By Bahram Hassanpourfard, Epidemiologist
Weekly briefing · 26 October to 1 November 2026
The highest dose of Eli Lilly’s ‘triple-G’ drug retatrutide beat Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic on blood sugar and weight loss in a head-to-head phase 3 trial in type 2 diabetes, though with more side effects and treatment discontinuations1. The result came in diabetes rather than obesity, but it adds to expectations that the drug will be one of Lilly’s greatest growth drivers. The week’s other dominant story ran the other way. Artiva Biotherapeutics is effectively shutting down and laying off almost all its staff after two patients died in its autoimmune cell therapy trials2. It is the third company recently to report deaths in such a trial, after Novartis and Bristol Myers Squibb, a setback for the industry’s effort to carry cancer cell-therapy strategies into autoimmune disease.
Vaccines supplied the more encouraging science. Merck’s personalised mRNA vaccine intismeran autogene, added to Keytruda after surgery for high-risk melanoma, cut the risk of recurrence or death by 42% in the phase 3 INTerpath trial3, while MHRA scientists working with the GSK Vaccines Institute for Global Health showed a needle-free Strep A vaccine triggering local and bodywide immune responses in mice4. Late-stage disappointments were costlier. BioNTech and DualityBio called the breast cancer benefit of their HER2 antibody-drug conjugate ‘statistically significant, yet modest’, with unexpected safety findings, in a field where Enhertu already sets a high bar5, and Novartis took a $1.9bn impairment after del-desiran failed in phase 3, yet raised its profit outlook and said its $12bn Avidity acquisition remains on track6. Rare disease dealmaking continued, with BioMarin licensing a long-acting Fabry enzyme replacement therapy from GC Biopharma and Hanmi in a deal worth up to $475m plus royalties7, and Setara Biosciences raising $90m to develop the pipeline left after Jazz bought Actio’s lead epilepsy programme8. On policy, the US Labor Department finalised a rule requiring pharmacy benefit managers to disclose fees and compensation to self-funded employers from 20279, while new vaping and nicotine rules and the FDA’s authorisation of four flavoured nicotine products drew scrutiny10.
Among less widely reported items, the MHRA extended the UK authorisation of the gene-editing treatment Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel) to children aged five and over with severe sickle-cell disease or transfusion-dependent β-thalassaemia11. The EMA’s assessment record for Tavneos (avacopan), authorised in January 2022, now lists its status as revoked, without further detail12. The FDA granted accelerated approval to Voceryq, the first plasmid DNA-based immunotherapy, for adults with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis13. And the MHRA issued a Class 2 recall covering all strengths of Xeal Pharma’s clopidogrel oral suspension and oral solution, which contain less clopidogrel than labelled14.
References: 1. STAT, Endpoints News, BioPharma Dive and 3 more · 2. Endpoints News, BioPharma Dive, STAT and 2 more · 3. MedPage Today, NPR, Medical Xpress and 1 more · 4. MHRA, GOV.UK, Medical Xpress · 5. Endpoints News, BioPharma Dive, Fierce Biotech · 6. Endpoints News, Financial Times, Fierce Biotech and 1 more · 7. MedCity News, Korea Biomedical Review, Pharmaceutical Executive · 8. BioPharma Dive, Endpoints News, Fierce Biotech · 9. BioPharma Dive, Fierce Healthcare, Pharmacy Times · 10. BBC, JAMA, Pharmacy Times · 11. GOV.UK · 12. EMA · 13. FDA · 14. MHRA
