Pharma and biotech, caught up in minutes

One edition, every weekday. The story behind the headlines, and how to act on them before your next call.

Published by Norstella's News & Insights division, the team behind Pink Sheet, Scrip, In Vivo and the rest of the industry's most-read mastheads.

Latest issues

A masked clinician in green scrubs and goggles works at a hospital workstation lined with monitors showing medical scans.

The Long View: Where Medical AI Leaves The Lab For The Clinic

The research exemptions written into the AI Act, amended in July, were meant to protect science. A KU Leuven and Stanford paper warns they may also be the easiest place to hide, and that even honest researchers may not be able to tell whether their work counts as research or something more.

Aug 7, 2026 Capsul Desk 6 min read members

Scrabble tiles spelling SPEND arranged on a scattered pile of US dollar bills, mostly $20 notes.

Therapeutic Thursday: Plasters, Stitches And A $57bn War Chest

Novo Nordisk absorbs two trial failures and signals bolt-on deals, while Eli Lilly counts 31 transactions in seven months this year as it plays offense without the pressure of having to “buy revenue”.

Aug 6, 2026 Aakash Babu 6 min read members

Business Men Using Digital Tablets Receiving Bad and God News While Sitting on Park Bench

Watchdog Wednesday: Good (Or Maybe Bad) News On Medicare Price Controls

New Part D figures show the negotiation squeeze has been less tight than pharma may have feared, but program costs are spiking, meaning industry will continue to be in the crosshairs.

Aug 5, 2026 Nielsen Hobbs 4 min read members

A hand holds up a book whose cover reads "design:" against a plain wall.

Trial Tuesday: A Design Brief, A Heart Miss And A Restart

A melanoma advisory committee backs Replimune's RP-1 while pressing the field for better endpoints; Novo Nordisk's IL-6 inhibitor fails a 6,300-patient cardiovascular outcomes trial; and Rocket clears its first Danon disease patients under a revised protocol.

Aug 4, 2026 Manas Mishra 5 min read members

Low-angle view of several glass office towers converging toward a cloudy sky.

Milestone Monday: A $400bn Question, And The Deals That Actually Got Signed

Bristol Myers and AstraZeneca are reported to be talking. While that plays out, argenx, J&J and Caldera each put real money behind a thesis last week.

Aug 3, 2026 Capsul Desk 5 min read members

A man in a grey suit, seen from behind, walks alone across an open plaza carrying a green holdall, past a large red-panelled wall streaked with diagonal shadows.

The Long View: Pharma Is Walking Out On Gene Therapy. Dyno Is Walking In.

The names with the most money in AAV are leaving. Eric Kelsic's bet is that they left too early, and he's licensing the tools to argue that first-generation capsids and broken economics, not the vector, emptied the field.

Jul 31, 2026 Capsul Desk 6 min read members

A pile of money sitting on top of a table.

Therapeutic Thursday: GSK Bets Big, And Europe's Pricing Problem Gets A Face

An ADC with ambitions across five tumor types. A £1.9bn cost cut to fund a pipeline push. And a breast cancer drug caught between a stalled FDA review and a European pricing standoff.

Jul 30, 2026 Aakash Babu 5 min read members

Woman Wearing Cowboy Hat On Horse Looking Off At Golden Hour of Sunset With Cloudy Sky

Watchdog Wednesday: Europe’s Top Drug Regulator Rides Off, Slowly

As the US FDA cycled through lots of leadership drama, Europe simply extended Emer Cooke’s mandate as head of EMA. Stability bought the EU a great deal, but hasn’t offered answers on vaccine trust, shortages, pricing, or AI.

Jul 29, 2026 Nielsen Hobbs 6 min read members

A person gestures with an open hand while talking at a table, an open laptop and a smartphone on a notebook beside them.

Trial Tuesday: Same Trial, Two Verdicts, As Deramiocel Meets The FDA Panel

Capricor and the FDA read HOPE-3 in opposite directions. Wednesday's committee decides which reading survives, with the agency's own call due August 22.

Jul 28, 2026 Manas Mishra 3 min read members

Rows of antique clocks, each set to a different time

Milestone Monday: The Biotech Clocks Running Into 2027

Aphaia's obesity data leads the pack, Connect's acute-asthma topline lands in September, Kyverna's CAR-T filing by year end. What each result decides, and who's waiting to write the check.

Jul 27, 2026 Capsul Desk 5 min read members

Cyclist crossing a long arched bridge over water in fog, black and white.

The Long View: A Generic You Forgot About Can Derail Your Trial

Carboplatin and cisplatin sit in the comparator arms of the oncology studies meant to replace them. ASCO's chief medical officer says a missing generic can halt a trial and delay the approval behind it.

Jul 24, 2026 Capsul Desk 6 min read members

An empty forest road climbing toward misty light, one vehicle partway up.

Therapeutic Thursday: A Fringe RNA Drug Is Now First Of Its Kind In The Clinic

Today is a quiet kind of vindication story, the sort the industry doesn't hand out often. A founder spent 15 years insisting that the junk stretches of the

Jul 23, 2026 Capsul Desk 4 min read members

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