January 5, 2026

The need-to-know this morning

Argenx said this morning that CEO Tim Van Hauwermeiren will step down in a planned transition later this year. Karen Massey, the Belgian drugmaker's current chief operating officer, has been appointed the company's new CEO. Van Hauwermeiren will stay on Argenx's chairman, succeeding the retiring Peter Verhaeghe.
Zenas Biopharma said its drug obexelimab achieved the primary goal of a placebo-controlled Phase 3 study in patients with immunoglobulin G4-related disease, a chronic inflammatory disorder. However, Zenas' stock price fell on concerns the treatment effect of obexelimab was lower than a competing drug from Amgen.

china

A biotech incubator tries to bridge East-West divide

Shanghai-based biotech entrepreneur PC Zhu is building ATLATL, a fast-moving incubator designed to bridge Western and Chinese drug development — and he's hoping to leverage China's increasingly capable research ecosystem in the process.

The incubator, as Zhu sees it, isn't all that unlike a research institute like the Broad Institute. The difference is that he believes an incubator in China can allow researchers to test ideas faster than in other countries, and at lower cost, STAT contributor Brian Yang writes.

Among other things, ATLATL recently helped a Chinese biotech company advance the first circular RNA therapeutic to human testing in the United States — a first-in-class milestone for the technology.

Supporters say China's scale, patient access, and regulatory flexibility give it a structural edge. But there are also skeptics.

obesity

Novo launches Wegovy pill, undercutting Lilly in DTC market

Novo Nordisk today launched its newly approved obesity pill and it's laser focused on grabbing market share in the direct-to-consumer market.

As we wrote last week, the Danish company will sell the highest doses of the Wegovy pill at $299 a month for patients buying it directly. Meanwhile, Eli Lilly has said it plans to sell its pill orforglipron at up to $399 a month following approval, which is expected in the next few months.

At the same time, however, Novo will maintain the same list price for the Wegovy pill as the injection, $1,349 a month, the company told STAT. That means the pill may not necessarily be cheaper than injections for patients getting their weight loss drugs through insurance. Patients typically have to pay the list price of drugs before meeting their deductibles, or, if they have to pay co-insurance, then they pay a certain percentage of the list price.

readouts

The Q1 biotech scorecard: A busy first quarter awaits

The first quarter is stacked with late-stage readouts and regulatory decisions that could jolt biotech stocks, STAT's Adam Feuerstein writes in his latest biotech scorecard.

Tantalizing data awaits in the realms of obesity, neuropsychiatry, rare disease, cardiovascular risk, and gene therapy. Investors are watching a spate of Phase 3 data from companies including Alumis, BridgeBio, Compass Pathways, Gossamer, Neumora, and Vertex, among others.

Several high-stakes FDA decisions are also due, with approvals — or rejections — looming for gene therapies, rare disease drugs, and blockbuster oncology and metabolic assets, including reviews tied to achondroplasia, Huntington's disease, hypothalamic obesity, and HER2-positive breast cancer.

year ahead

Three things to watch for in biopharma this year

The biotech and pharmaceutical industries head into 2026 facing a volatile mix of political pressure, regulatory uncertainty, and market disruption, as the Trump administration renews its push to lower drug prices while grappling with the realities of innovation and access.

STAT's Ed Silverman and Elaine Chen look at three issues, in particular: the rollout of the new GLP-1 obesity pills from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, policy shifts at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and growing turmoil around the 340B drug discount program.

drug discovery

Insilico inks cancer drug deal with Servier after IPO

AI-driven drug developer Insilico Medicine made its public-market debut in Hong Kong over the holidays, raising about $292 million. It's the first AI-powered biotech to list on the Hong Kong exchange's main board, the company said.

The oversubscribed offering drew heavyweight investors including Eli Lilly, Tencent, and Temasek, underscoring growing global confidence in AI-first drug development. The company has more than 30 programs across fibrosis, oncology, and CNS diseases and multiple assets already in clinical trials.

The company also just signed a multi-year drug discovery with France-based Servier. Under the agreement, Insilico will be eligible to receive up to $32 million in upfront and near-term R&D payments.

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