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Good morning. In today’s news, we have: pricing conundrums, lab demand, and drug shortages.
The need-to-know this morning
Sanofi said it was halting a Phase 3 study of its drug riliprubart in a rare autoimmune disease after an interim analysis showed the therapy was not effective. It’s the latest blow to the French firm’s R&D efforts, which new CEO Belén Garijo has been brought in to revitalize.
Parabilis Medicines, a developer of cancer medicines, raised $670 million in an initial public offering. It’s the largest-ever biotech IPO, topping obesity drugmaker Kailera Therapeutics’ $625 million debut in April.
European countries at odds over drug-pricing policies
In Europe, countries are grappling with what to do about drug prices as they contend with conflicting pressures. Aging populations and growing rates of chronic disease are straining their budgets, but, at the same, the U.S. and drugmakers are demanding they pay more for medicines.
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.
David Sinclair plans to test whole-body rejuvenation drugs in the XPrize competition
The outspoken longevity scientist David Sinclair has predicted that, one day, you’ll go to the doctor and get a prescription that will make you 10 years younger. MIT Technology Review has learned of his latest step toward this: human tests of a “reprogramming” drug.
Sinclair, a biologist at Harvard Medical School, plans to launch the tests in a $101 million competition organized by the XPrize Foundation. The winners will “restore” a person to an earlier apparent age, as measured by improvements in immune, cognitive, and muscle function.
The grand prize goes to any team able to show a 10-year (or greater) relative improvement after one year of treatment.
At SXSW London last week, I gave a talk called “Five things you need to know about AI,” in which I shared what I think are the biggest themes in AI right now.
I pulled a few things from our first AI10 list, an annual guide to the top trends in this buzzy world, but I also veered off on several tangents. In my half-hour slot, I tried to cover the key talking points that I think help to make sense of what’s going on in tech—and thus the economy—today.
Five key thoughts emerged: AI is everywhere all at once, it’s getting scary, a backlash is growing, it’s becoming a big deal for science—and I didn’t even need to show up at the talk. Read the full story for all the details.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 OpenAI has confidentially filed for a US IPO The listing could come as early as September. (Reuters $) + OpenAI is targeting a valuation of up to $1 trillion. (Financial Times $) + The IPO will test investor appetite for AI companies. (WSJ $) + The move follows IPO filings from Anthropic and SpaceX. (CNN)
2 The US claims BYD, Baidu, Alibaba, and others are aiding China’s military The Pentagon added them to a list of military-linked companies. (WSJ $) + The designations limit their operations in the US. (BBC) + The new additions also include humanoid firm Unitree. (TechCrunch) + The Pentagon is adapting to China’s tech rise. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Apple’s long-awaited AI overhaul of Siri is finally here “Siri AI” promises to be a more conversational assistant. (NYT $) + It includes a standalone app and screen-reading features. (Reuters $) + And arrives after two years of repeated delays. (Axios)
4 The White House and Congress are working to limit state AI laws A new deal would curb state rules for federal legislation. (Axios) + AI regulation has divided US politicians. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Meta is launching a “workforce academy” for building data centers The five-week program is free of charge and guarantees a job. (WSJ $) + It arrives shortly after Meta laid off 8,000 employees. (NPR) 6 Taiwan is mulling curbs on AI chip exports to China The new controls would further align with US restrictions. (Bloomberg $) + Future AI chips could be built on glass. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Meta has quietly removed face-recognition code from its smart glasses app The code identified by investigators has disappeared. (Wired $)
8 Humanoid robots are edging towards the battlefield American and Chinese militaries are pursuing the tech. (BBC)
9 The world’s first wind-powered underwater data center has launched It uses less power and water than land-based equivalents. (Guardian)
10 You could get some benefits of sleep without having to nod off If new brain stimulation works as well on humans as on mice, that is. (New Scientist $)
Quote of the day
“You’re on the train, but you know that there’s no destination.”
—Clara Shih, a former top AI executive at Salesforce and Meta, tells the New York Times that AI training can’t keep up with the field’s advances.
One More Thing
ILLUSTRATIONS BY AMRITA MARINO
Inside the race to make human sex cells in the lab
An embryo forms when sperm meets egg. But what if we could start with other cells—if a blood sample or skin biopsy could be transformed into “artificial” sperm and eggs? What if those were all you needed to make a baby?
That’s the promise of a radical approach to reproduction. Scientists have already created artificial eggs and sperm from mouse cells and used them to create mouse pups. Artificial human sex cells are next.
The advances could herald the end of infertility, but they raise major scientific and ethical challenges.
