Lilly tees off with Novo at ADA, GSK’s $10.6B deal, FDA reform continues in Makary’s absence

Everything came up roses for Eli Lilly at the American Diabetes Association, as the pharma boasted positive results for its new pill Foundayo and next-gen asset retatrutide—not just for weight loss but also for other indications.

Obesity rival Novo Nordisk, meanwhile, held a dinner, during which executives may have convinced analysts that the company is turning a corner after a rough couple of years.

Also check out ADA updates from Roche and partner Zealand Pharma, Boehringer Ingleheim, Pfizer (touting results from its Metsera buy), AstraZeneca, Kailera Therapeutics and more.

Outside of ADA, the biggest news of the past week came on Tuesday with GSK striking the biggest traditional pharma/biotech M&A of the year so far with its $10.6 billion acquisition of oncology focused Nuvalent Bio. And on Monday, J&J notched a smaller deal, buying out Firefly Bio for $1B. These deals add to continued uptick in M&A seen in biopharma this year, with much of that momentum being driven by Eli Lilly and its GLP-1 cash.

At an FDA listening meeting last week on the Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program, the agency heard multiple calls to pause it. Confusion also still persists around all of the new rare disease pathways, including the new plausible mechanism framework.