| | | |   | Hello, all. Damian here. On account of Labor Day, the Readout will not be in your inbox on Monday morning. We'll return to the regular schedule on Tuesday. | | | Illumina beat the FTC after all Illumina prevailed over the Federal Trade Commission in its year-long effort to keep the cancer testing company Grail, an $8 billion acquisition that has drawn scrutiny from regulators around the world.
As STAT’s Jonathan Wosen reports, a federal judge ruled in Illumina’s favor and rejected the FTC’s argument that its acquisition of Grail would stifle competition in the nascent market for multi-cancer early detection tests, often called liquid biopsies. Illumina is not yet in the clear. The FTC might appeal the ruling, and a parallel process in Europe appears unlikely to go Illumina’s way.
Illumina’s share price fell about 2% on the news yesterday, perhaps because it guarantees the company will continue with what has been a costly fight to hold onto Grail. In an effort to appease regulators, Illumina has been operating Grail as a separate business, a doubly expensive arrangement under which every dollar the testing firm loses comes out of Illumina’s earnings but the two companies can’t go through the money-saving process of actually integrating their operations.
Read more. | What can worms teach us about immortality? How does one become the Godfather? And where does Biogen go from here?
We cover all that and more this week on “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast. Our colleague Megan Molteni joins us to explain the scientific discoveries, rampant hype, and Silicon Valley billions behind the burgeoning field of longevity research. Then, we discuss the remarkable career of Stelios Papadopoulos, the venerated Godfather of biotech who faces the daunting task of saving Biogen.
Listen here. | mRNA has huge potential beyond vaccines. Could it help us cure deadly cancers? There’s no question that mRNA helped bring Covid-19 vaccines to market at groundbreaking speeds. But what’s next? As scientists and clinicians set their sights on mRNA for therapies that could cure cancers and more, the biopharma industry will need to be ready to make them at the right scale. Learn more here. | Wall Street predicts a bidding war for Forma Therapeutics Yesterday’s news that Novo Nordisk had signed a deal to pay $1.1 billion, or $20 a share, for Forma Therapeutics had an uncommon effect: Forma’s stock price closed higher than the offer on the table.
Granted, it was by only 24 cents per share. But shares of to-be-acquired companies generally trade a bit below the offer price to reflect the risk of a deal falling apart. Forma’s performance suggests investors believe the deal is going to get better, whether because shareholders refuse to tender their stock or another bidder emerges.
Forma, which traded at a valuation below its cash reserves as recently as July, competes in the suddenly booming business of developing new medicines for blood diseases, with a treatment for sickle cell disease in mid-stage development. Last month, Pfizer signed a deal to acquire Global Blood Therapeutics, maker of an approved sickle cell disease drug, for $5.4 billion after outbidding Johnson & Johnson and a second, undisclosed company (which might have been Novo). Forma’s shareholders seem to be counting on a similar auction. | What to know about the new Covid boosters Last night, the CDC gave its blessing to strain-specific booster shots from Moderna and partners Pfizer and BioNTech, beginning the next phase of the U.S.’s Covid-19 response and sparking questions about the unusual process by which these vaccines came to be.
For instance, why do they target the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron, unlike the BA.1-targeting boosters on offer in other countries? How much do we know about their safety? And why did the FDA authorize them based on data from animal studies?
Thankfully, STAT is here to answer those questions and many more. | More reads - Rahul Gupta, first physician to serve as drug czar, says stigma among doctors is key culprit in addiction crisis. STAT
- EU regulator backs use of Novavax Covid shot as a booster. Reuters
- Calm’s head of science departs amid a shakeup at meditation app maker. STAT
- Novartis’ Bradner steps down as research head amid company shake-up. BioPharma Dive
| Thanks for reading! Until next week,  | | | |
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