AstraZeneca’s investigational GLP-1 pill showed promise in mid-stage obesity and diabetes studies, but it may still be too early to determine how it stacks up against oral treatments already on the market.
In one Phase 2 trial of people with obesity, called VISTA, those on the highest dose of the drug, called elecoglipron, lost 11.2% of their weight after 36 weeks, when looking at all patients regardless of discontinuations, according to data presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association and published in the Lancet. (Eli Lilly’s pill Foundayo led to the same rate of weight loss in a Phase 3 study that lasted twice as long, but it’s hard to compare across trials in different phases.)
In a separate Phase 2 trial in people with diabetes, called SOLSTICE, patients on the highest dose saw up to a 1.74 percentage-point decrease in a measure of blood sugar called A1C after 26 weeks. The study, also published in the Lancet, enrolled people taking oral Ozempic open-label as a comparator group, and they experienced a smaller A1C decrease of 1.32 percentage points.
A study led by researchers at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) has found that people with type 2 diabetes or obesity who were prescribed GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) had substantially lower odds of developing alcohol, opioid, nicotine, and cocaine use disorders compared with similar individuals who were not taking the medications. The research, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, used health data from more than 142,000 patients from the All of Us Research Program and adds to a growing body of evidence indicating that GLP-1 medications may have an influence on dopamine signaling and other neural pathways that drive cravings not just for food but other substances.
“Our findings add to growing evidence that GLP-1 medications may influence more than appetite and blood sugar regulation,” said lead author Tadesse Abegaz, PhD, an assistant professor in the School of Pharmacy, University of Texas at El Paso. “These medications appear to affect brain pathways involved in reward and craving, which could help explain the lower rates of substance use disorders observed in our study.”
Substance use disorders are a significant public health challenge contributing to illness, premature death, and higher healthcare costs. While current treatment methods that combine medications and behavioral therapy can be effective, relapse rates remain high, often exceeding 50% within the first year after treatment, suggesting a need for additional ways to treat this disease.
An emerging candidate for this are GLP-1 receptor agonists such as semaglutide and liraglutide. Developed to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity, these drugs have drawn attention because GLP-1 receptors are found not only in areas involved in metabolic regulation but also in brain regions associated with reward and reinforcement.
“Animal studies have demonstrated that GLP-1 RAs reduce the self-administration of alcohol, opioid, nicotine, and cocaine effects [that] are believed to be mediated through interactions with the mesolimbic dopamine system,” the researchers wrote. Small human studies and observational analyses have also suggested reductions in substance cravings, relapse rates, and alcohol-related hospitalizations among some patients receiving GLP-1 therapies.
The El Paso investigators said they initiated their research to move beyond smaller studies because “the real-world impact of GLP-1 RA on multiple co-occurrence of SUD (substance use disorder) has not been systematically investigated.”
To address this gap, the team conducted a retrospective nested case-control study using data from the NIH’s All of Us Research Program. The study examined individuals with type 2 diabetes or obesity and identified cases involving new diagnoses of alcohol use disorder, opioid use disorder, nicotine use disorder, or cocaine use disorder. These individuals were compared with matched control participants who had diabetes or obesity but no documented history of substance use disorders.
Analyses of these data showed consistent associations across all categories studied. GLP-1 receptor agonist use was associated with a 74% reduction in the odds of alcohol use disorder, a 69% reduction in the odds of opioid use disorder, a 68% reduction in the odds of nicotine use disorder, and a 75% reduction in the odds of cocaine use disorder. The researchers also reported 75% lower odds of any substance use disorder among GLP-1 users compared with non-users.
“Exposure to GLP-1 RAs was consistently associated with significantly reduced odds of SUD cases,” the researchers wrote. “These findings suggest that GLP-1 RAs may exert behavioral-modifying effects that extend beyond glycemic control and weight loss.”
The researchers noted that their research was observational and does not establish cause and effect. “We do not support prescribing these medications for addiction treatment at this time,” said senior author Gabriel Frietze, PhD, an assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences at UTEP. “Because this was an observational study in a specific clinical population, randomized clinical trials are needed before GLP-1 medications can be recommended for treating addiction.”
The team believes the findings could help guide future approaches to addressing substance use-related health issues by identifying biological pathways that may be targeted therapeutically. The authors noted that mechanisms potentially involved include modulation of dopamine release, suppression of neuroinflammation, and attenuation of stress-related neural circuits.
“Our next goal is to conduct prospective research that follows individuals initiating GLP-1 therapy over time,” Abegaz said. “We aim to evaluate whether changes in the substance use behaviors occur after treatment begins and whether these changes related to improvements in mental health and quality of life. Ultimately, this work will help inform whether GLP-1 medications could become part of future treatment strategies for substance use disorders.”
