How has the Food and Drug Administration&#x27;s recent decisions on rare disease drugs affected investment trends? Why is Eli Lilly getting into sleep medicine? And where did Allison go on her vacation?<br><br>We discuss all that and more on this week&#x27;s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT&#x27;s weekly biotech podcast. Biotech investor Rod Wong joins us to talk about why an industry-patient coalition he&#x27;s part of sent a letter to President Trump asking for more regulatory flexibility at the FDA.<br><br>We also discuss the U.S. approval of Eli Lilly&#x27;s obesity pill, recent deal-making by large pharma companies, a strange story about promotion of psychedelic drugs on YouTube, and more.

395: Biotech investors' plea to Trump, and a busy M&A week

The Readout Loud

Welcome to this week's episode of The Readout Loud, a weekly biotech podcast from STAT. I'm Allison DeAngelis. I'm Adam Feuerstein. And I'm Elaine Chen. It's Thursday, April 2nd. I'm back in the podcasting chair with my co-hosts. And on this week's episode, biotech investor Rod Wong joins us to talk about the FDA, rare diseases and why an industry patient advocacy coalition that he supports is asking for more regulatory flexibility.

But first, a recap of the week's news and a word from our sponsor. I'm Jesse McQuarters, editor of StaffBrand Studio, and I'm joined today by Preeti Hegda, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Research at Kite, a Gilead company. Preeti, can you tell me a little bit about the multitude of platforms that you're working in?

In most companies, the scientific teams engage in one platform or the other. We're really fortunate at Gilead and Kite where we have access to expertise in small molecules. We have expertise in large molecule development and we have expertise in cell therapy as well. And so the question here is what is the right scientific question for the right modality and bringing them together is what ultimately will result to transformative benefit for patients.

Welcome back, Alison. Thank you. Thank you for having me. So last week, we didn't tell people where you went. We just gave them a hint that a camel was involved. Yes. So why don't you tell everyone where you were? I spent 10 days in Morocco, which was amazing. And yes, I did go out into the desert, spent a night in the desert, rode a camel that I named Gerald and just had a fantastic time. It was great. I deleted Slack. I really disconnected.

395: Biotech investors' plea to Trump, and a busy M&A week

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

395: Biotech investors' plea to Trump, and a busy M&A week

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.