The biopharmaceutical industry is generating biological and healthcare data faster than ever before. Over the past decade, real-world data (RWD) derived from a wide range of sources, has become an important part of drug development strategy. Companies widely use real-world evidence (RWE), or the analysis of this data, to plan clinical trials, support regulatory label expansions, and monitor post-marketing safety.
On 23 October, US-based Bristol Myers Squibb Co disclosed that a patient with highly active relapsing multiple sclerosis died of septic pneumonia following the data cutoff in a Phase 1 trial. The study involved the treatment of patients with autoimmune neurological diseases with a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy targeting CD19 on B cells.
Francis Halzen of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, US, was awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics on 6 October for his decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences recognised Dr Halzen’s scientific leadership in developing IceCube, a neutrino observatory embedded in a cubic kilometre of Antarctic ice at the South Pole. The facility has enabled researchers to detect extremely high-energy neutrinos originating from distant regions of the universe.
Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai were awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on 7 October for discovering how chemical reactions can produce an excess of one of two mirror-image forms of a molecule. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the prize “for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.”
Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel have jointly won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries that enabled scientists to control nerve cells using light. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet awarded the prize on 5 October “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.” The SEK 12 million ($1.21 million) prize will be shared equally among the three scientists.
AM-Pharma BV of the Netherlands is being acquired by a specialist healthcare company in the UK in a deal that will see its enzyme replacement therapy for hypophosphatasia (HPP) advance to Phase 2. The buyer is Ambrose Healthcare Ltd which already has two rare disease programmes in its portfolio and is positioning itself for more. This comes at a time when the US Food and Drug Administration is updating its guidance for the developers of drugs for rare diseases. Current estimates put the number of these diseases at 7,000 to 10,000 globally.
Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd announced a second antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) deal with the Roche Group on 19 October, giving the Chinese company an upfront payment of $400 million. The two companies did not disclose the specific cancers that they will be investigating. They did however say that Hansoh will lead early development of the programmes up to the completion of global Phase 1a clinical trials. After this, Roche will be responsible for further development worldwide – excluding the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
The European Medicines Agency has taken steps to innovate its regulatory procedures with two pilot programmes that will, on the one hand, align with the US Food and Drug Administration’s plans to reduce animal studies in drug development and on the other, to conduct structured dialogues with companies on the requirements for marketing authorisation applications. In the first case, the goal is to modernise pre-clinical tests for new drugs. In the second, it is to create space for more interactions between the agency and companies prior to the submission of formal applications.
OMass Therapeutics Ltd, a 2016 spin-out from the University of Oxford, has raised $310 million in a Series C financing to support development of its lead programme for congenital adrenal hyperplasia and ACTH-dependent Cushing’s syndrome. The funding was announced on 15 October.
AstraZeneca Plc is to explore the use of artificial intelligence in drug development and expand its oncology portfolio under two new collaborations with US companies. The first, announced on 28 September, is an equity investment and clinical collaboration with Summit Therapeutics Inc under which the companies will investigate combination therapies of a bispecific antibody from Summit with antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) from AstraZeneca.