ABL Bio Inc. inked a license and research agreement with Eli Lilly and Co. worth up to $2.6 billion to develop multiple therapeutics using the Grabody-B platform. Under the terms announced Nov. 12, ABL will receive a $40 million up-front payment and up to $2.56 billion in development, regulatory and commercialization milestones, plus tiered royalties on net sales. Grabody-B is a blood-brain barrier (BBB)-penetrating bispecific antibody technology designed to deliver drugs past the BBB and into the brain and central nervous system, overcoming one of the biggest challenges in neurotherapeutics. While details on the number of programs or indications were not disclosed, the deal shows Lilly’s push for novel drug delivery technologies, following its recent $1.2 billion agreement with Suzhou Sanegene Bio Inc. for RNAi-based metabolic disease candidates.

Korro plunges on word of disappointed AATD data in phase I/IIa

Shares of Korro Bio Inc. (NASDAQ:KRRO) were trading at $6.36, down $25.06, or 79%, on updates contained in the company’s third-quarter update. The firm said interim data from the phase I/IIa Rewrite trial show that RNA editing prospect KRRO-110 produced functional protein in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) patients but fell short of projected levels of functional protein after a single administration. Korro is pivoting to GalNAc delivery for patients with AATD, and plains to name a development candidate in the first half of next year. Meanwhile, the firm is reducing its workforce by about one-third, which will provide a cash runway into the second half of 2027.

With malaria numbers rising, Novartis has phase III success

Phase III data from Novartis AG for the malaria treatment Ganlum (KLU-156) show it met the primary endpoint of noninferiority to the current standard of care, Coartem, a combination of artemether and lumefantrine. According to the U.S. CDC, the expansion of interventions and development of new malaria prevention technologies have saved millions of lives globally and cut malaria mortality by 36% from 2010 to 2020, “leading to hopes and plans for elimination and ultimately eradication.” However, the numbers have risen recently. In 2022, the CDC estimates that 608,000 people died of malaria, most of whom were children in sub-Saharan Africa.

J&J pushes to elevate patient voices in Asia

Up to 77% of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer in Asia-Pacific rely almost entirely on their physicians to decide their treatment, even though 69% of physicians say they encourage shared decision-making. That disconnect remains one of the region’s biggest obstacles to improving outcomes, Anthony Elgamal, vice president of Oncology Asia Pacific at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, told BioWorld. Part of the challenge, he said, stems from persistent misconceptions.

One year later: funding and dealmaking in women’s health

A year ago, BioWorld published a special series on the women’s health drug development ecosystem, showing that while women make up half of the population, venture capital investment and life sciences partnerships in the space – specifically those deals supporting innovations for conditions primarily affecting women – pale in comparison to efforts addressing diseases more men experience. That appears to be changing, according to an updated look of BioWorld data, supported by findings in the Silicon Valley Bank 2025 Innovation in Women’s Health Report published in April, and Clarivate’s Nov. 13 release of its latest Companies to Watch 2025 report, Rediscovering women’s health.

‘Most complete’ map of oral microbiome enables links to systemic disease

South Korean researchers led by Lee In-suk of Yonsei University have reported the most complete oral microbiome catalog to date, with more than 72,000 genomes. Detailed in Cell Host & Microbe on Nov. 12, 2025, the database is expected to serve as a universal platform for academia and enable “precision microbiome medicine” for the industry, Lee told BioWorld. Coined the Human Reference Oral Microbiome, or HROM, the comprehensive catalog on the human oral microbiome showcases 72,641 high-quality genomes from nearly 3,500 species, including 2,019 that had not been previously identified.

Makary, Prasad suggest more spokes for bespoke pathway

In an article that reads like an informal guidance, U.S. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and CBER Director Vinay Prasad discussed criteria for using the agency’s novel plausible mechanism pathway for personalized treatments when a randomized trial isn’t feasible. The New England Journal of Medicine article, published yesterday, uses the bespoke DNA base editing in Baby K.J. as a case study to illustrate the tenets of the pathway, which starts with a therapy designed specifically for an individual patient’s mutation and then uses that to generate critical clinical safety and efficacy data to inform the development of a product that could be modified to address multiple genetic mutations. The unofficial guidance also suggests the possibility of expanding the path beyond gene and cell editing to other biologics and even small molecules.

The BioWorld Insider podcast: Esperion Therapeutics CEO Sheldon Koenig

The latest episode of the BioWorld Insider podcast features Sheldon Koenig, CEO of Esperion Therapeutics. The company developed and is commercializing two U.S. FDA approved oral, once-daily, non-statin medicines for patients who are at risk of heart attack or other heart procedures and are struggling with uncontrolled LDL-C.

Also in the news

Alentis, Alera, Aliada, Alkermes, Apellis, Artelo, Artiva, Biohaven, Bpgbio, Centessa, Chiesi, Cogent, Cypherpunk, Eirgenix, Eledon, Evotec, Immatics, Immix, LB, Leap, Marius, Metagenomi, Modulight, Nanoviricides, Nextcure, Ovid, Parabilis, PDS, Remedy Plan, Sandoz, Thirdlaw Molecular, Tscan