| | | |   | Hello, everyone. Damian here with a look at how crypto can fund science, an arguably predictable disappointment in Alzheimer's disease, and the shocking revelation that biotech stocks sometimes go up. | | | Can cryptocurrency help fund rare disease drug development? That’s the idea behind Vibe Bio, a novel company that raised $12 million to take a democratic approach to discovering new medicines.
As STAT’s Allison DeAngelis reports, Vibe operates as a DAO, short for decentralized autonomous organization, in which people buy in by acquiring a token that allows them to submit proposals for research projects. Those proposals get vetted by a panel of experts, and in the end, token-holders vote on which ones to fund.
Vibe is part of a growing field dubbed DeSci, as in decentralized science, hoping to use some of the technology that has transformed finance to give patients and researchers more of a say on which projects get paid for.
Read more. | How Congress’ plan to lower insulin costs could benefit pharma A pair of senators are proposing a complicated redesign of how insulin products are priced, promising to lower costs for patients. But the plan would also allow drugmakers to lock in their current profits for the foreseeable future, insulating them from pricing pressure.
As STAT’s Rachel Cohrs reports, the plan would cap insulin prices for patients by spreading the costs between Medicare, insurers, and the federal government, leaving pharma’s margins untouched. Overall, the legislation would likely reduce profits for pharmacy benefit managers and insurance companies while costing the federal government money preserving drugmakers’ bottom lines.
That didn’t sit well with independent patient and consumer groups, who have panned the proposal. David Mitchell, founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs, called the bill “disappointing,” and said it would ultimately shift costs to patients in other ways.
Read more. | Spotlight on healthcare innovation and M&A Disruptive technology remains vital to the future of healthcare. “If you think about what’s happening in AI and machine-learning drug discovery: those are exciting places to be,” says Andrew Callaway, RBC’s Global Head, Healthcare Investment Banking. Learn how wearables and digital therapeutics are emerging as important licensing opportunities today, but could be focal points for M&A tomorrow. Hear from RBC’s experts. | An Alzheimer’s scandal ends in failure Athira Pharma, the biotech company parted ways with its founding CEO after she doctored data, lost about two-thirds of its value yesterday after disclosing that the Alzheimer’s disease treatment she helped developed didn’t benefit patients in a mid-stage clinical trial.
The drug, meant to improve patients’ brain function and slow cognitive decline, did neither in a study enrolling 77 people with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s, Athira said. In a post-hoc analysis, the company’s drug appeared to outperform placebo in a subset of patients who weren’t taking generic Alzheimer’s medicines like donepezil, but among patients who were, Athira’s treatment performed worse.
The results are a bad omen for Athira’s ongoing Phase 3 study, which is enrolling more than 400 patients with data expected next year. The company will “use these insights for a rational optimization” of its larger trial, Chief Medical Officer Hans Moebius said in a statement that also included the words “encouraging” and “fortuitous.” | Biotech had four good days  With the biotech sector entering the 16th month of a painful correction, even the smallest green shoots are worth pointing out. The closely watched XBI index is up almost 15% the last four trading days, making for the longest streak of green days in all of 2022.
The move could in part be tied to Congress and the Federal Trade Commission turning their attention toward pharmacy benefits managers, suggesting outcry over the cost of medicines might gradually be shifting from the drug industry to the many middlemen who profit from it. It could also be a sign that, after more than a year of steady decline, biotech finally hit a bottom. | More reads - Industry-funded studies on cost-effectiveness often favor pricier drugs, study finds. STAT
- Ex-girlfriend of biotech CFO pleads guilty to insider trading. Reuters
- Congress is closer than ever to formally authorizing ARPA-H. But the details aren’t as final as they seem. STAT
- Enanta sues Pfizer, demanding compensation for Paxlovid-related patent infringement. Endpoints
| Thanks for reading! Until tomorrow,  | | | |
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