For a decade, the most powerful cholesterol-lowering drugs — PCSK9 inhibitors — have come only as injections, limiting their reach. That changed this fortnight. The US FDA approved Merck's LIPFENDRA (enlicitide), the first and only once-daily oral PCSK9 inhibitor, for adults with high LDL cholesterol, including those with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia.
Enlicitide is a novel macrocyclic peptide taken as a single 20 mg tablet. It blocks PCSK9 from binding LDL receptors, letting the liver clear more "bad" cholesterol from the blood. In pivotal trials it cut LDL-C by roughly 57% at 24 weeks versus a 3% rise on placebo — efficacy that rivals the established injectable therapies, delivered from a pill bottle.
Roughly a quarter of adults who should be on intensive lipid therapy never start or stay on injectables. An oral option with injection-grade potency could dramatically widen access, improve adherence, and reshape how primary-care physicians manage cardiovascular risk. The remaining question — whether it also cuts heart attacks and strokes — awaits cardiovascular outcomes data.
New data in Nature Immunology show that Moderna's investigational mRNA influenza vaccine, mRNA-1010, generated broader and more durable antibody responses than a standard split-virion shot across two consecutive flu seasons. From four weeks to six months after vaccination, antibodies from mRNA recipients recognised a far wider array of flu strains spanning decades of viral evolution — including those most likely to drive widespread illness. Researchers also detected unique B-cell lineages absent in recipients of the conventional vaccine, suggesting the platform recruits a richer immune repertoire.
Breadth is the holy grail of flu vaccination: a shot that anticipates drift and mismatch could blunt bad seasons and edge the field toward a "universal" vaccine. In a separate Phase 3 trial, mRNA-1010 reduced illness by 26.6% more than the standard vaccine in older adults. A regulatory decision is expected on 5 August 2026.
Immunology specialist argenx agreed to acquire California-based Forte Biosciences for about $2.2 billion in cash — $77 per share, an 86% premium to Forte's recent average. The prize is FB102, a first-in-class anti-CD122 antibody with early positive data in coeliac disease and the skin condition vitiligo, and potential across a range of autoimmune disorders. The all-cash tender offer is subject to majority acceptance and antitrust clearance.
The deal signals continued appetite for early-stage autoimmune assets with platform potential — and marks argenx's push to build a pipeline beyond its flagship FcRn franchise. Watch for how a differentiated CD122 mechanism competes in the crowded immunology landscape.
Eli Lilly's retatrutide — a triple agonist hitting the GLP-1, GIP and glucagon receptors — delivered up to roughly 30% average body-weight loss over 80 weeks in the Phase 3 TRIUMPH-1 trial of 2,339 adults with obesity, alongside improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors. At the top dose, well over half of participants lost at least a quarter of their body weight. Gastrointestinal side-effects (nausea, diarrhoea) were common but consistent with the drug class.
These are magnitudes once seen mainly after bariatric surgery. If the broader TRIUMPH programme confirms cardiovascular and metabolic benefits, next-generation obesity medicines could reframe weight management as long-term prevention — with implications for diabetes, joint disease and healthy lifespan.
The FDA approved zidesamtinib (Jideytro, Nuvalent) for previously treated ROS1-positive non-small cell lung cancer. Designed to cross the blood–brain barrier and cover resistance mutations, it showed a 49% response rate in patients after one prior ROS1 inhibitor.
Early in July the FDA approved atacicept for primary IgA nephropathy, a progressive kidney disease driven by abnormal antibody build-up. It adds to a fast-moving wave of new options for a condition that long lacked targeted treatments.
AstraZeneca returned to China's pipeline this month with a $1.5bn agreement for Dizal's lung-cancer drug, days after a separate $200m COPD licensing deal — part of a broader surge in Western pharma licensing from Chinese biotechs.
J&J agreed to pay $5.5 billion to resolve remaining lawsuits alleging its talc products caused ovarian cancer — one of the largest product-liability settlements in the sector and a milestone in a years-long saga.
Viatris secured approval for Gwyn Lo, a once-weekly contraceptive patch, expanding the menu of lower-burden birth-control options and reflecting continued innovation in women's health delivery.
"The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease."— Sir William Osler, physician and a father of modern medicine