Obesity spotlight. Plus: What’s next for FDA — a BioCentury podcast

At last, a $10B home for Metsera. And amylin data, FDA in crisis and Jim Wilson’s new vision

With ObesityWeek yielding eye-catching amylin data and a bidding war that ran to $10 billion for Metsera Inc., weight loss companies were center stage in biotech last week. On the latest edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s Stephen Hansen explained why he believes Pfizer Inc.’s victory for the start-up over European rival Novo Nordisk A/S doesn’t necessarily mean a broader U.S. policy shift against foreign acquisitions of domestic biotechs. Hansen and colleagues also discuss the role the Trump administration’s “America First” policies may have played in swinging the deal to Pfizer’s advantage.

Hansen then turns to ObesityWeek readouts, discussing Eli Lilly and Co.’s data for amylin monotherapy eloralintide. He argues that just as Lilly did with GLP-1 agonists, the company is again setting the benchmark by which all other molecules in the class will be measured.

Washington Editor Steve Usdin delivers takeaways from his most recent Editor’s Commentary, which finds FDA in a crisis of politicized decisions, plummeting morale, and a hollowed workforce. He says sponsors can expect a trend toward less flexibility, higher bars for demonstrating safety and efficacy, and more last-minute surprises, which may come in the form of shifting goalposts.

And BioCentury’s Lauren Martz offers highlights from her interview with gene therapy pioneer Jim Wilson as he rethinks the funding model for ultrarare disease therapies to keep his mission on track.