Biopharma executives shared their thoughts on the potential impacts of the new administration; Annalee Armstrong recaps JPM and her talks with Biogen, Gilead, Novavax and more; Wegovy’s higher dose induces more weight loss; AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s Dato-DXd scores its first FDA approval.
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Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Monday, bringing with him a host of healthcare nominees and potential changes to the FDA, M&A and drug pricing. The new administration was a key focus point at the 2025 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference last week, where Annalee Armstrong spoke to executives from several companies about what they’re expecting from a second Trump term.
Also at JPM, Mirador Therapeutics CEO Mark McKenna boldly predicted that 2025 would see the return of the megamerger. Speaking of M&A, Annalee spoke with leaders from Biogen, who declined to address the company’s unsolicited takeover bid for Sage Therapeutics. For its part, Sage sued Biogen last week, “seeking preliminary injunctive relief to enforce a standstill agreement.” Meanwhile, Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day addressed the split of Galapagos—a company Gilead has poured more than $5 billion into since 2019. Check out more personal stories from JPM here.
In the obesity space, Novo Nordisk reported data from a Phase III trial showing that a high dose of Wegovy elicited more weight loss than the approved regimen—but still fell short of results posted by Eli Lilly’s Zepbound. Relatedly, Wegovy and sister drug Ozempic are both on the list of the next fifteen drugs whose prices could be negotiated under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Finally, the FDA on Friday made its first high-profile decision of the year, greenlighting AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s Dato-DXd—now Datroway—to treat certain types of advanced breast cancer. The approval is the first for the highly touted antibody-drug conjugate, which is also under FDA review for EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cacner. Analysts expect 2025 to be a pivotal year for the ADC.
