Welcome to the Weekly Rundown where the DDN editors cover this week’s top biotech and pharma news.
Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay nearly $1 billion in talc cancer case
A Los Angeles jury has ordered Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to pay $966 million to the family of Mae Moore, a California woman who died from mesothelioma in 2021, finding the company liable in a lawsuit claiming its talc-based baby powder caused her cancer. The verdict included $16 million in compensatory damages and $950 million in punitive damages. Moore’s family argued that years of using the baby powder exposed her to asbestos fibers, a known carcinogen. J&J, which stopped selling talc-based powder in the US in 2020 and globally in 2023, has denied that its products contain asbestos or cause cancer, and said it plans to appeal the verdict, calling it “egregious and unconstitutional.” The ruling comes amid more than 90,000 pending lawsuits over the company’s talc products and follows previous failed attempts by J&J to settle claims through bankruptcy, which courts have rejected. – Bree Foster
Sanofi announces positive results in Phase 2 radioligand therapy
Last September, Sanofi paid $110 million upfront to acquire the radioligand therapy AlphaMedix from RadioMedix and Orano Med. Now, a little over one year later, Sanofi revealed that their Phase 2 trial using the asset to treat patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs) met all efficacy endpoints, including progression-free survival and overall survival. AlphaMedix is a targeted alpha emitter, a radioligand therapy believed to possibly reduce radiation to the surrounding tissues due to the short range of alpha particles. Sanofi stated that they will present the full results of the trial at the upcoming 2025 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress. “These data reinforce our belief that delivering highly potent alpha-emitters directly to cancer cells could potentially offer a meaningful new treatment option for people living with GEP-NETs,” said Volker Wagner, Chief Medical Officer at Orano Med. – Allison Whitten
Novo Nordisk to buy Akero in up to $5.2 billion bet on MASH
Novo Nordisk will acquire Akero Therapeutics for up to $5.2 billion to add efruxifermin, a late-stage metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) candidate, to its cardiometabolic pipeline, marking new CEO Mike Doustdar’s biggest move yet. The deal pays $54 per share in cash (about $4.7 billion) plus $6 per share tied to full US approval by June 2031; it’s debt-financed and slated to close by year-end. Doustdar is bulking up against Eli Lilly while preparing for semaglutide pressure, and the buyout represents a step up from Novo’s recent, smaller metabolic deals. Efruxifermin has shown signs of reversing liver scarring in earlier studies, positioning Novo in a US MASH market affecting roughly 5 percent of adults, where Wegovy also won accelerated approval in August. Shares moved on the news: Akero jumped about 16 percent as Novo slipped around 1 percent. – Andrea Corona
Nobel prize in medicine awarded to three scientists for immune regulation
On Monday, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 was given to Mary Brunkow of the Institute for Systems Biology, Fred Ramsdell of Sonoma Biotherapeutics, and Shimon Sakaguchi of Osaka University. The award recognizes their discovery of the mechanism that prevents the immune system from attacking its own cells. Each scientist contributed to the knowledge that regulatory T cells, as part of a process known as peripheral immune tolerance, keep a close watch on other immune cells and intervene if an attack on the self takes place. “Their discoveries have been decisive for our understanding of how the immune system functions and why we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases,” said Olle Kämpe, Chair of the Nobel Committee and a clinical endocrinologist at the Karolinska Institute, in the press release. Their discoveries also led to research into new therapeutic approaches, including targeting regulatory T cells that protect tumors from the immune system, and boosting the function of regulatory T cells in patients with autoimmune diseases. – Allison Whitten
Breakthrough blood test could transform chronic fatigue syndrome care
Scientists at the University of East Anglia and Oxford BioDynamics have developed a blood test capable of diagnosing chronic fatigue syndrome, or myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), with 96 percent accuracy, offering a potential breakthrough for the millions affected worldwide. The debilitating condition, often misdiagnosed and misunderstood, affects over 400,000 people in the UK alone. Using advanced EpiSwitch 3D genomics technology, researchers were able to detect distinctive patterns in the way DNA folds in blood cells, revealing unique epigenetic markers associated with ME/CFS. The test showed 92 percent sensitivity and 98 percent specificity, accurately distinguishing patients from healthy individuals, and also highlighted immune and inflammatory pathways that could guide future treatments. The team hopes the approach could inform similar diagnostics for long COVID, a post-viral condition that shares overlapping symptoms with ME/CFS. – Bree Foster
Ex-FDA vaccine chief Peter Marks joins Eli Lilly
Peter Marks, the longtime head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and a central figure in the US COVID-19 vaccine rollout, has joined Eli Lilly as Senior Vice President of molecule discovery and Head of infectious disease research. Marks, who resigned from the FDA in March after policy disputes with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., began his new role at Lilly Research Laboratories this week. During his 13-year tenure at the agency, Marks oversaw the review and approval of vaccines and other biologics. His move follows a broader industry trend of former FDA officials taking senior positions in major pharmaceutical companies — a path also taken by former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who joined Pfizer’s board of directors in 2019 after leading the agency from 2017 to 2019. – Andrea Corona
