Adam Feuerstein ✡️

Friends - My humble request is that you sign up for the email version of my weekly newsletter. Its contents are also posted on STAT's website, but the email arrives every Thursday at 6:30 am ET which means you can hate-read it over coffee. statnews.com/signup/scorecar…

RIP Capt. Jean-Luc Picard.

This week's Biotech Scorecard newsletter: -- Vertex $VRTX kidney disease drug scrutinized for infection risk $VERA $OTSKY -- 10 FDA drug approval decisions on tap before 2026 ends. statnews.com/2026/10/29/biot…

Hello still from Spain... $INSM nice Brinsupri beat $398M. Guidance raised to higher end of the previous range. Seems like another quarter where investors worried over nothing. $LLY - Wowza. 'Nuf said. $IOVA update TIL lung ORR decent with more patients but durability seems to have dropped below expectations.

The long arc of biotech. I predicted the failure of $GERN imetelstat myelofibrosis study effort 8 years ago... Ahead of Geron blowup, warning signs were visible for those willing to see them statnews.com/2018/09/27/gero…

With $SLS 80th event in the bag, we should come together as a group and create a list of all the ways Sterg is going to spin the failure. I really hope he invents something new, and doesn't just rely on the old standbys.

Fatal train collision in Spain today. Terrible news. I was on that same line yesterday, traveling south to the Mediterranean coast.

There is no better reporter anywhere covering rare diseases than STAT's @Jasonmmast. Today, another masterpiece: Pennsylvania Dutch country, tired of waiting for biopharma, builds drug company of its own statnews.com/2026/10/27/gene…

We just filed our final #ESMO26 newsletter, all stories published. Our work here is done. My partner @DrewQJoseph is an absolute pro. Thanks for all your attention. Much appreciated. And Madrid is wonderful.

$GSK sees its return to cancer starting to pay off statnews.com/2026/10/26/gsk-… via @DrewQJoseph #ESMO26

Merck $MRK ADC drug sac-TMT cut risk of death by one-third in advanced endometrial cancer statnews.com/2026/10/26/merc… #ESMO2026

Updated: Discussant Monica Niger of Milan said the Incyte-chemo combination efficacy and durability was very high, but she also noted higher than expected GI toxicity that may need to be managed. $INCY #ESMO26

Incyte $INCY pancreatic cancer drug— it targets KRAS G12D -- induces lasting tumor responses, company says at #ESMO26 statnews.com/2026/10/26/incy…

I spoke with Moderna $MRNA CEO Stéphane Bancel about intismeran and what's next for the cancer vaccine and the biotech he runs. "We know the clinical impact in the Phase 3 study is real and big, so we need to go and be aggressive. We need to explore the biology. There will be some risk, because it’s not going to work everywhere." Read the Q&A: statnews.com/2026/10/26/mode… #ESMO26

At #ESMO26, AstraZeneca’s $AZN cancer pursuits get a showcase statnews.com/2026/10/25/esmo… via @DrewQJoseph

After Moderna $MRNA cancer vaccine’s first success, the race is on to expand the impact statnews.com/2026/10/25/mrna… via @DrewQJoseph #ESMO26

Last thought for the evening. After reading a lot of comments, replies and posts served to me by the X algorithm, I pine for the days when biotech was small and no one outside our cosy niche paid it any attention.

I was called dumb in Chinese, which is kinda cool and novel. I mean, some Chinese dude may have called me dumb on X before, probably, but this is the first time I’ve seen it. I should have typed this in Chinese.