Chris Spivey is director of Industry Relations and Strategic Partnership, MJH Life Sciences.

Chris Spivey

Behind the Headlines Episode 11–GLP-1 Patent Expiry, Recent Acquisitions, and Indirect Costs Capping

 is a bi-weekly panel discussion examining the latest trends, readouts, and other factors that drive pharmaceutical news and innovation. Each episode features consultants, venture capitalists, scientists, patient advocates, and journalists discussing the prior weeks’ top news while seeking to highlight the more enduring lessons that hide behind the headlines.

In episode 11, Benjamin McLeod, founder of Convey BIO, Abhi Naravane, PhD, MBA, partner, PA Consulting, and Marianna Tcherpakov, PhD, director Business Development, CMC Services, Frontage Laboratories, discussed advertisements for GLP-1s shown during Super Bowl LIX, several large deals in the wake of the 2025 JP Morgan Health Care Conference, right sizing of the government under the Trump administration, the move toward capping National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant indirect costs at 15%, and a couple of interesting new companies that came onto our radar last week.

The panel takes a looks at Bain Capital’s acquisition of Mitsubishi Tanabe, where Japan’s supply of weight loss drugs seems a prime motivation (1), and of a similar scale in terms of overall dollar value, 

Therapeutics from Blackstone Life Sciences for an initial almost $1 billion upfront payment in a deal potentially worth up to $3.1 billion. The deal brings with it Anthos’ abelacimab, a novel factor XI inhibitor for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation patients and blood clot prevention in cancer patients, which is in clinical trials (2). 

Causing much conversation and exchange of strong opinion is the 

Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates

 document issued by NIH on Feb. 7, 2025, which caps NIH grant indirect costs at 15%. The panel was divided, some seeing this as being realistically in line with the rest of society, while others believe it is off-target in terms of creating more downstream harm than good (3).

To round out the conversation, two new interesting companies noticed at the 

 were pointed to as holding promising new approaches. Aikium has a platform that enables Yotta-scale (10

) machine learning on massive libraries by combining the world’s only artificial intelligence-driven trillion-protein messenger RNA display for large proteins and patented generative AI based on protein language models (4). Promise BIO explores a broad range of the post-translational modification landscape, “by integrating chemical knowledge, statistics, and advanced algorithms to address the computational burden while ensuring no biologically-relevant factors are overlooked” (5). 

Brain Capital. Bain Capital to Acquire Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation. Press Release. Feb. 7, 2025. 

https://www.baincapital.com/news/bain-capital-acquire-mitsubishi-tanabe-pharma-corporation

Anthos Therapeutics. Blackstone Life Sciences and Anthos Therapeutics Announce Agreement for Anthos to be Acquired by Novartis for up to $3.1 billion. Press Release. Feb 11, 2025. 

https://anthostherapeutics.com/press-release/anthos_2025-02-11_release/

NIH. Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates. NIH Notice, NOT-OD-25-068. Feb. 7, 2025. 

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-068.html

Spivey, C. Aikium's AI-Driven mRNA Engine Looks to Address Undruggable Disordered Proteins. BioPharm International.com. Feb. 10, 2025. 

https://www.biopharminternational.com/view/aikium-ai-driven-mrna-engine-looks-to-address-undruggable-disordered-proteins

Promise Bio. Promise.bio (accessed Feb. 18, 2025). 

Videos

Benjamin McLeod, Abhi Naravane, PhD, MBA, and Marianna Tcherpakov PhD go behind the headlines to talk about the latest big acquisitions, GLP-1 Super Bowl advertising, and changes in NIH funding. 

Leroy (Lee) Hood, MD, PhD discusses the potential impact of precision medicine, moving towards a more preventive health model, and the role of AI in health information.

Lee Hood on Precision Medicine and Shifting Towards Prevention

Leroy (Lee) Hood, MD, PhD, has developed a long list of paradigm-shifting scientific instruments that have made possible major advances in the biological and medical sciences.

We had a chance to speak with Hood at the 

 World Conference in Santa Clara, CA, where he discussed the practicalities of turning a disease care system into a health maintenance system and also his plans to develop a new peptide information-based pharmaceutical company.

"Data-driven health is at an enormous turning point, and it's going to trigger, I think, within less than a five-year period, the ability to analyze literally millions of people with regard to their genome and [transcriptome], and from that derive the optimization of wellness, healthy aging, and even the ability to detect and reverse diseases early,” Hood told 

Hood went on to talk about the real-world adoption of preventive medicine versus treatment of chronic disease, suggesting that uptake will likely need to come from an economic point-of-view, given that there would potentially be an enormous amount of savings by avoiding chronic disease.

