BioCentury This Week

Biotech innovators around the world are finding speed to be the driver for investment and partnering — speed to early human data and speed to de-risk assets. The new momentum from Asia, in particular China, has added a fresh challenge for European biotech on top of falling equity and R&D investment in Europe and a complex drug pricing landscape. On a special edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast on the eve of the 26th Bio€quity Europe conference, EQT Life Sciences' Christoph Broja and Prague Bio CEO Petra Kinzlová join BioCentury’s analysts to discuss the challenges faced by European biotech today and what the best strategy is to compete in this new era.Kinzlová also describes a growing biotech ecosystem in the Czech Republic, which will host Bio€quity Europe May 4-6.View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/659002#EuropeanBiotech #ClinicalDevelopmentSpeed #ChinaBiotech #DrugPricing #BiotechInvestment01:10 - Bio€quity Europe Preview04:32 - Czech Innovation Hubs09:52 - Pricing, Trials, Funding13:07 - Fixing Trial Bottlenecks17:49 - Pension Capital and RiskTo submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at podcasts@biocentury.com.Reach us by sending a text

A flurry of deals, several with sizable upfront payments, has energized the biotech sector in March. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s Paul Bonanos assesses last week’s deals by Merck, which is laying out $6.7 billion to acquire Terns, and Gilead, which is buying Ouro for about $1.7 billion up front.Gilead’s deal comes as the Foster City, Calif.-based biotech is looking to defend its position in HIV while resetting in inflammation and immunology and growing its oncology footprint through business development. BioCentury’s Lauren Martz analyzes the company’s pipeline following her recent conversation with CMO Dietmar Berger.Turning to the U.K., Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn details her conversation with CEO of MHRA, Lawrence Tallon, regarding what new reforms in the U.K. mean for drug developers and how he views initiatives helping to build the sector and place the U.K. in the race to become a destination for clinical trials.Rates for the 26th Bio€quity Europe May 4-6 in Prague increase after this week. Register now as a delegate or apply to join the 2026 Presenting Company Class before the conference sells out.View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/658974#BiotechMA #BiopharmaStrategy #DrugDevelopment #UKBiotech #ClinicalTrials00:00 - Introduction01:09 - Merck Buying Terns04:31 - Gilead, Galapagos Deal09:35 - Growing Gilead19:20 - Tallon's Vision for U.K. BiotechTo submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at podcasts@biocentury.com.Reach us by sending a text

A two-decade company rebirth toward RNAi and a risky commercial launch that could reshape its trajectory. A $2 billion deal for a pan-mutant-selective PI3Kα inhibitor and what that means for strategic partnering. How AI is being woven into venture processes from deal screening to portfolio support. Advocacy clashes over rare-disease approvals and the political fight over most-favored-nation drug pricing.

Biotechs have been pricing follow-ons at a steady pace, with some companies parlaying data into upsized deals, and others even beginning to debut on NASDAQ — but will geopolitical tensions and war in the Middle East scuttle the forward momentum? On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s analysts take the temperature of the markets for biotech."They also discuss last week’s late-stage epilepsy data from Xenon Pharmaceuticals, which revived the biotech’s stock and the Kv7 target.And, in a Rare Disease Spotlight, BioCentury’s analysts discuss how Friedreich ataxia is moving into a mechanistic second act, with biotechs pivoting from stabilizing the mitochondrial damage caused by frataxin loss to developing therapies designed to fix the gene itself.View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/658810#BiotechMarkets #EpilepsyResearch #Kv7 #RareDisease #GeneTherapy00:00 - Introduction03:23 - Market Sentiment09:58 - Xenon Phase III Win18:03 - Friedreich Ataxia PipelineTo submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at podcasts@biocentury.com.Reach us by sending a text

Biotechs in South Korea and other regions of Asia outside of China need to lean into innovation to distinguish themselves from their Chinese counterparts. On a special edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s analysts are joined by industry guests Ya-Ting Lei and Luther (Ruizhe) Zhao to discuss why the best path for biotechs in Korea and Japan is to lean into target, biology and modality risk, as well as other takeaways from the fifth BioCentury-BayHelix Biopharma Summit, which ran March 9-12 in Seoul and Daejeon, South Korea.Lei is director of BD Asia at Merck KGaA, and Zhao is VP, China clinical analytics at Caidya.View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/658776#AsiaBiotech #SouthKoreaBiotech #BiopharmaSummit #BiotechInnovation #DrugDevelopmentStrategy00:00 - Introduction02:32 - Key Takeaways05:46 - Faster Trials, Better Data08:19 - Global Diligence, Local Success15:13 - Cross Border Synergies17:34 - Korean BiotechTo submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at podcasts@biocentury.com.Reach us by sending a text

A deep dive into why a high-profile FDA director was removed and the political forces at play. A look at the next generation of therapies for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and the many Phase II strategies trying to halt or reverse disease. Updates on psychedelic clinical catalysts and mixed trial designs. New obesity drug data, with focus on amylin agonists and tolerability implications.

Tierney Baum, biopharma analyst who wrote the Rare Disease Spotlight on Stargardt disease, joins to explain therapeutic strategies for retinal disorders. She discusses substrate reduction approaches, gene‑delivery challenges for ABCA4, and optogenetic restoration. Short previews of upcoming trial readouts and how platform approaches could expand beyond Stargardt are also covered.

Steve Usdin, Washington editor covering policy and FDA moves. Lauren Martz, oncology biomarker and cell therapy development expert. Paul Benanos, dealmaking and cell therapy commercialization analyst. They discuss Gilead’s $7.8B acquisition of Arcellx and its implications. They explore ctDNA as a potential surrogate endpoint and the validation, standardization and trial hurdles that remain.

Lauren Martz, product development lead covering oncology and targeted therapies, breaks down why oral SERDs are a catalyst-rich approach for ER+ HER2- breast cancer. Steve Usdin, Washington regulatory analyst, reviews recent FDA setbacks including a Moderna refusal to file and a CRL to Disc Medicine and calls for accountability at CBER. Short, focused takes on trial positioning, competitive mechanisms, and regulatory fallout.

Selina Koch, neuroscience and psychiatry editor who interviews industry leaders. Steve Usdin, policy analyst focused on FDA and biomedical funding. Danielle Golovin, analyst tracking Series A and VC trends. They discuss 2025 Series A stabilization and which modalities drew funding. They debate how compounded Wegovy affects innovation and cover Congress defending NIH budgets. They explore serendipity versus engineering in psychiatric drug discovery.