September 6, 2023

The need-to-know this morning

Moderna said its updated Covid-19 vaccine generated protective antibodies against a new, mutated form of the virus, study results showed.
Biogen named Jane Grogan as its new head of research. Grogan has a scientific background in immunology and immuno-oncology. She spent 15 years at Genentech and was most recently chief scientific officer at Graphite Bio. Grogan starts at Biogen in October and will serve on the company's executive committee.
Anna Protopapas is retiring as CEO of Mersana Therapeutics, but will remain a director on its board. In July, Mersana announced a corporate restructuring, including employee layoffs, following a setback in the clinical development of a treatment for ovarian cancer. Martin Huber, a current Mersana board member, is taking over as the new CEO.

Venture

The biotech megaround is alive and well

Nimbus Therapeutics, the resolutely private biotech company, has raised $210 million in venture capital, marking the latest nine-figure fundraise in a sector still recovering from a downturn.

The Nimbus round adds GV to the company's existing investors, a group that includes Atlas Venture and SR One. It's not immediately clear why Nimbus needs the money; late last year it sold the rights to an autoimmune drug for $4 billion.

But the fact that Nimbus was able to raise it is notable. The collapse of biotech's IPO market put a squeeze on private companies seeking venture funding, straining valuations and forcing some firms to pivot. IPO's haven't exactly returned to their mid-pandemic height, but the recent ballooning of VC checks suggests investors see an upswing in the future.

Sequencing

A lukewarm welcome

Early yesterday morning, Illumina named its next CEO. By the end of the day, shares had fallen about 6%.

It was an inauspicious reception for Jacob Thaysen, the long-time Agilent executive tasked with steering Illumina out of its long and uncharacteristic decline. Some investors were holding out hope that Jay Flatley, the former CEO who led Illumina to its zenith, would make a triumphant return. Others apparently just wanted a known quantity.

"Though we were expecting a higher profile CEO," Leerink analyst Puneet Souda wrote in a note to clients, "we see Jacob Thaysen's appointment [as] constructive," noting his experience in manufacturing and selling products in China. To TD Cowen analyst Dan Brennan, Thaysen's "profile checks a lot of the key boxes investors were looking for in a new CEO."

Drug pricing

Wegovy is cheaper in the U.K.

By roughly a factor of five, according to Bloomberg. Novo Nordisk's in-demand obesity medicine made its delayed debut in the U.K. at a cost ranging from about $250 to $400 a month, far below the roughly $1,300 U.S. list price.

As ever, that list price doesn't reflect the discounts and rebates offered to American insurers, and only patients paying out of pocket would ever fork over the total amount. But the substantial difference could be relevant in Novo Nordisk's ongoing disputes with U.S. payers, who have been curtailing coverage and questioning the long-term economic value of Wegovy's potent effects on body weight.

Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk's days of charging a premium price in the U.S. are likely to be numbered. Wegovy is expected to become eligible for Medicare pricing negotiation starting in 2027, which could lead to a roughly 40% decrease in what the government pays for it. At the same time, Eli Lilly is expected to win FDA approval for what appears to be a more powerful obesity treatment, which will put pressure on Novo Nordisk to offer bigger discounts to private payers to keep Wegovy on formularies.

Vaccines

The problem with the new RSV vaccines

The groundbreaking invention of vaccines for RSV has brought long-awaited tools for public health. But the studies that led to their approvals didn't answer key questions.

Among adults, RSV poses the biggest threat to the oldest seniors and people with certain preexisting health conditions. Trials for the vaccines, which have been approved for adults 60 and older, included few participants 80 and older. People who are immunocompromised and those who live in nursing homes were also not included.

"Yeah, it works great in a healthy 60-year-old, but how does it work in the general population?" Helen "Keipp" Talbot, a geriatric infectious diseases specialist from Vanderbilt University, said at the STAT Future Summit on Tuesday. "The population that we're intending to use the vaccine in, how well does it work? What can we anticipate? What's the cost-effectiveness of the vaccine?"

Read more.

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