A transplanted heart takes on the biological age of the body it goes into, an early study of mice and 11 patients suggests

The rest of the day

10 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   A once-failed eye drug matches Eylea

   Kodiak Sciences said on Monday that its drug Zenkuda matched Eylea, Regeneron's eye injection, in a final-stage trial in wet age-related macular degeneration. [5][6] In this disease, blood vessels in the eye overgrow, and drugs like Eylea block that growth. [6] Patients read 7.2 more letters on an eye chart on Zenkuda and 7.6 on Eylea. [6] A tool that spots fluid in the eye decided when each next shot was due, and 54% on Zenkuda went six months between shots. [5][6] The same drug failed against Eylea over four years ago, and extra cataracts paused it in 2023. [5][6]

   every 8 weeksEylea

   vsvs

   every 24 weeksZenkuda, 54% of patients

   Why it matters — Kodiak's shares more than doubled on Monday, and it plans to ask the FDA for approval by the end of 2026. [5][6] It will compete with cheaper copies of Eylea, whose patents have expired. [5]

2. 03

   AstraZeneca puts $2 billion into Summit

   AstraZeneca, the British drugmaker, will invest $2 billion in Summit Therapeutics, Summit said late on Monday 28 September. [7] AstraZeneca is buying shares at the equivalent of $18.36 each, 18.6% above Summit's closing price that day. [7] Summit's drug ivonescimab blocks two things at once: PD-1, which helps cancer hide from the immune system, and VEGF, which tumours use to grow blood vessels. [7] The companies will run trials giving ivonescimab together with AstraZeneca's own cancer drugs. [7]

   Why it matters — AstraZeneca gets joint trials of its cancer drugs with ivonescimab, and the two agreed to look at pairing it with more of AstraZeneca's medicines. [7] Summit's shares rose more than 15% in trading after the market closed. [7]

3. 04

   First treatment for MCT8 deficiency approved

   The FDA, the US drug regulator, approved Emcitate from Egetis Therapeutics, the first treatment for MCT8 deficiency, a very rare genetic disease that mostly affects boys and men. [8] A faulty gene breaks the protein that carries thyroid hormone into the brain. [8] So the brain gets too little of the hormone, while too much builds up in the blood. [8] Many patients cannot walk, sit up alone or speak. [8] Emcitate's active ingredient, tiratricol, gets into cells without that protein, and it lowered the extra hormone in the blood in two trials. [8]

   Why it matters — The approval covers the too-high hormone level in the blood, which strains the heart and metabolism. [8] Emcitate is a once-a-day liquid that can also go through a feeding tube, so patients who struggle to swallow can take it. [8]

4. 05

   Ready-made cell treatment calms lupus in 12 of 22

   Adicet Bio said on Monday that 12 of 22 people with lupus were in remission a year after one dose of its cell treatment, prula-cel, in a small early trial. [9] In lupus, immune cells called B cells go rogue and help the body attack itself. [9] Prula-cel is made of immune cells built to hunt B cells. [9] Eight of the 16 whose kidneys were affected had their kidney disease go into remission. [9] It is made in advance and kept ready to use, while rival treatments from Novartis and Bristol Myers Squibb are built from each patient's own cells. [9]

   12 of 22

   patients in remission a year after one dose

   Why it matters — Novartis's rival treatment was linked to three deaths from a severe inflammation, and Adicet reported no cases of it. [9] Adicet says the FDA has agreed to one larger trial, with no comparison group, for lupus in the kidneys, starting next year. [9]

5. 06

   Hepatitis D antibody passes a final test

   Mirum Pharmaceuticals said on 28 September that its antibody brelovitug beat delayed treatment in a final-stage trial for chronic hepatitis delta, a virus that inflames the liver. [10] The trial counted patients whose virus fell and whose main liver-inflammation test returned to normal. [10] That happened in 56% on a weekly dose, 45% on a dose every four weeks, and none of those whose treatment was held back for 24 weeks. [10] Gilead's daily shot Hepcludex was approved in the US after a 48% response on a combined measure in its own trial. [10]