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Gene therapies can now cure disease, but America still hasn’t figured out how to pay for them. Is there a better way? Also, Novo executives are downplaying a once-coveted obesity drug, Incyte is making a $2 billion blood disease bet, and new data suggest Boehringer’s obesity contender may struggle to stand out in an increasingly crowded market.
The need-to-know this morning
Roche is partnering with Nurix Therapeutics to co-develop an experimental antibody treatment that works by degrading, or eliminating, a protein called BTK that is associated with blood cancer and other diseases.
Treeline Biosciences, the developer of early-stage cancer medicines co-founded by biotech entrepreneur Josh Bilenker, is going public via a reverse merger with Standard BioTools.
Combination of pancreatic cancer drugs from Tango, Revolution leads to high response rate
Revolution Medicines’ experimental pancreatic cancer drug has been the star of the oncology field in recent weeks, with new data showing the medicine produced unprecedented outcomes for patients.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was relaxing and invigorating because that oh-too-familiar routine of meetings, deadlines, and the like has returned with a vengeance. You knew this would happen, yes? To cope, we are relying, as always, on cups of stimulation. Our choice today is laced with chocolate raspberry. Feel free to join us. Remember, no prescription is required. Meanwhile, here are some tidbits to help you along. Best of luck accomplishing your goals today, and of course, do keep in touch. …
Revolution Medicines’ experimental pancreatic cancer drug has been the star of the oncology field in recent weeks, with new data showing the medicine produced unprecedented outcomes for patients, but its next act — this time as a co-lead — was just revealed, STAT points out. Tango Therapeutics said that in an early-stage clinical trial, a combination of its drug vopimetostat and Revolution’s daraxonrasib led to durable responses in the large majority of pancreatic cancer patients who received both medicines. Tango’s strategy of testing the two targeted drugs is notable because combination approaches in pancreatic cancer often include chemotherapy. The recent successful Revolution trial that has upended the specialty tested daraxonrasib versus chemotherapy as a second-line treatment.
Eli Lilly has already established that its next-generation obesity drug can lead to rapid weight loss, but researchers disclosed new data that provide more details on the safety and tolerability of the closely watched therapy, STAT writes. Lilly previously said that in one late-stage study, retatrutide helped people with diabetes lower blood sugar and lose a significant amount of weight, which is notable since those who have diabetes tend to lose less weight on treatment than those who do not. New data showed seven out of the 403 participants who received retatrutide experienced arrhythmias, and three treated participants experienced major cardiovascular complications, compared with none in the placebo group.
Depressive disorders are highly heterogeneous syndromes characterized not only by depressed mood but also by cognitive impairment, sleep–circadian rhythm disturbances, altered appetite, somatic discomfort, and metabolic or gastrointestinal comorbidities. In recent years, the microbiota–gut–brain axis (MGBA) has been increasingly recognized as an integrative biological framework linking abnormalities in mood regulation, immune responses, endocrine function, metabolism, and neuroplasticity. This review provides a systematic synthesis of gut microbial ecology and host phenotypic features associated with depressive disorders, with particular emphasis on the depletion of short-chain fatty acid-producing commensals, the enrichment of potentially pro-inflammatory taxa, and the functional remodeling of key metabolic pathways, including the tryptophan–kynurenine pathway, short-chain fatty acids, bile acids, and trimethylamine N-oxide. We further discuss how bidirectional gut-to-brain and brain-to-gut communication may contribute to the onset and progression of depressive disorders through intestinal barrier disruption, low-grade systemic inflammation, hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis activation, vagal signaling, and dysregulation of neurotransmitter and neurotrophic pathways. Current interventional evidence suggests that dietary and lifestyle modification, psychobiotics, and fecal microbiota transplantation may exert antidepressant potential in selected populations; however, the overall effect sizes remain limited and between-study heterogeneity is substantial. Patients with prominent gastrointestinal symptoms, metabolic abnormalities, or low-grade inflammatory states may represent priority candidates for MGBA-targeted interventions; nevertheless, a putative microbiota-responsive phenotype should not be simply equated with high stress exposure alone, and its definition requires prospective validation integrating stress burden, host responses, and microbial/metabolic readouts. Overall, MGBA research is gradually moving beyond descriptive profiling of microbial composition toward functional integration and clinical translation; however, causal inference, multi-omics standardization, and the identification of stratification biomarkers remain major challenges. Future studies should incorporate phenotype-based stratification, strengthened functional readouts, and precision intervention designs to determine which patients are most likely to benefit from microbiota-targeted therapies.
