Biotech, in brief

Australia's CSL, a large biotech company, said on Monday 5 October that it will develop and sell lixudebart together with Alentis Therapeutics of Switzerland. [1]

CSL pays $355 million up front. Alentis can earn up to $1.2 billion more as the drug reaches sales goals. [1]

Once the drug is on sale, CSL takes 55% of the profits worldwide and Alentis takes 45%. [1]

Lixudebart is an antibody, a lab-made immune molecule built to latch onto one target. Its target is claudin-1. [2]

Alentis says claudin-1 drives inflammation and scarring in damaged kidneys, livers, lungs and guts. [2]

The drug is now in a phase 2 trial, a mid-sized test of whether a drug works, in a rare disease where the immune system attacks small blood vessels in the kidney. [1][2]

In that disease, kidney function can collapse within days or weeks. Most patients lose much or all of it, even on strong drugs that calm the immune system. [2]

In an early look at 26 of the trial's patients, kidney function and the protein leaking into urine improved after 24 weeks, the companies say. [2]

In an earlier trial of 41 people with advanced liver scarring, liver function improved after 6 weeks. [2]

The partners plan to test it next in FSGS, a long-lasting kidney disease, and in PSC, a liver disease with no approved treatment. [1]

The US drug regulator gave it orphan status in 2024 for a lung-scarring disease. Orphan status is a special status for drugs aimed at rare diseases. [1]

Every result so far is an early look, reported by the companies, and none describes a comparison group of untreated patients. [2]

Why it matters. The next sign is the full result of the kidney trial, which will show whether the improvement in the first 26 patients holds across the whole group. [2]

US President Donald Trump said late on Friday 2 October that more than 20 million people on Medicare will each get a one-time $90 payment. [4][5] Medicare is the US government's health insurance for older people. [4] The money helps with the monthly fee for Part B, the part that pays for doctor visits, which is about $203 a month. [6] It comes from the Medicare Improvement Fund, set up by Congress in 2008, which Trump says holds $2 billion. [4][5]

Why it matters. The payments arrive in early October, a month before the 3 November elections for Congress, and follow $500 rebates to about 1 million people on Obamacare plans. [4][7] People in Medicare Advantage, the private-plan version, cannot get it, and KFF, a health research group, says they are more than half of those who would otherwise qualify. [5]

US Vice President JD Vance said in late September that the US government had removed 760,000 people from Obamacare plans. [8] The US government says they did not exist, or were signed up by brokers without knowing it. [8] Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act of 2010, gives government-subsidised health plans to 19 million people. [8] Another 400,000 are under review, and the US government is banning hundreds of brokers and taking no new ones. [8]

Why it matters. Policy experts say some of those removed were real members who rarely used their plans because they were healthy. [8] Insurers expect a sicker and costlier mix of members, and investors say prices for 2028 will likely rise to reflect it. [8]

Employers' health costs per worker will rise 11.1% in 2027, the biggest jump in more than 20 years, the consulting firm WTW projects. [9] Aon expects 9.5%, and Marsh 8.2%, the largest since 2003. [9] About 166 million Americans under 65 get health insurance through work. [9] Experts point to more use of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, the end of extra Obamacare subsidies and general inflation. [9]

Why it matters. 59% of employers plan cuts such as higher deductibles, the amount a patient pays before insurance starts, Marsh found. [9] That holds premiums down, but leaves workers who fall ill with bigger bills. [9]

Pennsylvania has confirmed 943 measles cases in 39 counties this year, and a fifth measles-linked death. [12] Lancaster County, the centre of the outbreak with 381 cases, mostly among the Amish, has no health department of its own. [12] Only seven of the state's 67 counties do. [12] Neighbouring Chester County, with 83 cases, is preparing for more, and Montgomery County's health chief said cases arriving there are a matter of time. [12]

Why it matters. A county health department can trace contacts and open vaccine clinics with its own staff, Chester's director says, while the state must spread its workers across every county. [12] Montgomery County and local pharmacies are opening vaccine clinics for every resident, with or without health insurance. [12]

The US agency that runs Medicare said on 29 September that the average monthly premium for Medicare Advantage plans should fall more than 16% in 2027, to $12 from $14.37. [10] These are private plans that older Americans can choose instead of the US government's own Medicare. [10] About 34 million people are expected in them next year, 47.4% of everyone on Medicare. [10] Humana dropped plans covering about 942,000 members, the bank Barclays estimated. [10]

Why it matters. UnitedHealth and CVS also cut their offerings, as insurers leave places where rising costs left plans earning less. [10] An analyst said most insurers are trying to restore profits rather than grow, before sign-up opens on 15 October. [10]

Wall Street analysts expect the FDA to approve Grail's Galleri test in the coming months, after its advisers said in late September that the benefits outweigh the risks. [11] Galleri is a blood test meant to spot more than 50 kinds of cancer early, Grail says. [11] No test like it is approved, so US insurers and Medicare generally do not pay. [11] Patients pay about $700 for Galleri and $900 for Abbott's Cancerguard. [11]

