The Readout Loud 373: Party in biotech land and AstraZeneca’s miscalculation
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Oct 9, 2025 Jared Holz, a healthcare strategist at Mizuho, provides insights into the biotech rebound and investor sentiment, emphasizing the impact of fewer IPOs on market recovery. He shares that hedge funds are currently driving biotech investments. Meanwhile, Dietmar Berger, from Gilead Sciences, discusses innovative cell therapies in oncology. The conversation also explores AstraZeneca's surprising revival of a shelved rare disease candidate due to a calculation error, and Peter Marks’ transition to Eli Lilly adds a splash of controversy to the biotech landscape.
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Pharma R&D Monastery Lore
- Allison recounts lore about pharma R&D retreats at an Austrian monastery where senior R&D folks socialized and misadventured.
- She uses the story to invite listeners to verify whether these gatherings actually happened pre-COVID.
Peter Marks' Role At Lilly Signals R&D Focus
- Peter Marks moved from FDA to Eli Lilly with titles including infectious disease and molecule discovery oversight.
- The hosts suspect his role will likely advance Lilly's cell, gene, and genomic medicine ambitions rather than purely infectious disease work.
Wilson Disease Drug Resurrected After Math Error
- Adam describes a drug for Wilson disease that AstraZeneca abandoned after mechanistic analyses suggested copper was only being redistributed.
- Monopar later bought the asset cheaply and found a calculation error that may resurrect the drug toward an FDA filing.