The Readout Loud

STAT

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.

Business

Available Episodes

5 of 349

345: The sudden withdrawal of a CDC nominee and what went wrong with Covid policies
We bring on our colleague Sarah Owermohle to discuss the White House's sudden move to withdraw the nomination of Dave Weldon as its pick to run the CDC just hours before Weldon's confirmation hearing. It's also the five-year anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic. We chat with Princeton political scientist Frances Lee about a new book she co-authored that offers an unflinching assessment of the U.S. policy responses to the pandemic and raises some provocative questions about what went wrong.
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31:00
344: Trump's FDA commissioner nominee takes the hot seat
Will Marty Makary be confirmed as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration? Will he bring back employees laid off by DOGE? And what did he get wrong during his confirmation hearing? We discuss all that and more during this week's special episode.
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25:51
343: Turbulence at the FDA, Bluebird Bio's sale and young biotech VCs
It’s a STAT reporter two-fer guest episode. First, Lizzy Lawrence joins from D.C. to dish on the upheaval and drama taking place at the FDA. Then, we chat with Jason Mast about Bluebird Bio, its fire sale to private equity and what lies ahead for the unsettled world of genetic medicines. Before those discussions, Allison provides some insight into the “new kids” on the biotech VC block.
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32:01
342: FDA cuts, zombie biotechs, and too much weight loss?
Mizuho analyst Jared Holz joins to discuss Adam's column on biotech's dark period. We also talk about Elaine's latest article on the push for greater and greater weight loss from obesity drugs, along with developments at Solid Biosciences and federal job cuts.
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41:00
341: NIH funding cuts, a U.S. brain drain, and bold claims from AI drug developers
We bring on biotech reporter Jonathan Wosen to discuss the NIH's decision to dramatically cut funding for overhead costs paid to research institutions and the potential implications for U.S. biomedical innovation. We also chat with health tech reporter Brittany Trang about the claims that two drug developers, Absci and Generate:Biomedicines, have made about the capabilities of their artificial intelligence technologies, and why some experts are skeptical.
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26:39