April 25, 2025

The need-to-know this morning

Abbvie reported first-quarter earnings.

fda

The 'revolving door' with industry is spinning fast

Despite health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pledges to end the “revolving door” between the FDA and the biopharma industry, a wave of agency employees is now racing toward it — and, in some cases, finding it stuck.

There's no official count of workers trying to get out amid the recent tumult. But by one estimate, as many as 600 drug reviewers alone have recused themselves from approval processes while job hunting.

The agency, already reeling from layoffs and low morale, now faces a talent drain that threatens its regulatory muscle just as Kennedy and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary try to stem the outflow.

“What we can do is create a culture here where people want to stay,” Makary recently told former Fox News host Megyn Kelly.

RESEARCH

The legacy of Trump's first (almost) 100 days

In just three months, the Trump administration has dealt a resounding blow to American biomedical science — terminating grants, slashing budgets, and sidelining key researchers across the NIH and academia.

Altogether, the National Institutes of Health has scaled back its awards of new grants by at least $2.3 billion since the beginning of the year, a new STAT analysis has found.

STAT profiled five players across the biomedical ecosystem who represent the current reality. The fear runs deep: Will cutting-edge science be politically tenable in the U.S.?

crispr

Caribou switches gears, with eye on allogeneic CAR-T

In a last-ditch effort to salvage its CRISPR-edited cell therapy pipeline, the beleaguered Caribou Biosciences is delaying key clinical trial readouts for two off-the-shelf CAR-T treatments. The hope is that a longer follow-up will yield data strong enough to justify advancing to Phase 3.

Once worth $700 million, the company — which was founded by CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna — now trades under $1 and is axing its pipeline and 33% of staff to conserve cash through 2027, STAT’s Adam Feuerstein writes.

“This is the most challenging moment in biotech history,” CEO Rachel Haurwitz told STAT. “There’s a lot that is out of our control and that makes it super difficult. But internally, it’s really encouraging for us to know that we’re working on programs that are actively benefiting patients.”

influence

Lobbyists are reeling as Trump upends norms

In President Trump’s second term, health care lobbyists are scrambling to navigate a volatile Washington, as sweeping policy shifts, agency layoffs, and anti-industry rhetoric from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. upend old playbooks.

Once confident that another Trump presidency would mean regulatory leniency, industry leaders now face stalled grants, shuttered communication channels, and hostile messaging from top officials accusing them of profiting off sickness. While some cling to cautious engagement and rebranding narratives, others quietly regret backing Trump.

“The shifting priorities of the administration don’t really align with the priorities of most commercial health care entities,” one attorney working with health companies told STAT’s Daniel Payne. “No one really understands what to do. … It’s just a total mess.”

podcast

Pharma tariffs, and a 'sunshine day' for biotech stocks

How did Ireland become a hotspot for pharmaceutical manufacturing? What are the products that will come out of Flagship's latest startup centered around "preemptive medicine"? And who among the co-hosts is the best singer?

We discuss all that and more on this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast. We chat about the recent bounce-back in biotech stocks, disappointing results from Bristol Myers Squibb's schizophrenia drug Cobenfy, new allegations about entrepreneur Sam Waksal, and more.

We also bring on STAT's European correspondent Drew Joseph to talk about the growth of pharma manufacturing in Ireland and how U.S. tariffs would impact global drug supply.

Listen here .

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