Trump’s NIH pick & multi-targeted CAR Ts: a BioCentury podcast

Plus: How FDA approval trends show biotechs shedding their reliance on pharma

By Jeff Cranmer, Executive Editor

December 3, 2024 2:03 AM UTC

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead NIH, Jay Bhattacharya, has made his career attacking the leadership and rank-and-file staffers at the institutes, argues Washington Editor Steve Usdin on the latest BioCentury This Week podcast. Usdin and colleagues discuss how Bhattacharya, should he be nominated and approved by the Senate, could lead NIH and how that could affect the biopharma industry.

BioCentury’s Lauren Martz then discusses her analysis of abstracts released ahead of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) annual conferences, highlighting methods for applying dual or bispecific CAR T cell designs to solid tumors.

And Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn analyzes FDA approvals of products by biotech companies, noting that current trends show biotechs shedding their reliance on pharma to get drugs across the finish line for approval.