The Readout Loud

Hosted by STAT

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416

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Jul 2026

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About the show

STAT’s weekly biotech podcast, breaking down the latest news, digging deep into industry goings-on, and giving you a preview of the week to come.

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September 10, 202630 min

Why two promising heart drugs flopped and what's next

On this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD”: The pharma industry invested billions of dollars to develop drugs heralded as the next era in the treatment of heart disease — but why did they fail? And what does this mean for the development of new heart medicines moving forward? Cardiologist and biotech entrepreneur Ethan Weiss joins us to discuss the surprising failures and long-term implications of two large clinical trials involving drugs developed from Novo Nordisk and Novartis, respectively. Plus, we have a recap of biotech news we missed while on hiatus, including a spurt of FDA drug approvals and the next big thing in cancer treatment from Merck and Moderna.

July 30, 202636 min

411: Capricor's data clash and a fugitive in the C-suite

Is the Food and Drug Administration taking inconsistent approaches to Duchenne muscular dystrophy drugs? How will a new batch of drug executives shake up their companies? And why is Adam talking to a recruiter?We discuss all that and more on this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast.It's a big week for FDA advisory committee meetings. Allison, Elaine, and Adam discuss Capricor Therapeutics' hearing in front of an FDA advisory committee. The company is asking the agency to approve its treatment for Duchenne, but advisers have questioned the data the company presented. They also discuss Replimmune's meeting with advisers to discuss its immunotherapy for melanoma.The hosts further discuss the latest news in the life sciences, including new details on how a fugitive worked as a biotech executive, cuts at GSK, and Sarepta Therapeutics' new CEO.

July 23, 20261 hr 4 min

410: A father’s mission to save his daughter, and allegations on telehealth GLP-1 prescribing

What does it take to develop a therapy for an ultra-rare disease? What are the allegations against a telehealth company that’s partnered with Novo Nordisk? And has a wanted fugitive been posing as a biotech executive? We discuss all that and more on this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast. We speak with our colleagues Jason Mast and Matthew Herper about their impactful look at one father’s mission to develop a treatment for his daughter’s ultra-rare disease. The subject of that feature, Matt Wilsey, also joins us.

July 16, 202635 min

409: Predicting biotech clinical trials & a new Alzheimer's drug controversy

On this week’s episode of "The Readout LOUD": The Kalshi prediction markets are coming for biotech, plus the controversy over an experimental Alzheimer’s disease treatment from Biogen. Kalshi, the maker of prediction markets, announced this week that it is expanding into biotech. Soon, you’ll be able to make bets on the outcomes of clinical trials and FDA drug reviews. Is that a good thing? We’ll discuss the issues with Jonathan Kimmelman, a bioethicist at McGill University who has researched prediction in clinical trials. We also chat about Biogen and its tau-lowering drug for Alzheimer’s. A mid-stage clinical trial presented this week showed the drug reduced levels of the tau protein and slowed the rate of cognitive decline in patients. But the data also raised a lot of questions that left experts and investors debating the drug’s future.

July 9, 202643 min

408: Whistleblower takes on health insurance and FDA commissioner candidates

Why does getting family health insurance through a job cost as much as buying a new car? How did a whistleblower take on an insurance contractor? And who might be the new Food and Drug Administration commissioner? We discuss all that and more on this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s weekly biotech podcast. STAT reporter Bob Herman joins us to discuss his new series, "Out of Pocket, Out of Reach," which dives into how soaring costs for health insurance are hurting Americans and small business owners. We also speak with Chris Deacon, who filed a whistleblower lawsuit after spotting how an insurer may have violated contracts to provide health benefits for New Jersey's state workers. We also discuss the latest news in life sciences, including Anthropic's push into drug development and Vertex's largest-ever acquisition.

June 25, 202642 min

407: The mysterious case of Eli Lilly's obesity drug

Who got exclusive access to Eli Lilly's highly anticipated obesity candidate? Why are drugmakers spending so much money on acquisitions? And are hair loss drugs a good investment? We discuss all that and more on this week's episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT's biotech podcast. We bring on our colleague Lizzy Lawrence to discuss her scoop that Lilly and the Food and Drug Administration have allowed one person to receive the pharma company's obesity candidate, retatrutide, through the FDA’s “compassionate use” program. We also discuss the resurgence of M&A, Lilly's interest in a hair loss drug, and then the FDA's reversal on rare disease drugs.

June 18, 202636 min

406: New hope in treating Huntington's disease and a report card on RFK Jr.'s promises

This week: New hope for people living with Huntington’s disease, and a report card on RFK Jr.’s effort to remake health in America. The Food and Drug Administration reversed its opposition to a closely watched gene therapy for Huntington’s disease, clearing a path for its maker, the biotech company UniQure, to file for U.S. approval. Joining us to discuss this new development and what it means for the Huntington’s community is Lauren Holder, a Huntington’s disease advocate who is living with the early stages of the disease. A pledge to “Make America Healthy Again” earned Robert F. Kennedy Jr. his job as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. He entered the role with a long to-do list, and a goal of delivering measurable improvements within two years. How has he fared? Isabella Cueto, STAT’s chronic disease reporter, has been closely tracking Kennedy and the MAHA movement’s actions, and joins us to discuss.

June 11, 202636 min

405: An obesity drug deep-dive, and peptides move mainstream

Can any of the new obesity medications in development stand out from the pack? Which company just broke records with its IPO? And will the Food and Drug Administration allow greater access to experimental peptides? We discuss all that and more on this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast.[2:37 PM]Undark’s Sara Talpos joins the podcast to discuss her reporting on the peptide BPC-157, and how its jumped from a Croatian lab to bodybuilding forums on Reddit to the FDA. (STAT co-published Talpos articles; the second piece was was supported by the Pulitzer Center). We also discuss the latest news in the life sciences, including obesity data from the American Diabetes Association meeting and a record-breaking IPO.

June 4, 202637 min

404: What RevMed's pancreatic cancer drug meant for one patient

Why did oncologists give a standing ovation to a data presentation on Revolution Medicines' pancreatic cancer drug, daraxonrasib? Why did biotech stocks perform so badly this week? And are concrete beaches better than normal beaches? We discuss all that and more on this week's episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT's biotech podcast. We bring on Leanna Stokes, who was diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer in 2023. She discusses how participating in RevMed's trial for daraxonrasib has affected her disease and life, and what the drug means for patients and the field. We also chat about other data presented during last week's meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the market reaction to Abivax's ulcerative colitis data, and the upcoming meeting of the American Diabetes Association.

May 28, 202647 min

403: Biotech exec Jeremy Levin on the industry's strategic turning point

On this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” we chat with longtime biotech executive Jeremy Levin about his new book, “Biotech in the Balance: Saving a Strategic Industry in an Age of Distrust.” That sounds alarmist, and it is in some respects, but as Levin explains, the book is also a roadmap to a brighter future for the biotech industry.