Why it matters. A US law passed this year could let Medicare pay from 2028 if the FDA approves. [11] A three-year UK trial did not significantly raise early detection overall, though Grail reported 26% fewer stage IV diagnoses by the third round. [11] One of Grail's own study leaders at the Mayo Clinic says nobody knows yet whether such tests mean fewer cancer deaths. [11]

The FDA has extended its review of denecimig, Novo Nordisk's drug for haemophilia A, because of repair work at a factory, the Danish company said on Friday 2 October. [3] Haemophilia A is a rare inherited condition in which blood does not clot properly. [3] Novo applied in September 2025 and expected a decision by the end of September 2026. [3] No new date has been set. [3]

Why it matters. Novo says the FDA raised no concerns about the drug's safety or its trial results. [3] It still aims to launch in the US in the first half of 2027, for adults and children, including those whose bodies fight off standard clotting treatment. [3]

Africa makes less than 1% of the vaccines it uses, and a plan led by the African Union and Africa CDC aims for 60% by 2040, Science reports. [13] More than two dozen African companies are trying, but only five have finished taking over a vaccine recipe from a maker abroad. [13] Biovac in Cape Town got ready to bottle the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine, then never sold a dose because demand had gone. [13]

Why it matters. In 2023 South Africa bought a pneumonia vaccine from India's Serum Institute for about a third of the price, and Biovac cut 85 of its 450 jobs. [13] This year Biovac raised more than $100 million to more than triple its output to 50 million vials a year by 2029. [13]

The Lampard Inquiry, a public inquiry in England, is examining the deaths of more than 2,000 people in the care of mental health services in Essex between 2000 and the end of 2023. [14] Its chair, Baroness Kate Lampard, said hearings starting on 5 October may lead to early recommendations if she finds an urgent risk to patients. [14] They will look at resuscitation and at Oxevision, a camera system that records breathing and pulse, used by several NHS mental health trusts. [14]

Why it matters. Lampard said both issues reach beyond Essex, to mental health units across England. [14] A mother whose daughter died says the cameras take away human contact, while LIO Health, which makes Oxevision, says it prevents serious incidents. [14]

Campaigners in Poland opened what they call the world's first parcel locker for abortion pills, in Warsaw last week. [15] Women collect the pills anonymously from the 22-compartment machine with a six-digit code. [15] Poland bans abortion in almost all cases. [15] Taking the pills is not a crime, but helping someone get them can bring up to three years in prison. [15]

Why it matters. The campaign groups say putting a machine between the giver and the taker makes the law less clear. [15] Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last year there was no majority in parliament to loosen the law, and hinted his government would not prosecute helpers. [15]

Novo Nordisk announced on 29 September a study of the records of 636,525 adults with type 2 diabetes. [16] Those who raised their Ozempic dose from 1mg to 2mg had a 6% lower risk of serious heart and blood-vessel events than those who switched to Lilly's Mounjaro. [16] The study read patients' records rather than assigning drugs at random. [16] After two years, 57.4% had stayed on 1mg and 5.7% had switched to Mounjaro. [16]

Why it matters. Novo makes Ozempic and announced the results. [16] It and Lilly are competing for a US weight-loss and diabetes drug market that analysts expect to reach $100 billion to $150 billion by 2030. [16]

Amazon and GoodRx are signing up more Americans to monthly subscriptions that cover some medicines for one flat fee, Reuters reported on 29 September. [17] Amazon's RxPass costs $5 a month and GoodRx's Companion $14.99, each including some generic drugs, the cheap copies sold once a patent ends. [17] Amazon says RxPass users have nearly tripled since 2023. [17] GoodRx's subscription revenue rose 39%, to $28.5 million, in the second quarter. [17]

Why it matters. Millions of Americans dropped Obamacare plans in 2026, and employers' costs are set to rise up to 11% next year. [17] Amazon offers about 50 generic drugs and GoodRx over 250, out of 30,000 approved in the US. [17]

Researchers at UCLA Health used brain scans of nearly 1,500 adults to estimate how old each brain looked, and compared it with real age. [18] People whose brains looked older did worse on tests of working memory and planning, and reported more signs of depression. [18] In one group, stool samples showed that an older-looking brain went with certain gut bacteria and the chemicals they make. [18]

Why it matters. The study looked at young and middle-aged adults, to find signs long before memory problems appear. [18] It measured everyone once, so it shows a link and cannot show that gut bacteria age the brain. [18]

E-cadherin, a molecule that glues together the cells lining the skin, gut and airways, also helps those cells swallow dying neighbours, a study in Nature Communications reports. [19] A team led by Verena Ruprecht watched it happen in living zebrafish and mouse embryos. [19] When E-cadherin was blocked in mouse embryos, dying cells were left behind. [19] Each cell wraps its lower side around the dead cell while its upper side keeps the lining sealed. [19]

Why it matters. Dead cells left in place can burst and feed long-lasting inflammation. [19] The work was done in embryos, and nobody yet knows whether adult or human tissue does the same. [19]