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Today's Rundown

Barron quits GSK to take CEO post at $3B biotech startup, leaving Wood to finish what he began
Fierce JPM Week: Verily's Lee details 'strong' revenue growth as company eyes employer market in 2022
Did BMS set up a subsidiary to avoid paying $1.4B in U.S. taxes? The Senate finance chairman is on the case
Iterative Scopes bags fivefold financing increase as its colonoscopy AI undergoes FDA review
Mark Cuban's drug company launches pharmacy, promising striking savings on generic drugs
Eisai takes baton from Biogen as next Alzheimer's prospect follows in Aduhelm's footprints
Fierce JPM Week: Novo Nordisk plans more patient outreach, doctor education as Wegovy launch works through supply woes
Tapping new tech helps marketers matchmake rare disease drugs for elusive patients
Altos bursts out of stealth with $3B, a dream team C-suite and a wildly ambitious plan to reverse disease
Smith & Nephew kicks in $135M for 3D-printed, cementless knee implant maker Engage Surgical
Merck's Keytruda narrowly passes liver cancer confirmatory trial, but murky FDA fate lies ahead
Lyra Health gets $235M, soars to $5.85B valuation with new acquisition for global expansion
Exscientia appoints Oxford bioinformatics expert as first chief of biologics AI

Featured Story

Barron quits GSK to take CEO post at $3B biotech startup, leaving Wood to finish what he began

By Nick Paul Taylor

Hal Barron is leaving GlaxoSmithKline. After four years as chief scientific officer, Barron is leaving to take up the CEO post at a deep-pocketed, wildly ambitious biotech startup—leaving Pfizer veteran Tony Wood in charge of the scientific side of the company.

Fierce JPM Week: Verily's Lee details 'strong' revenue growth as company eyes employer market in 2022

By Heather Landi

Verily has rapidly ramped up its work in healthcare and research in the past two years with new initiatives and new hires. Vivian Lee gives us a sneak peek at what to expect from the health tech company in 2022.

Did BMS set up a subsidiary to avoid paying $1.4B in U.S. taxes? The Senate finance chairman is on the case

By Eric Sagonowsky

Tax avoidance allegations have hovered over major players in the pharmaceutical industry for decades. Some of the biggest names in the business have occasionally faced inquiries or have had to pay up to the Internal Revenue Service. Now, Bristol Myers Squibb is at the center of a U.S. Senator's tax probe.

Iterative Scopes bags fivefold financing increase as its colonoscopy AI undergoes FDA review

By Conor Hale

The company is also developing tech for highlighting the characteristics of inflammatory bowel disease to support recruitment services for clinical trials.

Mark Cuban's drug company launches pharmacy, promising striking savings on generic drugs

By Anastassia Gliadkovskaya

The pharmacy’s initial inventory launch consists of 100 generic drugs. MCCDPC aims to bypass co-called middlemen and markups and boasts that it reflects actual manufacturer prices along with a flat 15% fee.

Eisai takes baton from Biogen as next Alzheimer's prospect follows in Aduhelm's footprints

By Annalee Armstrong

Eisai made history last year as Biogen’s partner on Aduhelm, the first approved Alzheimer’s treatment in decades. And yes, they know the launch could have gone better. Luckily, they get a do-over.

Fierce JPM Week: Novo Nordisk plans more patient outreach, doctor education as Wegovy launch works through supply woes

By Eric Sagonowsky

Novo Nordisk is off and running with its next big launch in Wegovy, an injectable GLP-1 medicine for people living with obesity. While the launch has already run into early supply hurdles, Novo will be busy this year making sure more patients can get started on the drug, an exec recently said.

Tapping new tech helps marketers matchmake rare disease drugs for elusive patients

By Natalie Missakian

The gold mine of data that's become available in recent years can help rare disease drug makers with the challenges of marketing to such small groups of patients, but they need to think differently about how they use it.

Altos bursts out of stealth with $3B, a dream team C-suite and a wildly ambitious plan to reverse disease

By Nick Paul Taylor

Altos Labs just redefined big in biotech. Where to start? The $3 billion in investor support? The C-suite staffed by storied leaders—Barron, Bishop, Klausner—identifiable by one name? Or the wildly ambitious plan to reverse disease for patients of any age? Altos is all that and more.

Smith & Nephew kicks in $135M for 3D-printed, cementless knee implant maker Engage Surgical

By Andrea Park

No bone cement, no problem. Smith & Nephew will now offer both cemented and cementless partial knee implants, thanks to the recent acquisition of Engage Surgical and its cement-free technology.

Merck's Keytruda narrowly passes liver cancer confirmatory trial, but murky FDA fate lies ahead

By Angus Liu

After a late-stage trial flop and FDA scrutiny, a conditional liver cancer nod for Merck’s Keytruda depended on a second confirmatory study—or so it seemed. Now that the test has come up positive, the indication’s future remains unclear.

Lyra Health gets $235M, soars to $5.85B valuation with new acquisition for global expansion

By Rebecca Torrence

Mental health benefits provider Lyra Health grabbed $235 million in a series F round that boosted its valuation to $5.85 billion. The health tech unicorn also acquired employee assistance program provider ICAS World, which operates in over 155 countries, to support its global expansion.

Exscientia appoints Oxford bioinformatics expert as first chief of biologics AI