Daily Snap - 24. November 2025

Author

Joachim Eeckhout
November 24, 2025

 

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Good morning! Eli Lilly cracked the trillion-dollar club on Friday, becoming the first drugmaker ever to reach a valuation normally reserved for Silicon Valley giants. The 150-year-old company, once known mainly for insulin, is now worth more than Walmart, the largest private employer in the US, and accounts for two-thirds of Meta’s value. I guess you already know the reason: GLP-1. Lilly’s obesity drug Zepbound and its diabetes blockbuster Mounjaro have generated nearly $19B in the first nine months of 2025, dethroning Merck’s Keytruda as the world’s best-selling drug. The climb is unlikely to end soon, as analysts expect the obesity-drug market to hit $100B annually by 2030, and Lilly is positioning itself to dominate. At this rate, Lilly might need a GLP-1 therapy of its own… to manage the weight of all that market cap.

Enjoy today’s read!

—Joachim E.

 

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SNIPPETS

What’s happening in biotech today?

đź’°Post-COVID hungover: Moderna is discontinuing three more clinical mRNA programs as part of a broader cost-efficiency initiative, including two investigational vaccines for herpes simplex virus (mRNA-1608) and shingles (mRNA-1468), as well as a treatment for glycogen storage disease type 1a (mRNA-3745). These moves follow the recent halt of its congenital cytomegalovirus vaccine after a phase 3 failure. With declining post-pandemic COVID-19 vaccine sales, Moderna is realigning its pipeline strategy to prioritize oncology over infectious diseases. The company aims to boost revenue by up to 10% in 2026 as part of its new three-year business plan.

 đź™‹Help wanted: The FDA is hiring over 1,000 new employees and launching a pilot communication program to accelerate drug review timelines, following widespread federal layoffs during the second Trump administration that impacted approximately 3,500 FDA staff. The hiring effort includes positions such as reviewers, inspectors, and criminal investigators, though current job listings remain unclear. The new communication initiative allows drug sponsors to email follow-up questions to the FDA’s Office of New Drugs, with responses promised within three business days. This move is part of broader reforms under FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, including new regulatory pathways and priority voucher programs aimed at expediting drug approvals.

🧻 Bladder breakthrough: The FDA has granted early approval for the combination of Pfizer and Astellas’ Padcev with Merck’s Keytruda as a perioperative treatment for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) who are ineligible for cisplatin-based chemotherapy. This marks the first approved regimen for use before and after surgery in this patient group. The approval is based on the Keynote-905/EV-303 trial, which showed the combo reduced the risk of death by 50% and improved event-free survival by 60% compared to surgery alone. The decision is being hailed as a “practice-changing” advancement and a new standard of care for previously underserved MIBC patients.

 đź‘‘ Royalty rumble: GSK and Anaptysbio have filed dueling lawsuits against each other in Delaware, each alleging breach of contract over the licensing and development of the cancer immunotherapy Jemperli. The conflict stems from a 2014 agreement originally made with Tesaro, which GSK acquired in 2019. GSK claims Anaptysbio breached the deal, seeking to terminate the agreement and reduce royalty payments, while Anaptysbio alleges GSK violated terms by testing its drugs alongside competitors like Keytruda instead of Jemperli. With Jemperli nearing $1 billion in annual sales, Anaptysbio stands to earn significant royalties and milestone payments, which are critical to its planned 2026 royalty business spinoff.

✂️ Team trimming: Nurix Therapeutics has implemented a targeted workforce reduction while advancing its lead cancer drug, bexobrutideg, into a pivotal phase 2 trial for relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The company did not disclose the number of layoffs but confirmed that no programs have been paused or cut. Bexobrutideg, an oral BTK degrader, is aimed at patients unresponsive to existing BTK or BCL-2 inhibitors, and a phase 3 trial is planned for early 2026. Nurix emphasizes the degrader’s potential superiority over current BTK inhibitors and is also developing it for other cancers, while maintaining partnerships with Gilead, Pfizer, and Sanofi.

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