Shares of Veradermics Inc. spiked as the first top-line readout from its registrational program for VDPHL-01 showed the oral, extended-release version of minoxidil surpassed expectations in men with mild to moderate pattern hair loss, setting up commercial aspirations as a potential best-in-indication treatment option. VDPHL-01 met both co-primary endpoints, showing statistically significant improvement vs. placebo in non-vellus Target Area Hair Count and patient-reported outcomes, while hitting all secondary endpoints and demonstrating good tolerability. Findings exceed “every metric we set for the base case,” said Veradermics CEO Reid Waldman. Shares of the company, which debuted on Nasdaq (NASDAQ:MANE) in February in a $17-per-share IPO, were trading at $92 at midday, having jumped as high as $101.81.

New phase II/III biliary cancer results offered by Compass

Shares of Compass Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:CMPX) were trading at $2.36, down about 53%, or $2.67 on what CEO Thomas Schuetz described as “stunning” data from the phase II/III Companion-002 study testing tovecimig plus paclitaxel vs. paclitaxel alone in patients with unresectable advanced, metastatic, or recurrent biliary tract cancer (BTC) in the second-line setting. The combo met the key secondary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS). Overall survival (OS) results were not significant in the intent-to-treat population or after adjusting for patient crossover, but additional analyses turned up improved PFS and OS in crossover patients. The safety profile of tovecimig, a bispecific antibody that targets DLL4 and VEGF-A, was “largely in line with expectations, the major signals being hypertension and hematologic toxicities,” said Leerink analyst Jonathan Chang in a report. In April 2025, Boston-based Compass said that the BTC study met its primary endpoint of overall response rate.

Med-tech companies highlight PFA data as competition intensifies

New data on pulsed field ablation (PFA) presented at Heart Rhythm 2026 in Chicago over the weekend continue to show the benefits and superiority of the technologies in treating patients with atrial fibrillation. The PFA landscape is fast-evolving and med-tech players are jostling for market share with ever-differentiated platforms looking to attract electrophysiologists.

Sun Pharma to acquire Merck spinoff Organon for $11.75B

Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. will pay $11.75 billion cash to acquire Organon & Co. The transaction is expected to close in early 2027. The addition of Organon’s women’s health products, legacy drug brands and biosimilars are expected to boost Mumbai, India-based Sun’s global reach. The all-cash buy is also expected to relieve Jersey City, N.J.-based Organon of an $8.6 billion debt pile, accumulated after its debt-laden 2021 spinout from Merck & Co. Inc.

UK biotech funding in Q1 2026 hints a recovery is in the offing

The funding momentum that was building at the end of 2025 was maintained in the first quarter (Q1) of 2026, with a rebound in venture capital investment in U.K. biotech. Overall investment in the sector during Q1 was £552 million (US$748 million), of which £516 million was in venture capital (VC). That accounted for 57% of all VC investments in the sector in Europe, and for U.K. companies was a 17% increase on the $442 million of VC they raised in Q4 2025. The Q1 total also was well ahead of Q3 2025, when U.K. biotechs attracted only £187 million in total. “It has been an extremely challenging time for biotech,” said Jane Wall, managing director of the UK Bioindustry Association, which compiled the figures. “It comes as a great relief to see those green shoots that started showing [at the] end of 2025, grow into a more sustained and healthier shift in market dynamics in the first quarter of 2026.”

US legislative reforms needed to make biosimilars competitive

Now that the FDA is on board with doing away with the U.S.’ unique two-tier biosimilar pathway, the biosimilar industry is urging Congress to pass the bipartisan Biosimilar Red Tape Elimination Act, which would recognize that biosimilars and interchangeables are one and the same. Noting that the distinction Congress originally made between biosimilars and interchangeables that can be automatically substituted at the pharmacy has been a tool of misinformation, Juliana Reed, executive director of the Biosimilars Forum, told BioWorld, “it needs to go away.” That’s not the only legislative change on the biosimilar wish list this year, as industry aims at bringing more competition to the market.

Lilly buying Ajax for up to $2.3B for next-gen JAK assets

Eli Lilly and Co. is acquiring Ajax Therapeutics Inc. for up to $2.3 billion in cash, gaining access to next-generation JAK inhibitors for patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms. Ajax, based in Cambridge, Mass., and New York, has AJ1-11095 as its lead asset, a once-daily oral, type II JAK2 inhibitor in a phase I trial for myelofibrosis, specifically for patient previously treated with a type 1 JAK2 inhibitor. Designed as a selective inhibitor to deliver deeper and more durable efficacy than existing JAK2 inhibitors, it also aims to address patients resistant to type 1 inhibitors. The $2.3 billion includes an up-front payment and milestone payments tied to clinical and regulatory achievements.

Plasticity, properly parsed, provides psychiatric platform

If Benjamin Braddock, of The Graduate fame, were a young neuroscientist in the 21st century instead of a liberal arts graduate in 1967, the advice he received from his parents’ neighbor might not have been “One word: plastics!” but “One word: plasticity!” Plasticity is a hot concept in neuropsychiatric disorders. New and old treatment modalities, these days, are said to work as psychoplastogens or neuroplastogens. Increasing plasticity has always been the purported mechanism of action for psychedelics. But selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, too, are now being investigated for effects on plasticity. Even electroconvulsive therapy, which has been used on patients for nearly 90 years at this point, is now being described as a way to induce neural plasticity.

Also in the news

Anaxiom, Arrowhead, Avalyn, Cgbio, Clinuvel, Evotec, Flex Vascular, Glooko, Grace, Haemonetics, Hemab, Humacyte, Karo, Lakewood-Amedex, Ligand, Miracell, Moberg, Nektar, Novartis, Pridcor, Regeneron, Royal Philips, Sanofi, Scinai, Seaport, Senseonics, Tectonic, Vaxart, Xoma