Daily Snap - 10. November 2025

Author

Joachim Eeckhout
November 10, 2025

 

Good morning! That’s it, folks, the Metsera saga has finally reached its season finale, and Pfizer gets the last word. Late Friday, the obesity drug developer dumped Novo Nordisk’s bid and accepted Pfizer’s new $10B+ offer, more than double its original $4.9B proposal from September. Metsera’s board called it the best mix of “value and certainty,” while Novo bowed out, insisting its own $9B offer was perfectly legal but not worth another fight. Novo’s bidding war may be over, but it sure succeeded in one thing: making Pfizer pay a lot more for its “certainty.”

Enjoy today’s read!

—Joachim E.

SNIPPETS

What’s happening in biotech today?

⛔ Trial halt: A patient enrolled in Intellia Therapeutics' phase 3 trial for its CRISPR-based therapy nex-z has died following liver-related complications, prompting the FDA to place both ongoing studies on hold. The patient, a transthyretin amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) case in his early 80s, showed elevated liver enzymes and bilirubin levels before passing away, though underlying comorbidities may have contributed. Intellia is investigating the cause of the liver toxicity and implementing early detection measures while reaffirming confidence in nex-z, citing a low rate of severe liver events across 650 participants. However, investor concerns have risen, with shares dropping 24% amid uncertainty over the therapy’s safety and commercial viability.

✅ Green light: The FDA has approved Johnson & Johnson’s subcutaneous Darzalex Faspro as the first treatment for high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM), marking a shift from passive monitoring to active intervention for this precursor to multiple myeloma. The approval is based on the phase 3 Aquila trial, which showed Darzalex reduced the risk of progression to multiple myeloma or death by 51% compared to monitoring alone. Despite earlier concerns about the need for more mature survival data, the FDA followed an advisory committee's recommendation, influenced by a clear trend toward improved outcomes. The decision also signals a broader regulatory openness toward earlier-stage treatments in oncology.

🧬 Pipeline updates: Sana Biotechnology, CAMP4 Therapeutics, and Crinetics Pharmaceuticals have each refocused their pipelines to prioritize more promising preclinical candidates. Sana has discontinued development of its clinical-stage allogeneic CAR-T therapies SC291 and SC262 to concentrate on SC451, a preclinical therapy for Type 1 diabetes, and its in vivo gene delivery platform. CAMP4 has deprioritized its phase 1 asset CMP-001 for urea cycle disorders to focus on CMP-002, targeting SYNGAP1-related disorders, while seeking partners for CMP-001's further development. Meanwhile, Crinetics has shelved its TSHR antagonist CRN12755 for thyroid-related diseases in favor of a new candidate with a better preclinical profile.

💸 Slimmer prices: Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have reached a pricing agreement with the Trump administration to lower the cost of their GLP-1 obesity drugs, Wegovy and Zepbound, for certain Medicare enrollees to $245 per month, with future oral versions priced at $149 monthly. The deal, announced by the White House, also includes broader access via a government portal at $350 per month and mandates "most favored nation" pricing for Medicaid programs. While the agreement excludes most commercially insured patients, it offers regulatory incentives and protection from tariffs for three years. The initiative is expected to modestly impact Novo’s 2026 global sales.

🩻 Blockbuster stumbles: Gilead Sciences' cancer drug Trodelvy failed to meet its primary endpoint of progression-free survival in the phase 3 Ascent-07 trial for first-line treatment of HR+/HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer, marking another setback in the drug’s expanding indications. While an early trend in improved overall survival was observed, the data remain immature. This adds to a mixed clinical record for Trodelvy, which has previously failed in trials for bladder and lung cancer but has shown promise in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), especially in combination with Keytruda. Despite these challenges, Trodelvy generated $1.01 billion in sales in the first three quarters of 2025.

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