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Tristan Manalac

Tristan Manalac

Senior Staff Writer

Tristan is BioSpace‘s senior staff writer. Based in Metro Manila, Tristan has more than eight years of experience writing about medicine, biotech and science. Being formally trained in molecular biology, he once dreamed of collecting degrees and starting his own lab. But these days, he finds his greatest joy in a bottle of beer and a beautiful sentence. He can be reached at tristan.manalac@biospace.com, tristan@tristanmanalac.com or on LinkedIn.

A contemporary artistic collage featuring a hand holding a trophy. The concept of victory and achievement.
Sickle cell disease
Novo’s late-stage sickle cell win piles pressure on competitors
Novo Nordisk’s etavopivat elicited a 27% drop in vaso-occlusive crises and 48.7% hemoglobin response after 24 weeks, creating “separation amongst PK class candidates,” Truist analysts said on Monday. Novo plans to seek FDA approval in the back half of 2026.
April 20, 2026
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
IPO Initial Public Offering finance business concept. 3D render vector illustration of Trading on IPO Initial Public Offering, Business Startup and Stock Market Concept. Public offering share launch
IPO tracker
Odyssey tests IPO waters anew after quitting quest last year
Analysts are cautiously optimistic about an IPO rebound for biopharma. BioSpace is keeping track of companies that seek to trade on the public markets this year.
April 20, 2026
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10 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Two boxing gloves give a fist bump on a colored background. Collage art
Lung cancer
Merck’s early PD-1/VEGF data competitive in lung cancer, but Summit ‘looms large’
While Merck’s PD-1/VEGF asset appears to match the performance of Summit Therapeutics’ ivonescimab, the pharma’s Phase 1/2 readout in non-small cell lung cancer still leaves analysts with some questions moving into later-stage development.
April 20, 2026
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Reaching an agreement. Businessmen shake hands and make a deal. vector
Mergers & acquisitions
UCB elevates epilepsy expertise with up to $1.15B Neurona takeover
The acquisition of Neurona will put UCB in both the epilepsy and cell therapy space, even as many of its fellow pharmas move away from the latter modality.
April 20, 2026
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
FDA headquarters with a purple psychedelic background.
Psychedelics
Trump throws support behind psychedelics with executive order
A new executive order could usher in psychedelics as the “key next wave” of mental health therapies, according to analysts at RBC Capital Markets.
April 20, 2026
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Online Medicine or internet pharmacy services as a pharmacist or web doctor and medical health service or digital healthcare for purchase and delivery of medications as Telemedicine and Teleconsultations.
GLP-1
Lilly’s Foundayo reaches 1,390 patients in first week, trailing Novo’s oral Wegovy launch
While Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill reached more than 3,000 patients in its first week on the market, analysts at RBC Capital Markets said a direct comparison of the two figures could be misleading given the shorter data collection time for Foundayo.
April 17, 2026
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1 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Concept of money prize. Vector illustration. Halftone hand holds bouquet of money flowers. Gift prize, donation, earnings, bonus or cashback concept. Retro poster or banner. Creative trend collage.
IPO
UPDATE: Kailera breaks biotech IPO record with $625M debut
Obesity-focused Kailera Therapeutics debuted on the Nasdaq Friday after raising a record $625 million, beating Moderna’s $600 million from 2018.
April 17, 2026
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4 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Government
RFK Jr. defends Makary, claims pharma ‘owns’ Congress and media
The pharma industry “own Congress, they own the media,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. told lawmakers by way of explaining the bad press against FDA Commissioner Marty Makary following the second rejection of Replimune’s advanced melanoma drug.
April 17, 2026
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Vector Illustration Of Athletes Running On Race Track
Obesity
Novo may have muscle advantage over Lilly in weight-loss race: preprint
More patients on Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide lost over 5% of their lean mass versus those on Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide, according to a study that has yet to be peer reviewed.
April 17, 2026
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Stacks of coins and a rocket flying above them as a metaphor for income growth.
Deals
Obesity’s explosive growth continues as Q1 deals exceed total 2025 value
Commitments in obesity- and diabetes-focused deals reached $22 billion in the first quarter of 2026—already eclipsing last year’s total of $20.3 billion, according to a new J.P. Morgan report.
April 16, 2026
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Illustration showing scales with bags of money tipped to side with most money
Funding
Revolution doubles stock offering target to $2B following pancreatic cancer win
After Revolution Medicines’ drug candidate doubled survival in a Phase 3 pancreatic cancer study, the biotech is hoping to attract more investor money, with new plans for a $2 billion stock and debt offering.
April 16, 2026
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1 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan/Courtesy of Novartis
Artificial intelligence
Novartis CEO joins Anthropic board, embedding AI in the heart of biopharma
In recent months, Anthropic has been building more and more ties with the biopharma industry, including partnerships with Big Pharma companies such as Sanofi, Novo Nordisk and AbbVie.
April 16, 2026
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Working bees on honeycomb
Autoimmune disease
BMS makes a Beeline, bringing 5 assets to biotech’s $300M precision immunology debut
Leading Beeline Medicines’ pipeline is afimetoran, which is in Phase 2 development for systemic lupus erythematosus with data expected later this year.
April 15, 2026
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
Pruning tree branches. Gloved hands hold a branch and cutting shears, the gardener takes care of the park. Vector illustration.
Business
Takeda continues to prune partnerships, cuts ties with mRNA-targeting Veritas In Silico
After divorcing Denali Therapeutics earlier this month, Takeda is now splitting up with Veritas In Silico, pulling back from a partnership that advanced novel small-molecule drugs targeting mRNA.
April 15, 2026
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
speed bumps marked in yellow on a residential road. a road in the fog among very old historic willows. a foggy road on a spring morning.
Obesity
Lilly’s new obesity pill linked to ‘serious’ safety signals, FDA requests more data
The FDA is asking Eli Lilly to submit cardiovascular and liver safety data from an ongoing Phase 3 trial of Foundayo by July.
April 15, 2026
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2 min read
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Tristan Manalac
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