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Migraine-focused Slate Medicines launches with $130M & GSK's $1B deal for two siRNA oligonucleotides

AuthorAuthor

Joachim Eeckhout & Eduardo Longoria
February 25, 2026

 

Good morning! Novartis has reached a confidential settlement with the estate of Henrietta Lacks, ending a federal lawsuit filed in Baltimore in August 2024 over the alleged commercial use of HeLa cells taken without Lacks’ consent in 1951.

Why it matters: Henrietta Lacks, a 31-year-old Black mother in Baltimore, had cervical cancer tissue taken at Johns Hopkins in 1951 without her permission. Those cells became HeLa, the first “immortal” human cell line, widely used in research ever since. The story’s visibility surged after Rebecca Skloot’s 2010 book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” and the eponymous 2017 film, helping push these disputes from ethics debates into courtrooms.

There’s more: Novartis is the second biopharma firm to settle with the estate after Thermo Fisher reached an undisclosed agreement in 2023. A separate lawsuit against Ultragenyx is still pending; the estate alleges HeLa cells helped the company power gene-therapy manufacturing.

Bottom line: HeLa helped build modern biomedicine, now companies are being asked to price the consent they never got.

— Joachim E.

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SNAPSHOT

Slate Medicines launches with $130M to test China-licensed migraine drug targeting PACAP

Why it matters: More than 37 million Americans suffer from migraines, and many don’t respond to current preventive drugs, creating demand for new treatment approaches beyond today’s dominant CGRP inhibitors.

Backstory: Migraine treatments range from over-the-counter painkillers to triptans for acute attacks. Over the past decade, preventive drugs targeting calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) have reshaped care, with products marketed by Amgen, Novartis, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Lundbeck and Teva. Yet a significant subset of patients see limited benefit from anti-CGRP therapies.

Big picture: PACAP has emerged as a promising alternative target. Like CGRP, it plays a role in migraine onset but through different signaling pathways, raising hopes that blocking PACAP could help patients underserved by existing drugs. Investors are betting that a differentiated mechanism could unlock a sizable share of the migraine market.

Zoom in: Slate’s lead candidate, SLTE-1009, was originally developed by Guangzhou-based DartsBio Pharmaceuticals and licensed to the Raleigh, North Carolina startup. Unlike Lundbeck’s leading anti-PACAP drug, bocunebart, administered via intravenous infusion and now preparing for Phase 3 discussions with U.S. regulators, SLTE-1009 is designed as a subcutaneous injection suitable for at-home use.

What’s next: Slate plans to begin Phase 1 clinical testing in mid-2026, using funds from RA Capital Management, Forbion, Foresite Capital and an undisclosed investor.

SNIPPETS

What’s happening in biotech today?

 🔬 Immuno expansion: GSK has agreed to pay $40 million upfront and up to $963 million in milestones, plus tiered royalties, to license two siRNA oligonucleotide therapies from China’s Frontier Biotechnologies, further expanding its oligonucleotide portfolio. One candidate is already in phase 1 trials in China, while the other is completing IND-enabling studies. GSK will assume responsibility for global development, regulatory submissions, and commercialization after these stages. Although specific targets were not disclosed, the deal strengthens GSK’s immunology pipeline and focus on inflammation-driven diseases.

 🧬 Bispecific deal: Astellas and Vir Biotechnology have entered a $1.7 billion global collaboration to develop and commercialize VIR-5500, a PSMAxCD3 bispecific T-cell engager for prostate cancer that uses Vir’s dual-masked PRO-XTEN technology to limit toxicity by activating only within tumors. The deal includes $335 million upfront and near-term funding, up to $1.37 billion in milestones, cost sharing, and U.S. profit sharing, with Astellas leading ex-U.S. commercialization. Updated phase 1 data in heavily pretreated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer showed strong Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) responses and manageable safety, supporting plans to advance the therapy into phase 3 in 2027 and expand into earlier disease settings.

🚽 Bladder hope: Protara Therapeutics reported interim phase 2 data showing that its cell therapy TARA-002 achieved a 68% complete response (CR) rate at six months in Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-unresponsive high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) patients, though this fell to 33% among those reaching 12 months. In BCG-naïve patients, CR rates were 67% at six months and 58% at 12 months. The therapy was generally well tolerated, with mostly grade 1 adverse events and no grade 3 or higher events reported. Despite positive safety and early efficacy signals, investors reacted cautiously, sending shares down 12%, as the company continues enrollment and plans further studies.

 💉 Triple slim: Novo Nordisk highlighted Phase 2 data from UBT251, a triple-acting obesity drug targeting GLP-1, GIP and glucagon, showing up to 19.7% average weight loss after 24 weeks in a 205-patient trial in China, compared with 2% for placebo. The therapy, licensed through a multibillion-dollar deal with United Biotechnology, also demonstrated statistically significant metabolic benefits and mostly mild to moderate gastrointestinal side effects. The results position UBT251 as Novo’s response to Eli Lilly’s leading triple agonist retatrutide, which has shown greater weight loss in late-stage trials. Detailed data are forthcoming, with additional global studies and a diabetes trial planned.

🎯 Endpoint miss: Abcuro’s anti-KLRG1 antibody ulviprubart failed to meet primary and secondary endpoints in a 272-patient phase 2/3 trial for inclusion body myositis (IBM), missing the main goal of improving IBM Functional Rating Scale scores at 76 weeks as well as key muscle strength measures. However, a prespecified subgroup analysis suggested potential benefits in patients with mild to moderate disease, showing improvements in functional scores and secondary endpoints, alongside a favorable safety profile. The company plans to consult with the FDA on next steps, maintaining that further study in less severe patients may still support the drug’s disease-modifying potential.

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