The Readout Loud

Apr 10 2025 352 ep. 29 mins 2.8k

The Readout Loud Podcast artwork

STAT’s weekly biotech podcast, breaking down the latest news, digging deep into industry goings-on, and giving you a preview of the week to come.

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349: BIO's John Crowley on RFK Jr. and tariffs, plus calls for more federal biotech funding

Apr 10 2025 40 mins

John Crowley, the CEO of industry lobbying group BIO, joins us to discuss the layoffs at the Food and Drug Administration, RFK Jr.'s comments on Novavax's Covid-19 vaccine, and how the trade group is communicating with the Trump administration. Then we discuss the latest news on the stock market and a congressional advisory group's recommendation that $15 billion be invested in U.S

348: Cuts, ousters and drama at the FDA

Apr 03 2025 31 mins

STAT’s FDA reporter Lizzy Lawrence joins to discuss her inside-the-agency reporting on how Robert F. Kennedy Jr. forced top FDA officials to resign at a time when newly sworn-in FDA Commissioner Makary is still figuring out how to get around the agency’s White Oak campus in suburban Maryland. Then: AstraZeneca presented positive mid-stage results this week on a PCSK9 pill that

347: More HHS upheaval, 23andMe's bankruptcy, and AI for cancer survival

Mar 27 2025 31 mins

Adam, Elaine, and Allison discuss the Trump administration’s plan for huge job cuts and a restructuring of the country’s top health care agencies, the approval of the first drug to treat a devastating rare disease, and the bankruptcy of 23andMe. Then, they bring on the chief executive of startup Altis Labs to discuss new data from a study they conducted with AstraZeneca on an A

346: Zealand's obesity strategy and Immunovant's curious development plan

Mar 20 2025 42 mins

We chat about positive data from Immunovant's autoimmune drug candidate, a patient death linked to Sarepta's gene therapy, and dispatches from our STAT Breakthrough Summit East in New York. We also bring on Zealand Pharma CEO Adam Steensberg to talk about his company’s amylin-targeting obesity treatment, the partnership deal it recently signed with Roche, and his thoughts on the

345: The sudden withdrawal of a CDC nominee and what went wrong with Covid policies

Mar 13 2025 31 mins

We bring on our colleague Sarah Owermohle to discuss the White House's sudden move to withdraw the nomination of Dave Weldon as its pick to run the CDC just hours before Weldon's confirmation hearing. It's also the five-year anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic. We chat with Princeton political scientist Frances Lee about a new book she co-authored that offers an unflinching assess

344: Trump's FDA commissioner nominee takes the hot seat

Mar 06 2025 25 mins

Will Marty Makary be confirmed as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration? Will he bring back employees laid off by DOGE? And what did he get wrong during his confirmation hearing? We discuss all that and more during this week's special episode.

343: Turbulence at the FDA, Bluebird Bio's sale and young biotech VCs

Feb 27 2025 32 mins

It’s a STAT reporter two-fer guest episode. First, Lizzy Lawrence joins from D.C. to dish on the upheaval and drama taking place at the FDA. Then, we chat with Jason Mast about Bluebird Bio, its fire sale to private equity and what lies ahead for the unsettled world of genetic medicines. Before those discussions, Allison provides some insight into the “new kids” on the biotec

342: FDA cuts, zombie biotechs, and too much weight loss?

Feb 20 2025 41 mins

Mizuho analyst Jared Holz joins to discuss Adam's column on biotech's dark period. We also talk about Elaine's latest article on the push for greater and greater weight loss from obesity drugs, along with developments at Solid Biosciences and federal job cuts.

341: NIH funding cuts, a U.S. brain drain, and bold claims from AI drug developers

Feb 13 2025 26 mins

We bring on biotech reporter Jonathan Wosen to discuss the NIH's decision to dramatically cut funding for overhead costs paid to research institutions and the potential implications for U.S. biomedical innovation. We also chat with health tech reporter Brittany Trang about the claims that two drug developers, Absci and Generate:Biomedicines, have made about the capabilities of thei

340: Crisis in CRISPR world, RFK Jr.'s promises, and a novel non-opioid pain drug

Feb 06 2025 34 mins

We bring on our colleague Jason Mast to discuss the dramatic downturn in the once-swaggering field of CRISPR gene editing. We also talk about the advancement of RFK Jr.'s nomination to be HHS secretary, the latest pharma earnings, and the approval of a non-opioid pain drug from Vertex Pharmaceuticals.