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What’s in Today’s Brief? (March 18th Preview)
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J&J wins FDA nod for psoriasis pill – First oral IL‑23 blocker cleared
Johnson & Johnson secured U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for icotrokinra, to be marketed as Icotyde, in patients 12 and older with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. The approval establishes the first oral peptide that blocks interleukin‑23 (IL‑23), a target of top-selling injectables such as Skyrizi and Tremfya. J&J has publicly projected peak sales potential above $5 billion and plans to position Icotyde as an oral alternative for patients who avoid injections. Regulators reviewed clinical data submitted by J&J; the approval moves the company into what analysts expect will be a materially more competitive psoriasis market with an oral option replacing some injectable use. Companies and payers will now weigh real‑world uptake, safety monitoring and positioning against existing IL‑23 injectables. The approval also signals continued commercial interest in peptide‑based oral biologic mimetics across inflammatory disease.
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Azalea’s in vivo CAR‑T clears tumors in mice: Nature paper shows proof
Azalea Therapeutics and collaborators published results in Nature demonstrating successful in vivo generation of CAR‑T cells after systemic delivery of gene‑editing particles, producing tumor clearance in mouse models of both solid and hematologic cancers. Researchers used targeted editing to convert endogenous T cells into CAR‑T cells inside the animal rather than manufacturing cells ex vivo. The team—building on work from Jennifer Doudna’s lab and other groups—reports methods to bias editing to the correct cell type and genomic loci to reduce off‑target risks. Investigators described robust antitumor activity in preclinical models and presented methodology intended to minimize accidental editing of non‑T cells. Authors and outside experts emphasized this as an important preclinical milestone for in vivo cell‑engineering approaches, while noting translational hurdles including delivery specificity, safety profiling and regulatory scrutiny before human trials.
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White House lifts NIH spending hold — Grants, hiring to resume
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved NIH apportionments, ending a hold that had constrained the agency’s ability to issue new research grants. NIH Director Jayanta 'Jay' Bhattacharya told a House appropriations subcommittee that the agency now has its full funding and that grantmaking and hiring will resume to support the fiscal year 2026 research agenda. Congress had approved a $47.2 billion NIH budget with a $415 million increase over the prior year; the OMB hold had limited NIH to payroll and essential spending. Lawmakers and advocacy groups had raised alarms over a sharp slowdown in new grant awards. NIH said it will ramp new and competing awards, fill vacant leadership roles and disburse funds by year‑end, while researchers and institutions expect an uptick in funding announcements and RFAs over the coming months.
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Basecamp, Anthropic, PacBio launch Trillion Gene Atlas: AI‑driven biodiversity push
Basecamp Research announced a Trillion Gene Atlas initiative in partnership with Anthropic, Ultima Genomics, Pacific Biosciences and Nvidia to massively expand environmental sequencing for AI‑driven therapeutic discovery. The consortium plans to generate and model genetic sequences from environmental and host‑associated samples—targeting orders‑of‑magnitude expansion of evolutionary sequence diversity used to train foundation models. Basecamp will combine high‑throughput sequencing (Ultima UG200, PacBio Revio), Nvidia Parabricks accelerated compute and Anthropic’s Claude models to scale its EDEN environment‑derived evolutionary network. The company says the expanded dataset aims to improve AI design of biologics, gene therapies and antimicrobial candidates by providing broader evolutionary contexts. Partners will generate deeply sequenced metagenomes from tens of thousands of samples spanning dozens of countries; the project signals increased venture and tech‑platform investment in foundational biological data to power AI therapeutics.
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Arvinas’ PROTAC hits brain target — ARV‑102 reduces LRRK2 in CSF >50%
Arvinas reported Phase 1 multiple‑dose data showing ARV‑102, an oral PROTAC degrader targeting LRRK2, achieved approximately 50% or greater reduction of LRRK2 protein in cerebrospinal fluid at all dose levels by day 14 and maintained reductions through day 28 in Parkinson’s disease patients. The randomized, placebo‑controlled cohort tested daily doses of 20–80 mg and demonstrated dose‑dependent CSF exposure consistent with brain penetration. Investigators also reported reductions in endolysosomal and neuroinflammatory biomarkers associated with LRRK2 expression, and ARV‑102 was well tolerated across doses in the small Phase 1 cohort. Data were presented at the AD/PD 2026 conference. Arvinas said the results support further development of ARV‑102 across neurodegenerative diseases featuring lysosomal dysfunction, and the findings are among the first clinical signals of central target degradation for a PROTAC in neurodegeneration.
...and 5 more selected Biotech stories in today’s full edition — or archive.
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