Behind the Headlines Episode 29: 2025 Year in Review

Behind the Headlines examines the ongoing trends, factors, and fashions that cause pharmaceutical news to happen. Panelists are a mix of consultants, venture capitalists, scientists, patient advocates, journalists, and editors. Each episode dissects the current headlines of the preceding weeks that are on everyone’s lips but seeks to highlight the more enduring lessons that hide behind these headlines.

In Episode 29, John Androsavich, general manager, Ginkgo Datapoints, Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc.; Benjamin Fryer, CEO and co-founder, Pluristyx, Inc; and John Wilkerson, Washington Correspondent, STAT News, look back at the pivotal developments impacting pharmaceutical investment and drug discovery, manufacturing twists and turns, and political vicissitudes and geopolitics. On balance, vaccines managed ultimately to de-throne weight loss GLP-1's as the watercooler must-share storyline.

The panel also covered the year’s largest acquisitions, especially AbbVie & Capstan Therapeutics (1), alongside Johnson & Johnson and Intra-Cellular Therapies (2). Other major M&A in 2025 included GSK licensing exclusive rights to a PDE3/4 inhibitor (HRS-9821) for COPD treatment from Jiangsu Hengrui for $12.5 billion (3); Novartis buying Avidity Bioscience for ~$12 billion for RNA-based therapies for rare neuromuscular diseases (4), which continued a run of good news in the CNS space; Bristol Myers Squibb licensing bispecific antibody BNT-327 for solid tumors in oncology from BioNTech for more than $11 Billion (5), which itself merged with CureVac, ending patent litigation and creating a consolidated powerhouse for mRNA in Germany; in an effort to bolster their respiratory portfolio, Merck acquiring Verona pharma for $10 billion to own Ohtuvayre (6), an FDA-approved COPD treatment, in the same way Pfizer acquired Metsera—just yesterday, Pfizer moved to expand its small-molecule obesity pipeline with a $150 million upfront deal for YaoPharma’s oral GLP-1 agonist (7)—for the same amount to backfill their gap in the weight loss market with a GLP-1 and amylin obesity drug candidates (8); and Sanofi buying Blueprint Medicines for $9.5 billion for rare disease and oncology assets, including the approved drug Ayvakit (9).

Much of the conversation, however, centered around the Trump administration’s attitudes to vaccines generally, and mRNA in particular, alongside the US Department of Health and Human Services funding Rollercoaster, especially for basic academic research.

The conversation also celebrated pivotal proofs of concepts, like the breakthrough CRISPR therapy for baby KJ Muldoon (10) and, most recently, success in restoring a healthy copy of SLC6A1, to restore normal GABA function, for the 8-year-old Maxwell Freed (11).

References

1. Abbvie. AbbVie to Acquire Capstan Therapeutics, Further Strengthening Commitment to Transforming Patient Care in Immunology. Press Release. June 30, 2025.
2. Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson Closes Landmark Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc. Acquisition to Solidify Neuroscience Leadership. Press Release. April 2, 2025.
3. GSK. GSK and Hengrui Pharma Enter Agreements to Develop Up to 12 Innovative Medicines Across Respiratory, Immunology & Inflammation and Oncology. Press Release. July 28, 2025.
4. Novartis agrees to acquire Avidity Biosciences, an innovator in RNA therapeutics, strengthening its late-stage neuroscience pipeline, Company Press release, Oct 26, 2025, https://www.novartis.com/news/media-releases/novartis-agrees-acquire-avidity-biosciences-innovator-rna-therapeutics-strengthening-its-late-stage-neuroscience-pipeline
5. BioNTech. BioNTech Commences Public Exchange Offer for All Outstanding Shares of CureVac N.V. Press Release. Oct 22, 2025.
6. Merck. Merck Completes Acquisition of Verona Pharma. Press Release. Oct 7, 2025.
7. Pfizer. Pfizer Enters into Exclusive Collaboration and License Agreement with YaoPharma. Press Release. Dec 9, 2025.
8. Pfizer. Pfizer Completes Acquisition of Metsera. Press Release. Nov 13, 2025.
9. Sanofi. Sanofi Completes Acquisition of Blueprint Medicines. Press Release. July 18, 2025.
10. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. World's First Patient Treated with Personalized CRISPR Gene Editing Therapy at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Press Release. May 15, 2025.
11. Bjornson, G. 8-Year-Old Has Disease So Rare It Doesn’t Have a Name. Now He’s First in the World to Receive Treatment. People.com. Dec 5, 2025.