The increasing recognition of its importance in national security, economic growth and health has seen biotech emerging as the latest frontier in geopolitical competition, with implications for companies ranging from startups to multinationals – and for global investment in the sector.

Quince Therapeutics Inc.’s mid-July completion of enrollment in the pivotal phase III study in ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) marked an important milestone for the South San Francisco-based firm, which is not the only contender in the space. The study called NEAT – a rough acronym for “Neurological Effects of eDSP on Subjects with A-T” – will evaluate Quince’s lead asset, eDSP, in the neurodegenerative illness.

Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) secured 5.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer Inc./Biontech SE and Moderna Inc., officially including the mRNA-based vaccines in the country’s national immunization program on Aug. 5.

Biopharma companies raised $34.89 billion through financings in the first seven months of 2025, including $5.66 billion in July, down from $7.38 billion in June. This year’s total falls short of $74.03 billion in the first seven months of 2024 and more than $80 billion in 2020 and 2021. However, 2025 is on track to outperform post-pandemic lows of 2022 and 2023, when the seven-month totals reached $33.14 billion and $36.47 billion, respectively.

Among the strong points of Nektar Therapeutics Inc.’s atopic dermatitis (AD) prospect, rezpegaldesleukin (rezpeg), an IL-2 pathway agonist and regulatory T-cell proliferator, is the drug’s faster onset of action – a feature that experts say may help differentiate the compound from competitors in the OX40 space.