   Weekly dose56%

   Every four weeks45%

   Treatment held back0%

   Why it matters — Liver inflammation is the main driver of scarring, cirrhosis and cancer, a Mirum executive said. [10] Mirum expects a second trial's results in the last three months of 2026, and if it succeeds it could ask for approval in the first half of 2027. [10]

6. 07

   Merck pays $400 million for a lab-stage cancer pill

   Merck will pay $400 million up front to SciBrunch Therapeutics, a two-year-old company in Shanghai, for world rights to a cancer molecule called SPR2015. [11] Further payments could lift the deal to $2.13 billion. [11] The molecule targets KRAS G12D, a faulty version of a protein that tells cells to grow, left switched on by the fault. [12] That fault is found in about 38% of pancreatic cancers. [11] SPR2015 has worked against tumours in lab dishes and animal tests, but has not yet been tested in people. [11][12]

   Why it matters — For years no drug could grip KRAS, until Amgen's Lumakras and Mirati's Krazati hit a different faulty version of it. [11] Bayer made a similar deal with Kumquat Biosciences, worth up to $1.3 billion, for an early G12D molecule. [11]

7. 08

   Roche gives up a muscle-saving obesity drug

   Roche stopped work on emugrobart, an antibody meant to protect muscle during weight loss, after an early look at a mid-stage trial said success was unlikely. [13] Weight-loss drugs like Lilly's tirzepatide take off muscle as well as fat. [13] Emugrobart blocks myostatin, a protein that holds back muscle growth. [13] In March it had already failed to build muscle in trials for two muscle-wasting diseases, spinal muscular atrophy and a muscular dystrophy. [13] Roche handed it back to Chugai, its Japanese subsidiary. [13]

   Why it matters — Chugai says the data so far support a final-stage trial in spinal muscular atrophy, one of the diseases where it fell short, and is looking for partners. [13] AstraZeneca, Biohaven and Wave Life Sciences are still chasing muscle-sparing weight loss. [13]

8. 09

   A Sudan virus vaccine's first human test

   A vaccine against Sudan virus, a cousin of Ebola, was well tolerated and made antibodies in its first human trial, the Lancet Microbe published on 23 September. [14] Thirty-six healthy adults in Texas got one shot at one of three doses, or a dummy shot, in 2023. [14] Antibodies appeared by day 29 and were still there at six months in everyone who got the vaccine. [14] Two in three also had antibodies that block the virus in lab tests. [14] The trial was paid for by BARDA, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. [14]

   Why it matters — Sudan virus has caused nine outbreaks since 1976, two of them in Uganda in 2022 and 2025. [14] Data from this trial supported using the vaccine in a trial during Uganda's 2025 outbreak. [14]

9. 10

   Canada suspends a plasma centre's licence

   Health Canada suspended the licence of a Grifols centre on Taylor Avenue in Winnipeg to collect plasma, a part of the blood, Grifols said on Wednesday 23 September. [15] The regulator had concerns about the centre's quality checks after a donor's death last year, the Globe and Mail reported. [15] CBC News had reported that two people died after giving plasma at Grifols clinics in Winnipeg, in October 2025 and January 2026. [15] Grifols, a Spanish drugmaker, says donors and patients were never put at risk. [15]

   Why it matters — Grifols says it had already stopped collecting there, retrained staff at all its Canadian centres and is working with the regulator on reopening. [15] It sped up buying the rest of its Canadian plasma business after the regulator found faults at several centres. [15]

10. 11

    Hospitals' fight over safety grades reaches appeal

    Five hospitals in Palm Beach, Florida, all owned by Tenet Healthcare, won a lawsuit against Leapfrog, a nonprofit that grades US hospitals from A to F on safety. [16] The hospitals had skipped Leapfrog's survey, and since 2024 Leapfrog has given the lowest scores in some categories where a hospital's data is missing. [16] After a trial in January, a US federal judge ruled this unfair and deceptive and ordered Leapfrog to stop grading them that way. [16] Leapfrog has appealed, saying its grades are opinions protected by free speech. [16]

    Why it matters — The New York Times, Yelp and Consumer Reports back Leapfrog, and news and civil-liberties groups warn the ruling could discourage public speech well beyond hospital grades. [16] Leapfrog was also ordered to pay the hospitals' legal fees, which could top $10.5 million, more than its yearly revenue. [16]