AbbVie enters the obesity drug field via a deal for Gubra’s Phase 1 amylin analog at $350M upfront (~10x Gubra’s ‘24 revenue) I spoke with Henrik Blou, CEO of the Chicago drug giant’s new Danish biotech partner, this morning for Endpoints News endpts.com/abbvie-finally…

“They are the FDA’s premier drug analysis lab,” former FDA Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock told Endpoints News by email. “Congress has been constantly on FDA to make sure imported drugs are of adequate quality, and the St. Louis lab is the foundation of that.”

Prepared for Miami by staying out till 3:30 this morning back home in Chicago … but the sunshine is curing my exhaustion and allowing me to handle the gloomy biotech industry sentiment

this trip was worth it for many reasons, but mainly because Madison Muller and I met the person who claims they coined the “where fun goes to die” characterization of University of Chicago (she works in biotech)

"A person who was briefed on the meeting said Kennedy didn’t want to turn stem cell regulation into the 'Wild West.'" Great details on last week's meeting with stem cell reps and advocates, from Lei Lei Wu: endpts.com/rfk-jr-convene…

New: Lyndra Therapeutics, a decade-old biotech attempting to make long-acting versions of major medicines, is folding operations, a source familiar with the situation told Endpoints News on Tuesday The biotech, a spinout of Bob Langer’s MIT lab, raised $380M+ endpts.com/lyndra-therape…

Trump administration is slashing 24% of the staff at Department of Health and Human Services, which is led by recently confirmed secretary RFK Jr. hhs.gov/about/news/hhs…

HHS plans to cut 10,000 more staffers in major downsizing - endpts.com/hhs-plans-to-c…

another Endpoints News scoop: Lykos interim CEO Michael Mullette is planning to step down after new investors take over the psychedelic biotech. He told senior leadership last month. endpts.com/lykos-interim-…

This is going to be an absolutely huge deal in the biotech sector, where Marks was seen as somebody pushing for new therapies and tech, and trying to get products to market to help patients.

What Drew said. Also, the CBER director is not subject to Senate confirmation, so the administration can hire anyone they want as the nation’s top vaccine regulator.

NEW: Google’s bet on AI in drug discovery just got a lot bigger. My latest with Kyle LaHucik on Isomorphic's $600 million round — the largest in biotech so far in 2025: endpts.com/isomorphic-lab…

FDA changes may not be over after Marks exit, with more cuts and departures expected - CBER div. director on Marks' successor: I don’t see a lot of plausible internal candidates, and who from the outside would take such a role in this climate? endpts.com/fda-changes-ma…

"Some employees who showed up to work at the FDA’s main White Oak campus on Tuesday found out they had been fired when they attempted to check in at security, only to find out that their badges no longer worked and their jobs were gone." endpts.com/firings-sweep-…

Former FDA commissioner Rob Califf, who led the regulator under Obama and Biden administrations, said in a LinkedIn post that “The FDA as we’ve known it is finished.”