Oddsmakers placing their bets on which drugs will be in play for round 3 of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) price negotiations are doing some reshuffling, thanks to an orphan drug provision tucked into the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that was signed into law on the Fourth of July.

Argo Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and its RNAi work drew Novartis AG back to the table for a third time, as the companies entered a potential $5.2 billion deal involving cardiovascular-focused assets, including a right to first negotiation for BW-00112, an angiopoietin-like protein 3-targeting siRNA in phase II testing in severe hypertriglyceridemia.

Enlaza Therapeutics Inc. will take charge of research through nominating candidates in its potentially $2 billion-plus deal with Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. For its efforts, Enlaza is getting $45 million in an up-front payment and equity investment, plus the opportunity to bring in more than $2 billion in research, development, regulatory and commercial milestones and tiered royalties on net sales.

In July 2025, BioWorld recorded 140 clinical trial updates spanning phases I through III, a significant drop from 254 updates tracked in June. Of the July data, 16 trials reported successful phase III results, while four studies were reported as failures.