And so, another working week will soon draw to a close. Not a moment too soon, yes? This is, you may recall, our treasured signal to daydream about weekend plans. Our agenda includes tidying up around the castle, catching up on our reading, promenading with the official mascots, and escorting Mrs. Pharmalot on at least one musical excursion. We also plan to hold our own listening party, where the rotation is likely to include this, this, this, this and this. And what about you? As some holidays approach, you may find this is an appropriate time to rummage through catalogs or visit your local temple of consumption for a shopping excursion. Conversely, you could remain indoors and binge-watch whatever is on the telly. You could plan a getaway or — if you feel ambitious — map out the rest of your life. Well, whatever you do, have a grand time. But be safe. Enjoy, and see you soon. …
Editas Medicine plans to lay off 65% of its staff — around 180 employees — as it shelves its lead gene-editing program for sickle cell disease and shifts focus, STAT writes. The cuts come amid a prolonged financial downturn for the gene-editing field, as valuations have plummeted and layoffs have become widespread. Editas already laid off staff as part of a restructuring in 2023 and its stock has fallen 81% this year. Editas launched with immense fanfare a decade ago, as one of the first three companies founded around the promise of CRISPR genome editing. But it struggled on execution, choosing to go after hard-to-reach diseases, and it saw significant turnover as early programs failed or stagnated. The company recently saw success with an experimental CRISPR treatment for sickle cell, as early data suggested it might outperform a rival medication approved last year. Editas’s drug, however, suffered from the same key limitation: Patient cells must be edited outside the body.
U.K. patients paying privately for obesity drugs are increasingly choosing Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro over Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy in a sign the U.S. drugmaker is gaining ground on its European rival, Reuters informs us. Mounjaro is appealing to people because of its greater efficacy, showing Novo’s first-mover advantage is being challenged in the U.K. even though some pharmacies sell starter doses for the weekly injection for up to 40% more than Wegovy. Two online pharmacies estimate that as many as 500,000 people in the U.K. currently take either Mounjaro or Wegovy via prescriptions from private online pharmacies. Mounjaro, unlike Wegovy, is not available through the state-run National Health Service though it likely will be next year. Wegovy is only available through the NHS at specialist obesity clinics and in limited circumstances. There is no public data on prescription numbers but the government said last year it had capacity to treat about 35,000 patients.
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