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Today, a brief rundown of news involving Martin Makary, as well as updates from Pliant Therapeutics, Acelyrin and Sutro Biopharma that you may have missed.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 14-9 Thursday to advance President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration, Johns Hopkins University surgeon Martin Makary, to a confirmation vote by the full Senate. Before the vote, Committee Chairperson Bill Cassidy, R-La., praised Makary for “promoting medical innovation while upholding FDA’s gold standard of review, so Americans can benefit from the latest lifesaving medicines and devices.” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the committee’s senior minority member, led the opposition, stating Makary and the agency haven’t made an effort to make FDA-approved drugs more affordable. The full Senate will soon vote on Makary’s nomination. — Jonathan Gardner
Acelyrin and Pliant Therapeutics have adopted “poison pills” after activist investor Tang Capital Partners acquired stakes in their respective companies. Acelyrin aims to merge with fellow immune drugmaker Alumis, while Pliant is adjusting its strategy after scrapping its top clinical trial. Both have had shares bought up by Tang, which uses an investment vehicle, Concentra Biosciences, to acquire struggling biotechs. Tang already made one offer Acelyrin has rejected. In response, both companies on Thursday adopted shareholder rights plans that would make it more difficult for Tang to gain control. — Ben Fidler
Antibody-drug conjugate maker Sutro Biopharma is slashing its staff in half and rearranging its pipeline, it said Thursday. The company is “deprioritizing additional investment” into its lead program luveltamab tazevibulin, which was in testing for lung and ovarian cancer, and is now looking to license out the drug. Sutro is instead focusing on its exatecan antibody-drug conjugate, which could enter the clinic by the end of the year. As part of the shift, Sutro COO and former AstraZeneca executive Jane Chung will take over as CEO, replacing Bill Newell. The company had $317 million in cash and cash equivalents as of the end of 2024. — Gwendolyn Wu
Two years ago, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — then led by Biden administration appointee Chiquita Brooks-LaSure — announced three pilot programs it thought could lower drug costs and improve access to new genetic medicines. On Wednesday, CMS canceled two of those pilots as part of a suite of changes rolled out by the agency’s innovation center. Apparently left intact was the third, which is testing whether centrally coordinating Medicaid coverage across states can help more people with sickle cell disease receive pricey new gene therapies for the blood condition. — Ned Pagliarulo