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Eli Lilly will offer its obesity drugs Zepbound and Foundayo on Hims & Hers' telehealth platform at self-pay prices. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals announced Chief Commercial Officer Tolga Tanguler is leaving as its share price has fallen about 60% this year. Boehringer Ingelheim formed a wide-ranging alliance with China-based Sino Biopharmaceutical focused on next-generation cancer drugs, with $358 million in upfront and near-term payments and up to $7 billion in additional consideration. Servier's sevasemten, acquired from Edgewise Therapeutics for $1.55 billion upfront, failed a mid-stage trial in Becker muscular dystrophy. Ultragenyx will cut 1,000 employees, or 20% of its workforce, and halt studies of its Angelman syndrome gene therapy and shelve a Wilson's disease candidate. ANI Pharmaceuticals offered to acquire Egetis Therapeutics for $560 million.
BioPharma Dive's latest charts series examines how investors responded to three drug launches featured in this week's earnings presentations. Novo's oral Wegovy posted third-quarter sales of 5.39 billion Danish kroner (about $811 million), surpassing consensus and lifting shares over 5%, while Eli Lilly's rival Foundayo underperformed. Madrigal's Rezdiffra reached blockbuster status with $1.1 billion in 2026 sales through September and $431 million in the third quarter, beating projections and driving the company's first profit. Axsome's Auvelity, approved in April for Alzheimer's disease agitation, saw sales rise to $208 million but growth has trailed investor hopes, and the stock has fallen more than a third since June.
Medicare will cut payment rates for the 340B drug discount program and expand site-neutral policies next year under a final rule released Wednesday by CMS. 340B payments will fall by billions, with Medicare reimbursing participants at average sales price minus 28%, reducing drug spending by about $5.5 billion. Hospital outpatient departments and ASCs will see a 2.3% payment increase, slightly less than proposed. Medicare will also pay the same for more services regardless of setting, including non-contrast imaging, and will remove 637 services from the inpatient-only list. CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said the reforms drive affordability, while the American Hospital Association criticized the payment bump and the 340B cuts.
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting will feature multiple presentations on trispecific antibodies that bind to three targets, potentially offering more durable responses by countering tumor resistance. Johnson & Johnson and AbbVie are leading in multiple myeloma, with J&J's ramantamig showing 100% MRD negativity in a mid-stage trial and AbbVie's ABBV-2001 producing responses in 75-85% of patients. Innovent's IBI3003 and Shanghai Xianxiang's SIM0500 also show high response rates, while Kali Therapeutics will present preclinical data.
Revolution Medicines reported $198 million in third-quarter revenue for Rasonque, its newly approved pancreatic cancer treatment, far exceeding analyst estimates of $50 million to $100 million. The drug, approved by the FDA on Aug. 26, treated over 5,000 U.S. patients in just five weeks. Analysts call it the best oncology drug launch in history, with forecasts of $426 million in Q4 sales and over $3 billion next year. Rasonque is priced at $39,800 for a 30-day supply, and most insurers are covering it. The company is also studying the drug in other tumor types.
T-Therapeutics, a U.K.-based T cell engager drugmaker, has secured $133 million in Series B funding to support clinical development of its cancer and immune drugs. The lead program, TTX-008, is a bispecific antibody targeting a pan-tumor driver, while TTX-018 is designed for autoimmune conditions. Neither has entered human testing yet. The financing will help generate proof-of-concept data for both. The company's core technology provides fully human T-cell receptors with high affinity and specificity, potentially enabling access to previously undruggable intracellular targets. Backers include Advent Life Sciences and British Business Bank, along with Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson's venture arm, Samsara BioCapital, and Sofinnova Partners. T cell engagers are a hot area of research, with ten approved by U.S. regulators, mostly for blood cancers, and increasing interest in solid tumors and autoimmune diseases.
Alethio Therapeutics has raised $90 million in Series A funding to advance its treatments for rare blood cancers, specifically myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). The company's lead program, ATX-011, is a monoclonal antibody targeting G6b, a receptor on platelets and certain bone marrow cells, with the aim of providing a more precise approach than existing therapies. Preclinical studies suggest ATX-011 is well-behaved, and it is expected to enter clinical testing in the first half of 2028. The funding round was co-led by Sofinnova Partners and RA Capital Management, with backing from Cancer Research Horizons, Oxford Science Enterprises, and the University of Oxford. Alethio spun out of research at the University of Oxford and was co-founded by Adam Mead and Beth Psaila. The company also has a second drug prospect, an antibody-drug conjugate, in development for myelofibrosis.
Sanofi has discontinued development of SAR448272, an experimental oral immune disease drug designed to degrade STAT6, which it licensed from Nurix. Nurix disclosed the decision on Tuesday but did not specify a reason; Sanofi told Leerink Partners that emerging nonclinical findings did not warrant further development in eczema. Nurix received a $10 million payment from Sanofi in August when a Phase 1 study began and would have been eligible for additional payouts. Nurix shares plummeted more than 40% in early trading Wednesday. The move surprised analysts given progress by Kymera Therapeutics with a similar STAT6 degrader. Sanofi said it still believes STAT6 is an important immunology pathway but this particular molecule will not move forward, and it has another STAT6 program with Recludix Pharma. Analysts said the termination does not negatively read through to the broader STAT6 class or affect Nurix's core value driver, the Roche-partnered bexobrutideg.
Novo Nordisk on Wednesday raised its profit and sales outlook for the year after reporting better-than-expected revenue from its Wegovy obesity pill. Adjusted sales and operating profit will now grow as much as 2% at constant exchange rates, up from prior forecasts of a decline. The Wegovy pill, launched in January, brought in 5.39 billion Danish kroner (about $811 million) in the third quarter, surpassing the average consensus analyst estimate of 4.96 billion kroner. Overall company sales and profit also beat Wall Street forecasts. The pill represents a rare bright spot for Novo, which has lost about two-thirds of its value since June 2024 amid competition from Eli Lilly and pipeline setbacks. Novo also announced that CFO Karsten Munk Knudsen will leave the company, to be succeeded by Luigi La Corte.
Democrats regained majorities in the House and Senate in the midterm elections, a shift that analysts say will escalate the biopharmaceutical sector's broader recovery. Drug pricing may not be a hot-button issue given existing programs under Biden and Trump. Analysts also expect greater scrutiny of FDA and HHS leadership, vaccine policy, and China-related biotech collaborations, but not a blanket ban on data or M&A. Early stock performance suggests investor optimism.