The Readout Loud

Mar 06 2025 348 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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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.

339: RFK Jr.'s confirmation hearings, MASH drugs, and a controversial obesity ad

Jan 30 2025 34 mins  
Our colleague Rachel Cohrs Zhang joins us to break down RFK Jr.’s confirmation hearings, including some contentious questions about vaccines and autism from Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). But first, we chat about Akero Therapeutics and the results reported this week from a study of its experimental drug that showed, for the first time, reversal of cirrhosi

338: Chinese biotechs, a WHO departure, and post-JPM thoughts

Jan 23 2025 33 mins  
We go over our closing thoughts from the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, including the chatter around Chinese drugs and a surprise run-in with a past cohost. Then, STAT's infectious disease reporter Helen Branswell joins us to explain the implications of Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the WHO.

337: Eli Lilly CEO on Trump, obesity drugs, and a guidance miss

Jan 15 2025 58 mins  
We're live at the J.P Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco! We bring on Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks for a wide-ranging conversation about his views on the incoming Trump administration, the effects of Medicare's drug price negotiation, Lilly's recent disappointing guidance, pricing of the company's obesity medication Zepbound, and more. We also discuss the latest news from th

336: Pharma's big patent cliff, more obesity fundraising, and a failed ALS study

Jan 09 2025 33 mins  
We chat about how pharmaceutical companies are navigating a looming patent cliff. We also talk about yet another obesity startup and a failed study from Google’s secretive anti-aging company Calico.

335: A deep dive on Makary, Vertex's pain data, & 2025 predictions

Dec 19 2024 33 mins  
STAT's FDA reporter Lizzy Lawrence joins us to discuss her profile of Marty Makary, Trump's nominee for FDA commissioner. Then, we discuss the results of Vertex's latest pain drug trial, the medication launches to watch in 2025, and present our burning questions for the biopharma industry.