Analysts parsed the limited data available for Pfizer’s obesity candidate on the pharma’s fourth-quarter earnings call Tuesday, looking for any nugget of additional context.

Original title: “Pfizer’s Early Metsera Data Leaves Analysts Wanting More”

The agency expects to begin outreach this month to prospective applicants for new research grants (The name of CIRM’s platform round, RAPID, is short for Rare-disease Acceleration through Platform Innovation and Delivery.) Thanks for reading the California Stem Cell Report! This post is public so feel free to share it. ... Comparing gene therapy platforms to the Ford Mustang and Eli Whitney's musket parts is genius. CIRM’s approach “represents a pivotal step in transforming how we deliver genetic therapies for rare diseases,” said Rosa Canet-Avilés, CIRM’s chief scientific officer, in the agency’s news release. Currently, only a handful of gene therapies are in use in the United States. They are handcrafted individually for a very small number of patients. They cost upwards of $4 million, although they are expected to be one-and-done treatments. In most cases, the number of individual patients afflicted by a rare disease is so small that it is all but impossible to make a profit treating them, even when their price runs into the millions of dollars. CIRM’s platform proposal was not even a glimmer in the eyes of its supporters in 2004 when voters created the agency via a ballot initiative, Proposition 71. CIRM has long been known as the stem cell agency, but in 2020 voters also charged it with financing gene therapy research.

Original title: “Gene Therapy, Rare Diseases and Muskets: CIRM's $100 Million Plan to Expand and Speed Revolutionary Treatments to Patients”

A long-acting shot Pfizer got through a buyout of Metsera appeared “slightly inferior” to Lilly’s market-leading Zepbound in a Phase 2 trial, one analyst said.

Original title: “Pfizer dips on new data for obesity drug acquired in $10B deal”

In its 2025 full year and fourth-quarter earnings call, Merck executives touted the merits of recent deals and what CEO Robert Davis called “probably the broadest and widest pipeline we’ve had in years.”

Original title: “Merck Bats Away ‘Modest Growth’ Accusations, Touts Broad Pipeline”

DS-9606 was supposed to be the first antibody-drug conjugate in Daiichi Sankyo’s line of anti-cancer assets to use a modified pyrrolobenzodiazepine payload.

Original title: “Daiichi Sankyo Dumps Next-Gen ADC From Development Pipeline”

The alliance will add to Roche’s RNAi efforts, which include the hypertension candidate zilbesiran, partnered with Alnylam under a July 2023 agreement.

Original title: “Roche Keeps the Deals Coming With up to $1.7B SangeneBio RNAi Pact”

Follow along as BioSpace tracks job cuts and restructuring initiatives.

Original title: “GSK Puts up to 350 US, UK Jobs on the Chopping Block”

The company will initially develop a vaccine to tackle colorectal and pancreatic cancers

Original title: “Kahimmune Therapeutics enters licensing agreement with Gustave Roussy and SATT Paris-Saclay”

After advancing in lockstep through the pandemic, the fortunes of the biotechs have diverged as their use of COVID-19 windfalls has taken shape.

Original title: “BioNTech’s Multi-Modality Play Outpaces Moderna’s mRNA-Focused Pipeline”

After suffering in the wake of expired tax incentives for pharmas, the island is trying to take advantage of geopolitics to grow its drug manufacturing sector.

Original title: “As Amgen and Lilly Recommit, Puerto Rico Seeks To Regain Manufacturing Momentum”

Across all industries, the total number of companies on track to go public could make this week the most active for IPOs since 2021. Despite the partial government shutdown, there are paths biotechs can pursue to the public markets. This could be the biggest week for biotech IPOs in years — even if the government remains shuttered temporarily. Government funding lapsed this past Saturday, sparking a partial government shutdown that has closed agencies not deemed essential for public safety and national security. The list of closed agencies includes the Securities and Exchange Commission, which must sign off on an IPO filing before a company can go public. The shutdown could be brief. House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Meet the Press that he expects the Senate-passed funding bill will go to a vote in the House of Representatives by Tuesday. Unlike a traditional IPO, a direct listing does not raise new money for a company. That means Polaryx still needs to find capital for its clinical trial plans. Lead Polaryx drug candidate PLX-200 is on track to enter a Phase 2 study in the first half of this year testing the drug in rare lysosomal storage disorders. Across all sectors, as many as eight companies are lined up for IPOs this week, according to IPO research firm Renaissance Capital. If all eight price their offerings this week, it would mark the most active week for IPOs since 2021, Renaissance said. Four on this list are biotech companies: Eikon Therapeutics, Veradermics, AgomAb Therapeutics, Spyglass Pharma.

Original title: “The 4 Biotech Companies on Track to IPO this Week Despite the Government Shutdown - MedCity News”

The ACF, ORR, Refugee Program Bureau announces the intent to award a cooperative agreement in the amount of up to $2,027,470 to Global Refuge in Baltimore, Maryland, to sustain the Immigrant and Refugee Information System (IRIS) platform to support ORR's Program of Initial Settlement. The funding will provide essential infrastructure for case placement, compliance reporting, and system integration across the program of initial resettlement.

Original title: “Announcement of the Intent To Award an Unsolicited Cooperative Agreement to Global Refuge in Baltimore, Maryland”

After GSK’s return of Wave Life Sciences’ WVE-006 as well as the mid-stage failure of Korro Bio’s candidate, the alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency landscape is coming into focus, with Wave and Beam Therapeutics leading the way.

Original title: “Wave To Work Alone on RNA Editor as AATD Picture Becomes Clearer”

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has approved the RAPID funding programme, setting aside $100m over two years. “These therapies not only have the potential to reduce lifetime healthcare costs, but also will strengthen partnerships, streamline pathways to the clinic, and ultimately ensure that promising therapies reach patients who otherwise have no options.”

Original title: “CIRM unveils RAPID funding programme for rare diseases”

While GSK did not provide a specific reason for returning Wave Life Sciences’ WVE-006, the decision comes after the asset in September 2025 came below analyst expectations in a Phase Ib/IIa AATD study.

Original title: “GSK Hands RNA Editor Back to Wave After Underwhelming Early AATD Data”

The facility, which is part of Lilly’s $50 billion reshoring drive, will make obesity drugs such as tirzepatide and retatrutide when it starts operations in 2031.

Original title: “Eli Lilly Commits $3.5B To Build Injectable Obesity Drug Plant in PA”

Corcept’s relacorilant was rejected for hypercortisolism late last year—a decision which CEO Joseph Belanoff expressed surprise with at the time.

Original title: “FDA Warned Corcept of ‘Significant Review Issues’ for Rejected Drug in Early Meetings”

Wave claimed GSK is handing back rights to the frontrunning program not because of questions about its potential, but because Wave is better suited to quickly advance a rare disease therapy.

Original title: “GSK walks away from pioneering Wave RNA editing drug”

The roadmap to reliable in‑process testing for cell therapy success.

Original title: “Building a robust in-process testing plan for cell therapy manufacturing success”

The deal, which involves up to eight “next-generation” weight loss medications and could be worth more than $18 billion, ranks as the largest licensing pact of its kind since the start of 2025, according to BioPharma Dive data.

Original title: “AstraZeneca leans into obesity, striking wide-ranging alliance with China’s CSPC”