Devices, digital health, and the technology changing how care is delivered.
As the American Diabetes Association 2026 Scientific Sessions kicked off in New Orleans over the weekend, Zealand Pharma and its recent commercial and development partner Roche helped get the show rolling with a deep dive into their amylin analog, petrelintide.
Even as Zepbound fires on all cylinders and Foundayo gets off to the races in the oral market, Eli Lilly is keenly aware that the one-size-fits-all approach to obesity and diabetes treatment pioneered by early GLP-1s will soon be obsolete.
On the heels of a strong showing for the drug earlier this year, Pfizer is padding the case for the GLP-1 receptor agonist it picked up in its $10 billion purchase of obesity biotech Metsera.
When it comes to turning T-cell therapies toward autoimmune diseases, CAR-Ts have been leading the way. But another red-hot modality is also beginning to show potential in the clinic.
Mere months after obesity biotech Kailera Therapeutics netted the biggest initial public offering the sector has ever seen, with a whopping $625 million, Parabilis Medicines has upsized its own IPO plans with the potential to eclipse that record.
Eli Lilly has signed a heavily backloaded agreement to license a gamma-secretase modulator treatment for Alzheimer's disease from AlzeCure Pharma for up to $1 billion biobucks.
Swiss medtech CeQur has raised $100 million in a series E funding round for what it called its “most ambitious phase of commercial growth.”
As news hit last week that Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim are cutting investments in Germany, Roche said it will not be following suit—for now.
As costs climb, capital tightens and AI enthusiasm accelerates, biopharma leaders are rethinking how better decisions get made.
GSK has struck a deal to buy Nuvalent for $10.6 billion, securing two near-approval cancer therapies that could challenge products from Roche, Pfizer and other drugmakers.
The Fierce Biotech Fundraising Tracker records venture capital rounds of $50 million or more secured by biotechs.
Eli Lilly emerged as the “clear winner from ADA,” according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Trung Hyunh, who added that “the field is getting more crowded—but Lilly is widening its lead.”
Galmed Pharmaceuticals acquired Colospan in a $4.5 million million deal as the Israel-based biotech looks to create a gastrointestinal platform targeting a dx sector valued at $6 billion.
Biotech’s effervescent activity has allowed it to overcome headwinds and sustain momentum into 2026, as the volume and value of licensing and M&A deals continues to increase. New IPOs and the recovery of venture capital funding are helping, as well.
Parabilis Medicines’ IPO has lived up to the hype—securing $670 million for the largest listing in the biotech sector’s history.
Novartis has stuck on a second deal with Orionis Biosciences, this time handing $40 million upfront to the molecular glue biotech to work on “challenging therapeutic targets across multiple disease areas.”
Ethyreal Bio has exited stealth with $101 million, joining the queue of companies preparing to challenge Amgen’s Tepezza.
Bay Area biotech SonoThera is bubbling to a clinical boil after raising a $125 million series B with the backing of some of the biggest names in pharma.
Since GLP-1 drugs like Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide and Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide took the world by storm for their potent treatment of diabetes and obesity, they have also been plagued by a clinical conundrum. In some studies, the peptides seem to possess antidepressant effects, while in others they’ve been linked to worse mental health and even increased suicidality.
Even as industry watchers pit the two assets against one another, it’s too early to say whose next-generation incretin stands supreme between Novo Nordisk’s CagriSema and Eli Lilly’s retatrutide, Novo’s chief scientific officer suggested to Fierce at the ADA 2026 Scientific Sessions in New Orleans this past Sunday.
When Charles River Laboratories CEO Birgit Girshick started her career as an executive assistant with the company in Germany in 1989, she didn’t know what was possible for her career in the world of biotech. She did know she wanted to make a difference.
Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar told Fierce in an interview that he always believed the Big Pharma “did actually need to become more competitive.”
Kardigan has sewn up its IPO plans, with the cardiovascular biotech expecting to bring in a cozy $320 million from its planned Nasdaq listing.
Fierce Biotech is returning to the U.K. in November for a day of curated discussions and networking at The Savoy, London’s iconic hotel.