Episode 166 - December 12, 2025

On this week’s episode, Grace Colón, Chris Garabedian, Sam Fazeli, Paul Matteis, Yaron Werber, and special guest John Stanford kick off with a policy discussion on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), outlining both the opportunities and constraints it presents for biotech. The bill includes major biotech provisions such as a scaled back version of the BIOSECURE Act and the creation of a DoD Biotech Office, which suggests that biotech is now viewed as a national security asset. The conversation then shifts to positive signs in the biotech sector, including rising valuations, a decrease in companies with negative enterprise value, and predictions for the number of IPOs expected in the first half of 2026. Next, the group discusses conference highlights, including data from ASH presented by Lilly, BeOne Medicines, Gilead, and Arcellx versus J&J and Legend, as well as Genmab’s Epkinly. In other data news, the discussion turns to Dyne Therapeutics’ plans to seek FDA approval for DYNE-251 for DMD, following promising Phase 1/2 trial results. Despite some investor concerns about the FDA’s regulatory stance on rare diseases, sentiment remains optimistic that it will be approved. The episode closes with a round robin where each co-host shares their optimism levels for biotech in 2026, rating it on a scale from 1 to 10. *This episode aired on December 12, 2025.