Novartis goes big for neuroscience with $12B deal for late-stage dystrophy biotech Avidity (Oct 22, 2025) by James Waldron . Almost a year after buying Kate Therapeutics, Novartis has scooped up another San Diego-based muscle dystrophy biotech in one of the biggest acquisitions of 2025 so far. The Swiss pharma is paying $12 billion for Avidity Biosciences and its three late-stage antibody-oligonucleotide
Takeda turns to AI drug designer for $1B biobucks deal after whittling down R&D focus (Oct 22, 2025) by Nick Paul Taylor. Takeda is paying Innovent Biologics $1.2 billion upfront for rights to two cancer candidates. The deal, which includes (PDF) $10.2 billion in milestones, puts the biologics at the center of Takeda’s efforts to establish growth drivers for the
By Ross Youngs, October 10, 2025 White Paper — The Beauty of Microbial Natural Products Abstract: For decades, the ‘one‐drug, one‐target’ paradigm shaped discovery strategies. Although this approach yielded many important medicines, it often underperforms against complex, multi‐factorial diseases in which networks of proteins and pathways adapt to single node blockade. Network pharmacology reframes this challenge by embracing polypharmacology—intentional, selective engagement
By Ross Youngs, September 23, 2025 The Evolutionary Advantage: Why Microbial Chemistry Wins in Drug Discovery & Approval Quantifying Success and Capitalized Cost Savings from Lead Identification Executive Summary The classic ‘magic‐bullet’ strategy—maximally selective ligands for single targets—is well suited to simple causal architectures but less effective for diseases driven by robust and redundant networks (e.g., cancer, metabolic and neurodegenerative disorders).
Takeda turns to AI drug designer for $1B biobucks deal after whittling down R&D focus (Oct 14, 2025) by Darren Incorvaia. After walking away from cell therapy and narrowing its focus to just three modalities, Takeda is doubling down on its remaining strategic commitment by reupping a pact with AI drug designer Nabla Bio. Nabla, a Harvard spinout from the
Hinge Bio Announces License and Collaboration with Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. for the Development and Commercialization of HB2198 in Japan for Autoimmune Diseases Hinge Bio to receive $10 million upfront and is eligible to receive $95 million for the SLE indication and additional payments for other indications; includes contingent R&D investment, tiered sales royalties, and a portion of investment to
