultra low” HER2 expression www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre...

From a market cap perspective, the massive drop today in NVDA’s stock price was roughly equivalent to four Pfizers. Amazing.

To put these new $AKRO data into context, patients w/ cirrhosis due to MASH have a severe form of disease w/ few treatment options outside of liver transplant. Once MASH progresses to cirrhosis, median survival is about 5 years, three times shorter than for patients with moderate MASH.

Akero $AKRO drug reverses liver scarring in study of severe MASH patients www.statnews.com/2025/01/27/a...

The FDA remains open, despite some of the bad information you may have seen/read. www.prnewswire.com/news-release...

“Communications Freeze”

Are you affected by the Trump administration’s pause on health communications, science meetings, and reviews? www.statnews.com/2025/01/25/t... via @statnews.com

FDA purges material on clinical trial diversity from its site, showing stakes of Trump DEI ban www.statnews.com/2025/01/23/f... via @statnews.com

Patrizia Cavazzoni, head of FDA’s drug center, to leave the agency www.statnews.com/2025/01/10/f... via @statnews.com

This week's Biotech Scorecard newsletter: I don't make many (if any) M&A predictions, but... $BIIB will (should) buy $STOK this year. Thoughts? Plus, my #JPM25 roadmap: www.statnews.com/2025/01/09/j...

The biotech scorecard for the first quarter: 16 stock-moving events to watch www.statnews.com/2025/01/06/b...

Vertex $VRTX touts pain drug results, but medicine does not outperform placebo in sciatica study www.statnews.com/2024/12/19/v... via @matthewherper.bsky.social

I forgot to post this here: Worst Biopharma CEO of 2024? It’s no contest www.statnews.com/2024/12/18/w... via @statnews.com

Republicans show no signs of blocking Trump’s health secretary pick RFK Jr. so far www.statnews.com/2024/12/17/r... via @statnews.com

I’m not naming a Best Biopharma CEO for 2024. No individual CEO stood out from the pack this year. With that said, I did compile a deep list of biopharma CEOs whose accomplishments this year deserve recognition. Read more about them: www.statnews.com/2024/12/17/b...

Christmas cookies

Also... Arcellx won the battle of BCMA CAR-T therapies over Legend Bio www.statnews.com/2024/12/12/a...

Apologies. I have been delinquent over here in #biosky land: Investors in Padlock Therapeutics sue Bristol Myers Squibb over ‘milestone’ payments The plaintiffs, including @gilman.bsky.social, allege the pharma giant reneged on part of an acquisition agreement www.statnews.com/2024/12/12/p...

I’m compiling my 2024 Best and Worst CEO lists. Would love to hear your picks. Message me or reply here. Worst is easy but there are surely runners up to consider.