There are new data to chew over in the ongoing controversy about obesity being diagnosed as a disease from a study tracking 157,159 participants in the UK Biobank over 13 years. This shows that even in the absence of any metabolic disturbance such as elevated lipids, high blood pressure or diabetes, there is an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, peripheral arterial disease, heart failure and liver disease in people with a body mass index over 30.

More than four decades on from the approval of the first biologic drug, the industry has reached a tipping point, and biotech drugs now outnumber small molecules in the global R&D pipeline. At the start of the biotech industry, progress was slow. Between 1983 and 1995, the U.S. FDA approved an average of two biologics each year. Now, biologics have taken the lead by the smallest of margins, accounting for 50.1% of drugs in development at the start of 2026, according to the Pharma Annual Review 2026, published by Pharmaprojects, a firm that tracks global pharma R&D.

More than four decades on from the approval of the first biologic drug, the industry has reached a tipping point, and biotech drugs now outnumber small molecules in the global R&D pipeline.

C4 Therapeutics Inc.’s degrader-antibody conjugate (DAC) strategy gathered more steam with a new collaboration between the firm and Roche AG that brings $20 million up front with the potential for more than $1 billion in discovery, regulatory and commercial milestone payments.

The U.S. confirmed the agreement in principle made last December to exempt U.K. pharmaceuticals from import tariffs, as the U.K government put its commitment to spend more on patented drugs into effect.

German company Tubulis GmbH, which emerged with a $12.3 million series A round and a next-generation antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) platform about six years ago, has commanded up to $5 billion in a buyout offer from Gilead Sciences Inc.

After nearly a year of threats and promises of a global biopharma tariff of 25% to 500%, U.S. President Donald Trump finally delivered it. In the name of national security, he imposed a 100% sector tariff on prescription drugs and their associated ingredients beginning in about four months for large manufacturers and six months for smaller companies.

Swedish startup One-carbon Therapeutics AB is going after solid tumors with an approach that looks similar to synthetic lethals to some people, and to chemotherapy to others. But One-carbon CEO Ana Slipicevic said that TH-9619, the company’s first-in-class inhibitor of the enzyme MTHFD1/2, is neither of those things.

After nearly a year of threats and promises of a global biopharma tariff of 25% to 500%, U.S. President Donald Trump finally delivered it. In the name of national security, he imposed a 100% sector tariff on prescription drugs and their associated ingredients beginning in about four months for large manufacturers and six months for smaller companies. However, depending on the drug, where it’s made and whether a manufacturer has reached onshoring and pricing agreements with the Department of Health and Human Services, the actual tariff could be as low as 0%.