February 25, 2026

The need-to-know this morning

Alkermes CEO Richard Pops is retiring this summer, ending a 35-year run at the top of the neuroscience company. Blair Jackson, Alkermes' current chief operating officer, will assume the CEO role.

M&A

GSK acquires pulmonary hypertension drug

The deal for privately held 35Pharma is small, just under $1 billion in cash, but it adds an experimental treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension to GSK's research pipeline and bolsters its recent shift towards respiratory and immunology medicines.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension, or PAH, is a chronic lung condition caused by high blood pressure in the lungs. The disease has increasingly become a target for drugmakers in recent years. Merck's Winrevair won approval for PAH in 2024, and reached $1.4 billion in sales last year. Earlier this week, a PAH drug from Gossamer Bio failed a Phase 3 study.

My colleague Andrew Joseph has more details on the GSK acquisition.

GLP-1s

Novo's slashing of list prices may not affect insurance coverage

Novo Nordisk said that the slashing of U.S. list prices of its GLP-1 drugs, announced yesterday, will expand access for patients. It will certainly lower out-of-pocket costs for patients who pay coinsurance or are on high-deductible plans, but experts noted it won't necessarily lead more payers to cover the treatments.

Payers ultimately care about net prices — the actual prices they pay after rebates and discounts. In a statement to STAT, Novo said "we do not expect the reduction in list price to impact net price."

If list prices decrease but net prices stay the same, then payers won't be incentivized to expand coverage. In fact, they could have even more reasons to restrict or drop coverage.

obesity

Novo doubles down on oral peptides

Novo said today it's struck a licensing deal with Boston-based Vivtex Corporation for oral peptide and protein drugs to treat obesity, diabetes, and related conditions.

Under the deal, Vivtex, co-founded by Bob Langer, will license certain oral drug-delivery technologies to Novo, while the Danish drugmaker will pay Vivtex up to $2.1 billion and tiered royalties on future product sales.

Novo has focused much more on oral peptides and less on small molecules compared to competitor Eli Lilly. Its Wegovy pill, an oral peptide, just launched this year and has seen strong uptake, particularly in the direct-to-consumer market.

politics

How drugmakers may challenge MFN pilots

The drug industry is expected to mount legal challenges against Medicare pilot programs introduced by the Trump administration that would require companies to lower prices in line with what other countries pay.

While it's to soon for those companies to sue over these "most-favored nations" pilots, drugmakers have posted public comments that hint at what legal arguments they may end up pursuing, including arguments that the programs are unconstitutional and lack legal authority.