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What’s in Today’s Brief? (February 23rd Preview)
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Gilead pays $7.8B to buy Arcellx: Secures BCMA CAR‑T
Gilead Sciences agreed to acquire Arcellx for $7.8 billion in cash and contingent value rights, taking full control of anito‑cel, a BCMA‑directed CAR‑T therapy for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The deal eliminates existing profit‑sharing with Arcellx and accelerates Gilead’s ability to commercialize anito‑cel, which has submitted a BLA with an FDA PDUFA target date of Dec. 23, 2026. Gilead framed the purchase as part of a push to rebuild its cell‑therapy business after Kite’s mixed performance, while Arcellx’s D‑Domain CAR platform adds next‑generation engineering options. Analysts note the acquisition both clears commercialization hurdles and concentrates upside in Gilead—removing milestone and royalty structures that previously limited near‑term economics.
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Merck splits oncology from specialty unit – Keytruda cliff looms
Merck reorganized its human health business into a standalone oncology unit and a separate specialty, pharma and infectious disease division as Keytruda’s U.S. loss of exclusivity approaches. The oncology unit will centralize management of Keytruda and other cancer assets; Merck named Jannie Oosthuizen to lead oncology and tapped Sanofi veteran Brian Foard to run the specialty business. The move aims to sharpen launch execution and commercial focus across divergent portfolios—oncology’s blockbuster legacy versus non‑cancer growth drivers like Winrevair and Januvia—while positioning new leadership to manage product lifecycles as Keytruda faces intense competitive and patent pressures in the coming years.
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CagriSema falls short: Lilly’s Zepbound wins head‑to‑head
Novo Nordisk said its investigational obesity combination CagriSema produced 23% mean weight loss in a late‑stage head‑to‑head trial but was outperformed by Eli Lilly’s marketed tirzepatide (Zepbound), which delivered 25.5%. The REDEFINE 4 result triggered a sharp negative market reaction for Novo and renewed debate over positioning among next‑generation obesity agents. Novo’s executives defended CagriSema’s profile and ongoing regulatory plans, noting the program has an FDA submission under review with an expected decision timeline tied to prior filings. Company leaders highlighted differences in trial design and the open‑label format as potential factors, but acknowledged the competitive landscape in obesity therapeutics remains highly aggressive.
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Gossamer’s PAH program fails — clinical miss and stock rout
Gossamer Bio disclosed that its Phase 3 PROSERA trial of seralutinib in pulmonary arterial hypertension missed the primary endpoint, producing a non‑statistically significant 13‑meter six‑minute walk distance benefit versus placebo. The clinical setback was accompanied by safety signals including cough and liver enzyme elevations. Investors reacted violently: the company’s shares plunged roughly 77% after the release. Management said it will still pursue regulatory options despite the miss, while analysts flagged the result as an important datapoint for inhaled or locally delivered PAH approaches and for commercial prospects of seralutinib.
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Illumina maps NovaSeq X upgrades — Ultima counters with UG200...
Illumina announced a roadmap of hardware and chemistry improvements for its NovaSeq X platform to boost read output, speed and accuracy—promising new 5 billion‑read flow cells, a 600‑cycle kit for longer reads, and future Q50/Q70 quality kits for high‑sensitivity clinical applications. The vendor positioned the updates as a response to intensifying competition in high‑throughput sequencing. Rivals are pressing: Ultima Genomics unveiled the UG200 series and Solaris 2.0 workflow that remove emulsion PCR, reduce footprint and cut runtimes, pitching lower list prices and higher genomes‑per‑footprint productivity. The announcements signal escalating platform competition that could reshape procurement and application choices for large genomic centers and clinical labs.
...and 5 more selected Biotech stories in today’s full edition — or archive.
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