Daily Snap - 7. October 2025

Author

Joachim Eeckhout
October 07, 2025

 

Good morning! A collaboration between McMaster University and MIT just led to the discovery of a new antibiotic, and AI played a starring role. The compound, called enterololin, targets harmful E. coli strains linked to inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s. What’s remarkable is that researchers used AI to predict how the drug works in just 100 seconds, a process that normally takes months of lab work. The team has since confirmed the results in the lab and spun out a startup, Stoked Bio, to refine the drug for human use and develop improved versions to fight other resistant bacteria. Looks like AI’s getting pretty good at “digesting” complex problems.

Enjoy today’s read!

—Joachim E. 

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SNIPPETS

What’s happening in biotech today?

🐴 Trojan horse: Trogenix, a Scottish biotech company, has secured £70M ($95M) in Series A funding to advance its “Trojan horse” viral immunotherapy platform, Odysseus, into clinical trials, with support from Eli Lilly and several venture and philanthropic investors. The therapy targets glioblastoma, an aggressive and treatment-resistant brain cancer, using adeno-associated virus vectors to deliver dual therapeutic payloads directly into tumors. These include an enzyme that activates a cytotoxic prodrug and interleukin-12 to stimulate immune response. Trogenix plans to begin clinical trials in early 2026 and is developing additional programs for colorectal, liver, and lung cancers.

 🧬 TROP2 triumph: AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo announced that their cancer drug Datroway significantly extended survival and delayed tumor progression in a Phase 3 trial for patients with triple-negative breast cancer who are ineligible for immunotherapy. As an antibody-drug conjugate targeting the TROP2 protein, Datroway outperformed standard chemotherapy in a hard-to-treat population with either metastatic or inoperable recurrent tumors. The companies described the findings as “landmark” and plan to present full results at an upcoming medical meeting and submit them to global regulators. The results position Datroway as a potential alternative to chemotherapy, though it may face competition from Gilead’s Trodelvy.

 🎯CRISPR targets: AstraZeneca has entered a $555 million partnership with San Francisco-based Algen Biotechnologies to enhance its immunology drug discovery efforts using artificial intelligence. The collaboration will leverage Algen’s AI-driven functional genomics platform, AlgenBrain, which combines CRISPR gene modulation with machine learning to identify new therapeutic targets for chronic inflammatory conditions. AstraZeneca gains exclusive rights to develop and commercialize treatments targeting discoveries made through the alliance, while Algen receives an undisclosed upfront payment and milestone-based payments. This deal reflects AstraZeneca’s broader strategy of integrating AI into early-stage R&D, building on recent AI-focused collaborations with CSPC, Tempus AI and Pathos AI to accelerate the development of more precise and effective therapies.

📉Stock nosedive: Skye Bioscience’s experimental obesity drug, nimacimab, failed to significantly reduce weight in a mid-stage clinical trial, causing the company’s stock to drop nearly two-thirds. The drug, which targets the CB1 cannabinoid receptor, led to only 1.5% weight loss over 26 weeks compared to 0.3% with placebo. However, in a separate trial arm, combining nimacimab with semaglutide (Wegovy’s active ingredient) resulted in over 13% weight loss, versus 10% for semaglutide alone, suggesting potential as a combination therapy. Skye cited suboptimal dosing as a limiting factor and plans to assess next steps. Despite the setback, the drug showed favorable safety and tolerability.

🧬CDK9 comeback: Ignota Labs has acquired the clinical pipeline of Kronos Bio, including the CDK9 inhibitor istisociclib and two SYK inhibitors, entospletinib and lanraplenib, as part of its strategy to rehabilitate shelved drug programs with demonstrated therapeutic potential but safety or development issues. The U.K.-based biotech uses proprietary software to identify and address safety concerns without compromising efficacy, aiming to return these drugs to clinical trials. Kronos discontinued development of the assets due to neurological side effects, enrollment challenges, and underwhelming data. Ignota purchased the assets for under $300,000 and structured the deal with a potential future payout tied to clinical progress.

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