Biopharmaceuticals

North Chicago, Ill. – – September 28, 2026 -- AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) has secured U.S. FDA approval for JUVMO (tavapadon), the first and only selective D1/D5 receptor agonist for adults with Parkinson's disease, with commercial availability set for October 2026.

JUVMO targets dopamine pathways differently than existing D2/D3 agonists

Roopal Thakkar, AbbVie's chief scientific officer, called the approval the first dopaminergic breakthrough for Parkinson's disease in decades. The once-daily oral tablet can be taken with or without levodopa, positioning it across the full disease continuum rather than a single treatment stage.

Piscataway, N.J. – September 28, 2026 -- Sampled has secured a five-year contract worth up to $27.1 million from the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide genomics analyses for the Million Veteran Program (MVP), one of the world's largest research initiatives of its kind.

MVP has enrolled more than one million veterans since its 2011 launch

The program studies how molecular factors, lifestyle, and service-related experiences drive elevated veteran health risks, including PTSD, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Published MVP findings have already advanced understanding of PTSD, artery disease, suicide risk, stroke, and substance use.

Indianapolis – September 28, 2026 -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) launched the Lilly Change the Course Commitment on Sept. 28, targeting treatment parity for diabetes and obesity patients between high-income countries and resource-limited settings by 2040. Today, for every four patients in high-income countries who access Lilly's diabetes and obesity medicines, only one patient in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) can reach them.

Lilly targets registration of GLP-1 medicines across Africa, Latin America and Asia

The initiative rests on three pillars: adapting clinical development for resource-limited settings, accelerating registration of innovative medicines including GLP-1s in more LMICs, and strengthening primary health systems through training and digital tools. Lilly said it will prioritize regulatory filings and access pathways in Africa, Latin America and Asia, working with regulators, NGOs and global health organizations.

Friendswood, Texas – September 28, 2026 -- Castle Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSTL) said a new peer-reviewed study found its TissueCypher Barrett's Esophagus Test prompted clinicians to change management recommendations in 90% of cases involving patients with non-dysplastic Barrett's esophagus (NDBE).

The case series, published in Foregut: The Journal of the American Foregut Society, evaluated 30 NDBE patients tested as part of clinical care at Keck Medical Center of the University of Southern California (USC).

Test reclassifies risk within a population considered uniformly low-risk

TissueCypher classified 17% of the 30 patients as intermediate or high risk for progression to high-grade dysplasia or esophageal adenocarcinoma within five years, while 83% were confirmed low risk. All patients had received the same NDBE diagnosis prior to testing.

Shanghai – – September 28, 2026 -- MOYOM Biotech, a Chinese developer of regenerative aesthetic biomaterials, has secured a new financing round from the Cathay Consumer Co-Creation Fund, managed by Cathay Capital, to fund international expansion of its flagship CaHA-based implant brand Aphranel®.

Cathay Capital Fund Backed by L'Oréal Targets Beauty and Skin Science Innovation

The investment vehicle was jointly established by Cathay Capital, L'Oréal and the Shanghai Jing'an District Government. Cathay Capital's broader portfolio includes Moonshot AI (Kimi), autonomous driving firm Momenta, U.S. fintech Chime, digital asset platform Ledger, delivery platform Glovo and AI biotech company Owkin.

South San Francisco, Calif. – September 28, 2026 -- IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDYA) promoted Dr. Michael White from Chief Scientific Officer to President, Research and Development, effective September 28, 2026.

White expands authority over IDEAYA's oncology pipeline after five years as CSO

Dr. White has served as Chief Scientific Officer at IDEAYA since 2021, overseeing research into synthetic lethality and antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) programs targeting solid tumors. The precision medicine oncology company's pipeline spans multiple indications, including uveal melanoma, pancreatic cancer, small cell lung cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer and breast cancer.

Tokyo – September 28, 2026 -- SOLA Biosciences Japan GK has secured a grant of approximately 6 billion yen over five years from Japan's Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) to advance SOL-257, a gene therapy candidate targeting the TDP-43 protein implicated in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The award, granted under AMED's Strengthening Program for Pharmaceutical Startup Ecosystem, was announced June 5, 2026, and positions SOLA Japan as the company's central development hub for the program.

AMED grant targets a pathology present in 97% of ALS cases

SOL-257 is designed to restore the structure and function of misfolded TDP-43, a protein that becomes mislocalized and aggregated in motor neurons in roughly 97% of ALS cases, according to SOLA. The company describes SOL-257 as a potentially first-in-class, disease-modifying gene therapy built on its proprietary JUMP70 platform.

Aachen, Germany – September 28, 2026 -- Grünenthal and DKSH Business Unit Healthcare have signed a new commercialisation agreement to bring four pain medicines, Qutenza, Vimovo, Palexia and Zomig, to eight Asia-Pacific markets: Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

DKSH takes over local regulatory filings and distribution across eight markets

Under the agreement, DKSH will seek local marketing authorisations and handle marketing, medical affairs, market access, sales and distribution for the four medicines in each of the eight markets, pending regulatory approval. Grünenthal will retain manufacturing responsibility through its global production network. Each market could gain access to up to four new medicines depending on approval timelines.

Hong Kong – September 27, 2026 -- Akeso, Inc. (9926.HK) has enrolled the first patient in COMPASSION-37, a global Phase III head-to-head trial testing its bispecific antibody cadonilimab against nivolumab as first-line treatment for HER2-negative advanced gastric and gastroesophageal junction (G/GEJ) adenocarcinoma.

Trial pits cadonilimab plus chemotherapy against nivolumab-based standard of care

The multicenter study compares cadonilimab combined with chemotherapy to chemotherapy with or without nivolumab in previously untreated, unresectable or metastatic G/GEJ patients. It is co-led by Dr. Yelena Y. Janjigian of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Professor Markus Möhler of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, and Professors Jiafu Ji and Lin Shen of Peking University Cancer Hospital. Janjigian, Möhler and Shen were investigators on the earlier CheckMate 649 trial, which established nivolumab plus chemotherapy as a global first-line standard.

Shanghai – September 26, 2026 -- IASO Biotechnology's CAR-T therapy FUCASO achieved a 95.9% objective response rate and 77.2% complete/stringent complete response rate in a real-world study of 281 heavily pretreated Chinese patients with relapsed or refractory plasma cell neoplasms, data presented at the 2026 International Myeloma Society Annual Meeting show.

Real-world cohort skews higher-risk than pivotal trial population

The multicenter study tracked patients treated since FUCASO's June 2023 launch across China. Median age was 61 years, with 18.7% aged 70 or older, and patients had received a median of four prior therapy lines, up to 12. Prior anti-CD38 exposure reached 84.0%, 27.4% were penta-exposed, and 46.9% had undergone autologous stem cell transplantation. High-risk cytogenetic abnormalities affected 82.4% of patients, 50.5% were ISS stage III, 7.8% had plasma cell leukemia, and 47.0% presented extramedullary disease.