Hood is president and co-founder of the Institute for Systems Biology. He is also senior vice president and chief science officer of Providence St. Joseph Health. He is one of only 15 individuals elected to all three US National Academies—the National Academy of Science, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine. Hood played a key role in founding or co-founding 15 different biotechnology companies, including Amgen, Applied Biosystems, Rosetta, and Arivale. Hood was the recipient of the 1987 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for translating the genetics of antibody diversity into explicit molecular terms.

Hood, a pioneer of systems biology and systems medicine, shared his personal interest in starting a new peptide-based, informational-driven pharmaceutical company that would address wellness and longevity.

Systems Biology Pioneer Lee Hood Talks Precision Medicine, AI in Health, and the Next Paradigm Shift 

Behind the Headlines: Sana's Type 1 Diabetes Breakthrough, Drug Price Negotiations, and More

 is a bi-weekly panel discussion examining the latest trends, readouts, and other factors that drive pharmaceutical news and innovation. Each episode features consultants, venture capitalists, scientists, patient advocates, and journalists discussing the prior weeks’ top news while seeking to highlight the more enduring lessons that hide behind the headlines.

In episode 10, we’re joined by Brian Feth, CEO and Founder, Xcell Biosciences; Jonathan Grinstein, PhD, North American Editor, Inside Precision Medicine; Beth Willers, Principal and Founder, White Matter Communications; and Laks Pernenkil, Principal, US Life Sciences Product, Supply and Manufacturing Operations Practice Leader, Deloitte Consulting, who discuss recent headlines from the pharmaceutical industry, including major announcements from the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference as well as changes arising from the change of administration in US government.

The group discussed Sana Biotechnology’s early trial results showing that allogeneic treatment without immunosuppression might be possible in type 1 diabetes. “The clinical data are highly promising for patients and provide the first evidence in humans for overcoming allogeneic and autoimmune rejection with pancreatic islet cell transplantation in type 1 diabetes with no immunosuppression,” said Per-Ola Carlsson, MD, principal investigator and senior physician and professor at the Clinic for Endocrinology and Diabetology at Uppsala University Hospital. (1)

Also discussed was the interconnected topic of proteomics, which appear to be having a moment thanks to the UK Biobank choosing the Olink platform for a major set of initiatives going forward. (2)

In addition, the participants weighed in on the latest round of Medicare price negotiations, with the medications listed encompassing a large percentage of overall drug expenditure, including Ozempic, Rybelsus, Wegovy, Trelegy, Ellipta, Xtandi, Pomalyst, Ibrance, Ofev, Linzess, Calquence, Austedo, Austedo XR, Breo, Ellipta, Tradjenta, Xifaxan, Vraylar, Janumet, Janumet XR, and Otezla. (3)

Sana Biotechnology Announces Positive Clinical Results from Type 1 Diabetes Study of Islet Cell Transplantation Without Immunosuppression. , Press release. Sana Biotechnologies. January 7, 2025. 

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/01/07/3005841/0/en/Sana-Biotechnology-Announces-Positive-Clinical-Results-from-Type-1-Diabetes-Study-of-Islet-Cell-Transplantation-Without-Immunosuppression.html

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Olink Platform Selected for World’s Largest Human Proteome Study. Press release. Thermofisher Scientific. January 9, 2025. 

https://ir.thermofisher.com/investors/news-events/news/news-details/2025/Thermo-Fisher-Scientifics-Olink-Platform-Selected-for-Worlds-Largest-Human-Proteome-Study/default.aspx

HHS Announces 15 Additional Drugs Selected for Medicare Drug Price Negotiations in Continued Effort to Lower Prescription Drug Costs for Seniors. Press release. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. January 17, 2025. 

https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/hhs-announces-15-additional-drugs-selected-medicare-drug-price-negotiations-continued-effort-lower

Brian Feth, Jonathan Grinstein, PhD, Beth Willers, and Laks Pernenkil go behind the headlines to discuss major news announcements made during the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, a wave of new Medicare drug price negotiations, and more. 

Behind the Headlines: Sana’s Type 1 Diabetes Breakthrough, Drug Price Negotiations, and More

Behind the Headlines: 2025 Wish List

In episode 9, we’re joined by Dr. Vanessa Almendro, PhD, MBA, VP, Head of Science & Technology Innovation at Danaher Corporation; Elliot Berger, Board of Directors and Strategic Advisor at Orientation Marketing; Benjamin McLeod, founder at Convey Bio; and Turna Ray, managing editor, Precision Medicine Online, to discuss what they would most like to see happen in the bio/pharmaceutical industry in 2025.

