I've listened to hundreds of conference calls with pharma execs and never has there ever been a "we need to be able to build factories faster" regulatory ask in any of them.

Strange typo/tag/suffix at the end of the #LLY Q1 press release today.

Leerink's David Risinger asking #ABBV execs the broad Q that's on my mind re: #biotech #pharma: "The industry is facing 3 major US government risks actions that are harming biopharma innovation, including significant FDA disruption and questioning of proven medical science, tariff threats ..." 1/4

#MRK acknowledges $200 million in "costs related to tariffs
implemented to date," knocks a half-percentage point off gross margin guidance.

There is an absolutely mind-blowing number of abstracts from Chinese scientists of cancer drugs developed in China at #ASCO2025. Meanwhile, the USA is trying to impede trade with China at the same time as it handcuffs its great engine of biomedical innovation, the NIH.

This might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it really looks like the investment case for $HIMS is "the FDA will consider Ozempic to be in shortage forever."

One of the $LLY pipeline removals was volenrelaxin for heart failure (very bottom rectangle). Longtime #biotech watchers will remember that $NVS worked for years on a recombinant relaxin in heart failure before they decided to prioritize Entresto. Someday, a drugmaker will crack the relaxin puzzle.

Leaving aside any evidence on vaccine efficacy and safety, and any beliefs about abortion, this has been a disaster of a hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He's shown a stunning lack of knowledge about HHS and when pressed, had no answers about key programs under his authority.

It's unfortunate that there's no mechanism in the Inflation Reduction Act to account for nearing patent expirations. CMS will spend a lot of time and energy on Xtandi and Ibrance price constraints that take effect the year they go off-patent. #biotech #pharma

Insurers: "People don't stay on obesity drugs long enough to matter so we're not covering them."
Doctors: "People don't stay on obesity drugs because insurance doesn't cover them."

Wash and repeat.

$LLY

Weight-loss expectations for new obesity drugs are sky-high now: $NVO guided to 25% with cagrisema, and when it fell short it knocked down the company's market capitalizations by one-fifth. www.biopharmadive.com/news/novo-no...

In the obesity space, the "lean mass preservation" segment seems to be where most of the not well-thought-out strategies seem to reside. $BIOA

Obesity drug developers have talked a lot recently about the big share of the market that will be self-pay. What I don't hear them say is how that changes the willingness-to-pay dynamic of the market compared to the insured. $16K a year is not a price most people can absorb. #biotech #pharma

SURMOUNT-5 shows that Zepbound delivers superior weight loss to Wegovy, but we should watch the discontinuation rate. If the trial completion rate was 90% vs. < 50% real-world adherence, the findings may be less important than the topline suggests. $LLY $NOVO www.biopharmadive.com/news/lilly-z...

Outstanding work by my colleagues here.

Your next director of Medicare and Medicaid: "Believable or somewhat believable evidence supported 33% of the recommendations on The Dr Oz Show": www.bmj.com/content/349/...

Looks like I *do* have an account over here. Interested in everything having to do with biotech, pharma, antitrust, intellectual property law, and occasionally cycling, running and other Olympic sports.