Daily Snap - 18. August 2025

Author

Joachim Eeckhout
August 18, 2025

Good morning! OpenAI just dropped GPT-5, and Sam Altman says it should be used for health, going so far as to call it “a legitimate Ph.D. expert.” The model scored highest yet on HealthBench, a test built with 250 physicians, and early adopters like Amgen are already putting it to work. Yet given the catastrophic debut of the new model, you might not want it prescribing anything stronger than chicken soup.

Enjoy today’s read!

—Joachim E.

SNIPPETS

What’s happening in biotech today?

😴 Sleep strategy: Tonix Pharmaceuticals has received FDA approval for Tonmya, the first new fibromyalgia treatment in over 16 years. Developed as a sublingual, once-daily version of the muscle relaxant cyclobenzaprine, Tonmya targets nonrestorative sleep rather than directly addressing pain, offering a novel approach to managing the chronic condition. Backed by two successful phase 3 trials involving nearly 1,000 patients, Tonmya demonstrated significant pain reduction and improved tolerability compared to placebo. The approval marks a major milestone for Tonix, which plans to market the drug independently to a potential U.S. patient population of up to 10 million.

🩸Sickle setback: Pfizer’s efforts to develop treatments for sickle cell disease suffered another setback as its drug inclacumab failed to show a statistically significant benefit over placebo in reducing vaso-occlusive crises during a Phase 3 trial involving 241 patients. The antibody, designed to block the P-selectin protein linked to these painful episodes, was generally well tolerated but did not meet the study’s efficacy goals. This disappointment follows Pfizer’s 2023 voluntary market withdrawal of Oxbryta, acquired through its $5.4 billion purchase of Global Blood Therapeutics, after safety concerns arose. Pfizer continues to assess data and pursue development of osivelotor, another experimental therapy for sickle cell disease currently under partial clinical hold.

🧬 MASH milestone: The U.S. FDA has granted accelerated approval to Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy for treating metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), making it the first GLP-1 therapy authorized for the condition and only the second FDA-approved treatment overall. The decision is based on part one of an ongoing trial, which showed Wegovy improved liver health in patients with MASH and moderate to advanced scarring compared to placebo. Wegovy is now available in the U.S. for adult MASH patients alongside diet and exercise, while Novo Nordisk seeks approval in Europe and Japan. Full trial results are expected in 2029.

💉Vaccine taskforce: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the reinstatement of the Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines, originally disbanded in 1998, to improve the safety and oversight of childhood immunizations. The task force will collaborate with the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines and aims to recommend vaccine improvements that reduce adverse reactions, with its first report due to Congress in two years. The move follows pressure from Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group founded by current HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is also under scrutiny for reshaping U.S. vaccine policy and replacing CDC experts with vaccine-skeptical advisers.

🧪 Testing trouble: A study by AstraZeneca and Macmillan Cancer Support, published in Future Oncology, highlights significant delays and gaps in access to biomarker testing for cancer patients in the UK. Based on surveys of both patients and healthcare professionals, the findings reveal that 48% of patients either did not receive or were unsure if they received essential treatment-guiding biomarker tests, while 57% experienced waits of a month or longer for results. These delays occur despite NHS England’s recommendations for timely and equitable testing, potentially hindering patient access to targeted cancer therapies and affecting treatment outcomes.

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