The panel takes a look at how artificial intelligence (AI) may be used to accelerate drug discovery and development, as well as making the healthcare system more effective. Despite how AI could potentially benefit pharmaceutical processes, there is still an reluctance by some in the industry to adopt AI solutions that are already in place. AI may also be coupled with gene editing to diversify precision medicine.

Strengthening and creating new collaborative structures for rare disorders between academia and industry in 2025 may provide for the development of cost-effective personalized medicines. Gene therapies and allogeneic cell therapies will move forward, according to the panel, and messenger RNA vaccines will continue to progress in other areas besides COVID-19.

Investment, science, and technology will converge to advance these types of therapies. Biotech companies will also be investing in making glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) products more precise in the patient segmentation and expanding on applications of these types of drugs.

Vanessa Almendro, Elliot Berger, Benjamin McCloud, and Turna Ray go behind the headlines to discuss their ‘wish list’ for the progression of trends in the bio/pharmaceutical industry.

Behind the Headlines: 2024 Year in Review

Behind the Headlines, Episode 8

In episode 8, we’re joined by Dr. Vanessa Almendro, PhD, MBA, VP, Head of Science & Technology Innovation at Danaher Corporation; Elliot Berger, Board of Directors and Strategic Advisor at Orientation Marketing; Benjamin McLeod, founder at Convey Bio; and Turna Ray, managing editor, Precision Medicine Online, who wrap up the year in pharmaceuticals by outlining pivotal trends in 2024, as well as discussing some of the more surprising or unpredicted outcomes that deviated from earlier expectations. 

 was by and large considered the most pivotal trend for 2024, with its technology playing an increasing role throughout the pipeline, from novel drug discovery to reduced batch loss in 

. An increasingly politicized climate, fueled by a lapse in public trust and social media, made for a contentious year, especially for the FDA. 

 was considered an important trend in the gene therapy space, as were advances in drug delivery broadly, and tissue cell type targeting more specifically. Additionally, the group called out both the Human Cell Atlas Project and also the Innovative Genome Institute, upending the traditional for-profit drug model as companies progress toward commercial-scale genomic medicines.

Law changes affecting pharma’s position of influence in the provider space were discussed as a potential obstacle, with general political uncertainty appearing to complicate this picture in hard-to-predict ways.

Vanessa Almendro, Elliot Berger, Benjamin McCloud, and Turna Ray go behind the headlines to discuss 2024’s biggest trends in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as the unforeseen outcomes that took us by surprise. 

Edwin Stone, Bernard Sagaert, and Khaled Yamout go behind the headlines to discuss what the ongoing measles outbreak in the UK means for pandemic preparedness and anti-vaccination trends; new mRNA approaches; and what Roche’s acquisition of Poseida means for complex cell therapies. 

Behind the Headlines, episode 7: Pandemic Preparedness, Novel mRNA Applications, and More 

In episode 7, Edwin Stone, CEO of Cellular Origins; Bernard Sagaert, CEO of etherna and senior consultant and CEO, Inphacon BV; and Khaled Yamout, founder and CEO of Yamout Chem Consultancy, go behind the headlines to discuss the ongoing 

, and what the troubling trend means for vaccination acceptance and overall pandemic preparedness, including the need for improved public health messaging and narratives to combat anti-vaccination movements globally.

The panel also discussed takeaways from arguably the two most important mRNA conferences of the year, with the Alliance for mRNA Medicines’ (AMM) 1st annual conference, 

, both of which took place in Boston. New mRNA approaches, novel therapeutic applications, and a presentation about a promising branched polyA tail were of great interest for discussion.

Lastly, the panel commented on Roche’s acquisition of its collaboration partner Poseida Therapeutics in an arrangement worth up to $1.5 billion (1), betting on complex immune cell therapies against several types of blood cancer to boost its development pipeline, with Poseida’s non-viral delivery method opening up new avenues in terms of cargo payloads.

Reference: 
1. Poseida Therapeutics, Inc. announces agreement to be acquired by Roche Holdings, Inc. News Release. Poseida Therapeutics. November 26, 2024. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/poseida-therapeutics-inc-announces-agreement-to-be-acquired-by-roche-holdings-inc-302316189.html

Chris Spivey

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