More than four years after a phase II/III trial with Sanofi SA’s oral glucosylceramide synthase inhibitor venglustat was stopped for lack of benefit in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, the company rolled out mixed phase III data from two more efforts.

Liver fibrosis in the course of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis could be significantly reduced using CAR T-cells generated in vivo. Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed an experimental cell therapy that eliminates only one type of liver cell, the stellate cells that express fibroblast activation protein alpha. This strategy not only reduced fibrosis but also reversed liver damage.

Astrazeneca plc is investing $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand R&D and manufacturing, marking one of the largest long-term investments by a multinational pharma company in the country. The U.K.-based company also struck a deal worth up to $3.5 billion with China’s CSPC Pharmaceuticals Group Ltd. to accelerate the development of next-generation therapies for obesity and type 2 diabetes.

With the PDUFA date fast approaching for Regenxbio Inc.’s gene therapy RGX-121, the U.S. FDA placed the drug on clinical hold along with another, RGX-111, after preliminary analysis of a single case of neoplasm (specifically, an intraventricular central nervous system tumor) in a participant treated in the phase I/II study with the latter treatment.

Corxel Pharmaceuticals Ltd. completed a $287 million series D round to advance its lead compound, an oral small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist, CX-11, for obese and overweight patients.

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that it received no objections from the U.S. FDA to move pilavapadin, its non-opioid candidate for diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain, into phase III study, pushing company shares up near 20% on the day.

The structurally similar cytokines IL-2 and IL-15, and their shared beta subunit CD122, are keeping developers busy across a range of indications. Though some scientific confusion has plagued the space historically, drug candidates have drawn deals and Wall Street interest aplenty. Amgen Inc., Novartis AG, and Incyte Corp. are among those who’ve made their interest known.

The economic and societal implications of the underfunding of women’s health finally reached the agenda of the World Economic Forum (WEF), with the launch at the 2026 annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, this week of the inaugural Women’s Health Investment Outlook. The neglect of women’s health is not only a public health issue, but also “a market inefficiency on a global scale,” the WEF report said.

The good news is that the U.S. Congress is on track to pass a slate of fiscal 2026 spending bills before the current continuing resolution expires Jan. 30. So, barring any last-minute disputes or legislative hostage-taking, there should be no repeat of last year’s 43-day shutdown that impacted NIH grants and activities.

As China emerges as a critical commercial market and a source of global innovation, the newly released 2026 edition of Clarivate’s Drugs to Watch report highlights six drugs to watch in the China market for the year ahead.