| | | |   | Hi, it’s Meghana! JPM is a wrap, but we've still got plenty of updates from biotech's big week. Before we get into it, a reminder: Apply for STAT Madness! This year’s bracket-style innovation tournament is now open for submissions.
And a quick programming note: We'll be taking this Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but will be back in your inboxes Tuesday.
| | | Despite stock slump, Ginkgo tried hard at JPM Ginkgo Bioworks was once one of the buzziest biotechs around, thanks in large part to the persuasive charms of CEO Jason Kelly. But its fortunes have plummeted since going public in 2021, with stock down 85% from opening and its $23 billion valuation down to $2 billion. Still, Kelly tells STAT that the synthetic biology company, which began in the fragrance space but is trying to pivot into health care, is “delivering on everything we want to deliver.” Ginkgo claims its engineering technology can offer powerful drug development tools — but it’s been difficult to convince the biopharma industry of this. Kelly bounced between 50 different meetings at the J.P. Morgan conference, aiming to convince drug makers that Ginkgo would be a useful partner — and finding that many are still wary. But the company, which boasts DNA-rewriting robots that program cells to do their bidding, has a hefty financial runway to prove itself in biopharma and elsewhere. “I just have to make sure I don’t run out of $1.3 billion before I get lots of royalties,” Kelly said. Read more. | Bayer’s busy, and has lots of options Marianne De Backer, head of strategy and business development at Bayer, was booked back-to-back at the J.P. Morgan conference. That was evident from her un-rumpled attire: It was pouring rain, and she was completely dry. “You can tell the power dynamic by how much rain people have on their shoulders,” said Chris Gibson, CEO of Recursion Pharmaceuticals — a company that’s been partnered with Bayer thanks to a deal forged at the 2020 JPM week. Bayer’s been particularly busy this year. Before the pandemic, biotech startups were hot commodities often at the center of bidding wars amongst larger pharma players. Now, that dynamic has flipped, and it’s the bigger companies that have the power. Bayer received many hundreds of meeting inquiries ahead of the conference, and ultimately met with 300 companies. Read more. | 5 ways biotech can help support patients and their communities As a company, Amgen’s mission is to serve patients, and while innovating new medicines may be at the core of what they do every day, staff are always excited for new ways to serve not only patients, but also the communities where they live and work. Learn more about how the people of Amgen came together in 2022 to help patients, families and communities live happier, healthier lives. | What happened at biotech's big reunion? Will this year be better than the last? And is it time to quit San Francisco? We cover all that and more this week on “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast. With the 2023 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference drawing to a close, we look back on the biggest news of the meeting, what it means for the year in biotech ahead, and whether the industry's biggest annual gathering might finally have outgrown its host city. Listen here. | How will the FTC’s new approach impact PBMs? A philosophical shift is underway at the Federal Trade Commission. The agency — well, the Democrats leading it, anyway — wants to further target unfair business practices, which could have a major impact on pharmacy benefit managers. Before, it prioritized minimizing costs to consumers, which was often bad news for small businesses. Now, the FTC’s more interested in protecting small and medium businesses to help enforce fair competition. Last year, the FTC began formally investigating a number of PBMs, including CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, OptumRx, and Humana. Independent pharmacies are now hoping that the FTC’s antitrust scrutiny into PBMs could prevent them from shuttering. “When you actually look at the empirical evidence and the research … it’s actually independent community pharmacies that are outcompeting the big chains, be it on quality of service, be it on price, be it on wait times,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said. Read more. | More reads - ‘We become millionaires and we retire babe’: Former Takeda worker and boyfriend accused of $2.3 million scam of drug firm, Boston Globe
- A lesson from JPM: Too many digital front doors in health care lead to nowhere, STAT
- California lawsuit accuses drugmakers of insulin overcharging, Reuters
| Thanks for reading! Until next week,  | | | |
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