Your essential biotech, medtech, and pharma recap — no noise, just what matters.

⚡ Executive Takeaway

Sangamo's bankruptcy is the gene therapy story nobody wanted but everybody expected. The company pioneered zinc finger nuclease technology and built one of the earliest gene editing pipelines in the industry. But the commercial path never materialized. Cash ran out. And now the most valuable assets, including a Fabry disease gene therapy that is actively being submitted to the FDA, go to auction. The twist: Lilly and Astellas are already positioned as stalking horse bidders. For Lilly, this would be deal number 14 (or 15, depending on how you count the Abbisko collaboration announced the same day). Lilly has now assembled gene therapy capabilities from Kelonia (lentiviral in vivo CAR-T), Orna (circular RNA in vivo CAR-T), Engage (non-viral DNA delivery), Profluent (AI recombinases), Ascidian (RNA exon editing), and potentially Sangamo (zinc finger nuclease gene therapy). That is the broadest genetic medicine portfolio in pharma. Meanwhile, the Insilico/SK $2.5B AI deal targeting CNS neuroimmune disorders is the latest mega deal in AI drug discovery, joining Isomorphic Labs ($2.7B total funding), Lilly/Profluent ($2.25B), and the Anthropic pharma ecosystem. And the BIO panel's blunt assessment of U.S. public health infrastructure, with former agency heads speaking plainly about what has been lost, was the most talked about session of the convention. 👉 Read Full Analysis

🚀 Top Story

Sangamo Files Chapter 11 as Lilly and Astellas Circle Key Gene Therapy Assets SGMO | LLY

Sangamo Therapeutics filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on June 23 and is preparing to auction substantially all of its assets, according to BioSpace. Lilly and Astellas have emerged as stalking horse bidders for key programs. The most valuable asset is a Fabry disease gene therapy that is currently being submitted for potential FDA approval, making it one of the rare bankruptcy situations where an approvable drug is on the auction block.

BioSpace reported: "As Sangamo runs out of cash, Eli Lilly and Astellas have emerged as stalking horse bidders for key assets, including a Fabry gene therapy currently being submitted for potential FDA approval."

For Lilly, acquiring Sangamo's Fabry program would add zinc finger nuclease technology to a genetic medicine toolkit that already spans six other modalities. For Astellas, the Fabry program would fit its rare disease and gene therapy focus (the company recently won EU approval for Padcev in combination with Keytruda for bladder cancer). The bankruptcy auction process will determine which bidder prevails and at what price.

🏢 Deals

Lilly Signs Another China Deal with Abbisko Therapeutics LLY

Lilly entered a strategic research collaboration and license agreement with China's Abbisko Therapeutics to collaborate on the discovery and development of innovative medicines across multiple targets, according to The Pharma Letter. Specific targets and financial terms were not disclosed. This adds to Lilly's growing China licensing portfolio alongside Hengrui (via Kailera, obesity), Haisco ($3B+, five programs), and now Abbisko. It appears to be Lilly's 14th announced deal of 2026.

Insilico and SK Biopharmaceuticals Launch $2.5B AI CNS Partnership

Insilico Medicine and South Korea's SK Biopharmaceuticals announced a partnership worth more than $2.5B to discover AI enabled drug candidates targeting neuroimmune disorders of the central nervous system, according to RTTNews. Insilico's AI platform has attracted multiple pharma partnerships (Servier $888M, Sanofi, and others). The CNS neuroimmune focus is notable because the space has been historically difficult for drug development but may benefit from AI's ability to identify novel targets and predict clinical outcomes in complex disease biology.

🔬 Ophthalmology

Ollin Biosciences Raises $330M for Retinal Disease

Ollin Biosciences raised $330M in an oversubscribed Series B to fund global Phase 3 studies of OLN324 for retinal disease, according to The Pharma Letter. STAT reported this is one of the largest ophthalmology focused venture rounds in recent years. Retinal diseases including age related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy represent multi-billion dollar markets where anti VEGF therapies (Regeneron's Eylea, Roche's Vabysmo) dominate but leave substantial room for improved efficacy, durability, and delivery.

🌍 Policy

BIO Panel: "U.S. Public Health as We Know It Is Gone"

A BIO International panel featuring former leaders of the FDA, CDC, and NIH discussed what BioSpace described as "the dismantling of the Department of Health and Human Services under the Trump administration" and asked whether a better system can be rebuilt. The session was reportedly the most attended policy discussion at the convention. The panel addressed the FDA leadership vacuum (no permanent commissioner, CDER director, or CBER director), the Ebola PHEIC response challenges, and the impact of agency staff departures on regulatory capacity. Former officials spoke plainly about institutional damage while industry leaders raised concerns about regulatory predictability for drug development.

📅 Coming Up

Sangamo spent more than two decades developing zinc finger nuclease technology. The company raised billions in equity and partnerships. It generated no commercial revenue. And now its most valuable asset, a Fabry gene therapy nearing FDA filing, goes to auction in bankruptcy.

The lesson is not that gene therapy does not work. Zolgensma (Novartis, SMA), Elevidys (Sarepta, Duchenne), Hemgenix (CSL, hemophilia B), and Otarmeni (Regeneron, hearing loss) all demonstrate clinical value. The lesson is that developing gene therapies requires a level of sustained capital commitment that most standalone biotechs cannot maintain. The development timelines are longer than small molecules. The manufacturing is more complex. The regulatory pathway is more uncertain (as REGENXBIO's Duchenne safety signal and the AAV brain tumor case demonstrated). And the commercial model for one time curative therapies is still being figured out.

Companies that succeeded in gene therapy either had large pharma backing (Novartis/Zolgensma, Regeneron/Otarmeni) or achieved early commercial milestones (Sarepta/Elevidys). Sangamo had neither. The bankruptcy is a cautionary tale for standalone gene therapy biotechs without a clear path to revenue or a deep pocketed partner.

💊 Lilly's Genetic Medicine Portfolio

If Lilly wins the Sangamo Fabry asset at auction, the company would have the broadest genetic medicine toolkit in the industry:

The logic: genetic diseases are caused by mutations that can be corrected, silenced, or compensated at the DNA or RNA level. Each modality addresses a different type of mutation in a different way. By owning capabilities across the full spectrum, Lilly can match the right genetic medicine technology to the right disease.

📊 AI Drug Discovery Capital Stack: Updated

Total disclosed AI drug discovery commitments now exceed $9B. The Insilico/SK deal adds CNS to a landscape that has been dominated by oncology and metabolic disease applications.

👉 Visit The Pro Hub

Is your company listed in the BioMed Nexus directory? 2,104 companies across 14 categories. Claim or upgrade your listing →

Sponsorship slots for 2026 are limited. See packages and pricing →

NEW: BioMed Nexus Signals, weekly sales intelligence for life sciences BD teams. Learn more →