A chat with Regeneron’s Yancopoulos, an IPO forecast, and all eyes on J&J

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January 15, 2026 Check out STAT+

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We have made it! And so have you. This is Adam, Elaine, Matt, and Allison preparing to sign off from JPM26. And yet — we have one closing act. Join us at 1 p.m. ET tomorrow for a virtual recap of the conference, where we'll talk about what we learned about the state of biotech, and what it portends for the year ahead. Lastly, If you're not already a STAT+ subscriber, consider it. We currently have a 50% promotion if you sign up for an annual plan.

STAT C-Suite Regeneron's CSO on MFN and the problem with AI In an interview with STAT, Regeneron's George Yancopoulos wasn't very worried about when the company will ink a "most-favored nation" deal with the White House. "We assume it is going to happen," he said. But he was exercised that many are overstating AI's benefits in drug discovery.  "AI is not smart enough to compete with literally billions of years of evolution," he said, explaining that antibody technology based on natural symptoms — like Regeneron's VelocImmune mouse — is a better approach.  Yancopoulos was, as usual, outspoken, and talked to Matt about other issues, including Regeneron's gene therapy for a rare form of hereditary deafness. Read more. FDA Makary touts new voucher program, despite criticism In lunchtime remarks yesterday to JPM attendees, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary described his Commissioner's National Priority Voucher (CNPV) program as an apolitical, science-driven, and agency-wide collaborative initiative. Makary said the "vast majority" of drugs considered for these accelerated review vouchers are "nominated by the primary review teams. I also nominate a few products," according to a recording of his speech.  "After the products are nominated, they go to a multidisciplinary committee led by our deputy chief medical officer Dr. Mallika Mundkur, and that committee makes a decision," Makary said.  "We've had incredible discussions. I've observed just awesome, scientific, high-level discussions on the risk and benefits of drugs in these meetings," Makary added.  Speaking at a STAT event on Monday, Richard Pazdur, the veteran regulator who left the FDA last month, criticized the CNPV program for being overtly political and for its lack of transparency.  Most of the small group of people who meet to discuss the voucher drugs, if not all of them, directly report to Makary, Pazdur said. The deliberations are "held in a conference room that is adjacent to the commissioner's personal office. There's not enough room in that office even for the entire review staff that has worked on that application to attend this meeting." STAT has also previously reported that Makary cleared all voucher recipients with the White House. The FDA awarded at least one voucher over the concerns of staff, and pressed staff to award vouchers to certain companies as part of the drug-pricing agreements being struck by the White House. "It can be uncomfortable to try new things when we've been using the same system since the 1960s," said Makary during his speech yesterday, explaining why the CNPV program is important. "We have got to try new things if we want to be dominant as the world leader in life sciences."

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WALL STREET Expect 20-30 IPOs in 2026, investors say The biotech IPO may finally return in earnest. Multiple VCs have told STAT they have startups readying their paperwork as we speak. But the rate of IPOs won't be anywhere near what it was in 2021. Sofinnova Investments General Partner Maha Katabi anticipates there be 20-30 IPOs this year. The action will likely take off in Q2, according to Scott Beardsley at Novo Holdings.  The big question is whether some of the major trial readouts in the first half of the year — think of Novartis' lipoprotein (a)-targeting therapy or the Bristol Myers Squibb/Karuna Therapeutics data on psychosis related to Alzheimer's disease — will come out positive and boost biotech and pharma stock indices. The midterm election, too, could place a damper on the IPO window, investors noted.  Venture capital Don't pigeonhole Bob Nelsen! Venture capitalist Bob Nelsen, who joined STAT for a live recording of "The Readout "LOUD" earlier this week, seems to always be up to something interesting. And these days one of those things is Project Prometheus, the secretive new artificial intelligence company being helmed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Vik Bajaj, the former head of Foresite Capital's AI and science group, Foresite Labs.  But Nelsen told Allison the company isn't about health care or drug development, strictly speaking. Instead, Project Prometheus is melding AI with physics. "It's the challenge of figuring out how to reinvent the physical world. It's a big challenge," he said. Having said that, he noted the company's technology may eventually prove useful in drug development, because a better understanding of physics helps researchers in other scientific fields.   Read more. immunology In I&I, all eyes on J&J JPM is over now. Wondering what to do with your time and attention? Well, investors and drug developers alike will be tuning into Johnson & Johnson's earnings call next week in the hopes that the pharmaceutical company will finally reveal more information about its combination IL-23 and TNF treatment for inflammatory bowel disease.  Immunology and inflammatory drugs continue to be an area to watch, if the chatter at the conference is any indicator. Combination therapies are one of the big areas of clinical development, where most pharmaceutical companies have their own concoctions in development. The results of J&J's DUET studies in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease are expected to impact the field massively. "Whether combo [therapies] are going to be the future or not … this study is the proof point for it," Spyre Therapeutics CEO Cameron Turtle told STAT.  Spyre, meanwhile, has six clinical trial readouts coming this year in both inflammatory bowel conditions and rheumatic disease, its CEO said during JPM.

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Thanks for reading! A non-JPM edition of this newsletter returns to your inbox tomorrow morning. Allison, Adam, Elaine, and Matt

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