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Helen Branswell was a renowned infectious disease reporter who earned the respect and admiration of experts and public health officials with her authoritative, prescient reporting on the flu, polio, Ebola and the Covid-19 pandemic. This week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD” is dedicated to Helen, who died last week due to complications of cancer. We speak with her colleagues at STAT, family and public health leaders about her work and her legacy.

Longevity medicine is now estimated to be a multitrillion dollar industry. But what are people paying for, and does it work? On this week's episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT's biotech podcast, we bring on STAT reporter Sarah Todd to discuss the booming industry of longevity health and her visit to one of the many longevity clinics popping up in major hospitals across the country.

How has the National Institutes of Health been spending its budget? Why are biotech investors feeling gloomy? And what is the most quintessential Boston movie? We discuss all that and more on this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast. We bring on STAT reporter Anil Oza and Heather Pierce, senior director of science policy at the Association of American Medical Colleges, to discuss the how the NIH distributed its money in the latest funding cycle and the effects on U.S. biomedical research. We also chat about the shuttering of a CRISPR CAR-T biotech, the Nobel Prize in medicine, and biotech investors’ current mood.

On this week’s episode of "The Readout LOUD": Why have so many Americans lost trust in science? And how have our policy leaders fueled that mistrust? We speak to STAT’s new trust-in-science reporter Nicholas Florko about the impact of Americans’ growing skepticism of science.  Your co-hosts also chat about a clinical update from UniQure on its gene therapy for Huntington’s disease, a juicy lawsuit filed by the gene-editing company Beam Therapeutics against a Chinese competitor, and a shift in the way pharma companies like Novo and Eli Lilly are talking about their GLP-1 products.

"The Readout LOUD" is going international this week. STAT's Jason Mast joins the podcast from Shanghai, where he's digging into what the rise of Chinese drug development means for the biotech industry. The hosts also speak to colleague Margaret Manto about Heidi Overton, the president's pick to be commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. Will the new nominee bring some needed stability or controversy to the troubled agency? For more on Overton and her views on China, go here; to read about the ITM and Telix merger, go here; you can find the latest news on osteoporosis here.

International researchers got a reprieve in the courts this week. But many are still considering leaving the states for opportunities elsewhere. What does that mean for the future of American medical research? We discuss that, plus the latest news in the life sciences, on this week's episode of "The Readout LOUD." STAT reporter Jonathan Wosen and Fanta Aw, the executive director of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, join the podcast to discuss a recent court decision around foreign visas for students. We also discuss the Definium's psychedelics data and what it means for that field as a whole. Be sure to sign up for “The Readout LOUD” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD”: The pharma industry invested billions of dollars to develop drugs heralded as the next era in the treatment of heart disease — but why did they fail? And what does this mean for the development of new heart medicines moving forward? Cardiologist and biotech entrepreneur Ethan Weiss joins us to discuss the surprising failures and long-term implications of two large clinical trials involving drugs developed from Novo Nordisk and Novartis, respectively. Plus, we have a recap of biotech news we missed while on hiatus, including a spurt of FDA drug approvals and the next big thing in cancer treatment from Merck and Moderna.

Is the Food and Drug Administration taking inconsistent approaches to Duchenne muscular dystrophy drugs? How will a new batch of drug executives shake up their companies? And why is Adam talking to a recruiter?We discuss all that and more on this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast.It's a big week for FDA advisory committee meetings. Allison, Elaine, and Adam discuss Capricor Therapeutics' hearing in front of an FDA advisory committee. The company is asking the agency to approve its treatment for Duchenne, but advisers have questioned the data the company presented. They also discuss Replimmune's meeting with advisers to discuss its immunotherapy for melanoma.The hosts further discuss the latest news in the life sciences, including new details on how a fugitive worked as a biotech executive, cuts at GSK, and Sarepta Therapeutics' new CEO.

What does it take to develop a therapy for an ultra-rare disease? What are the allegations against a telehealth company that’s partnered with Novo Nordisk? And has a wanted fugitive been posing as a biotech executive? We discuss all that and more on this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast. We speak with our colleagues Jason Mast and Matthew Herper about their impactful look at one father’s mission to develop a treatment for his daughter’s ultra-rare disease. The subject of that feature, Matt Wilsey, also joins us.

On this week’s episode of "The Readout LOUD": The Kalshi prediction markets are coming for biotech, plus the controversy over an experimental Alzheimer’s disease treatment from Biogen. Kalshi, the maker of prediction markets, announced this week that it is expanding into biotech. Soon, you’ll be able to make bets on the outcomes of clinical trials and FDA drug reviews. Is that a good thing? We’ll discuss the issues with Jonathan Kimmelman, a bioethicist at McGill University who has researched prediction in clinical trials. We also chat about Biogen and its tau-lowering drug for Alzheimer’s. A mid-stage clinical trial presented this week showed the drug reduced levels of the tau protein and slowed the rate of cognitive decline in patients. But the data also raised a lot of questions that left experts and investors debating the drug’s future.

Why does getting family health insurance through a job cost as much as buying a new car? How did a whistleblower take on an insurance contractor? And who might be the new Food and Drug Administration commissioner? We discuss all that and more on this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s weekly biotech podcast. STAT reporter Bob Herman joins us to discuss his new series, "Out of Pocket, Out of Reach," which dives into how soaring costs for health insurance are hurting Americans and small business owners. We also speak with Chris Deacon, who filed a whistleblower lawsuit after spotting how an insurer may have violated contracts to provide health benefits for New Jersey's state workers. We also discuss the latest news in life sciences, including Anthropic's push into drug development and Vertex's largest-ever acquisition.

Who got exclusive access to Eli Lilly's highly anticipated obesity candidate? Why are drugmakers spending so much money on acquisitions? And are hair loss drugs a good investment? We discuss all that and more on this week's episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT's biotech podcast. We bring on our colleague Lizzy Lawrence to discuss her scoop that Lilly and the Food and Drug Administration have allowed one person to receive the pharma company's obesity candidate, retatrutide, through the FDA’s “compassionate use” program. We also discuss the resurgence of M&A, Lilly's interest in a hair loss drug, and then the FDA's reversal on rare disease drugs.

This week: New hope for people living with Huntington’s disease, and a report card on RFK Jr.’s effort to remake health in America.  The Food and Drug Administration reversed its opposition to a closely watched gene therapy for Huntington’s disease, clearing a path for its maker, the biotech company UniQure, to file for U.S. approval. Joining us to discuss this new development and what it means for the Huntington’s community is Lauren Holder, a Huntington’s disease advocate who is living with the early stages of the disease.  A pledge to “Make America Healthy Again” earned Robert F. Kennedy Jr. his job as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. He entered the role with a long to-do list, and a goal of delivering measurable improvements within two years. How has he fared? Isabella Cueto, STAT’s chronic disease reporter, has been closely tracking Kennedy and the MAHA movement’s actions, and joins us to discuss.

Can any of the new obesity medications in development stand out from the pack? Which company just broke records with its IPO? And will the Food and Drug Administration allow greater access to experimental peptides? We discuss all that and more on this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast.[2:37 PM]Undark’s Sara Talpos joins the podcast to discuss her reporting on the peptide BPC-157, and how its jumped from a Croatian lab to bodybuilding forums on Reddit to the FDA. (STAT co-published Talpos articles; the second piece was was supported by the Pulitzer Center). We also discuss the latest news in the life sciences, including obesity data from the American Diabetes Association meeting and a record-breaking IPO.

Why did oncologists give a standing ovation to a data presentation on Revolution Medicines' pancreatic cancer drug, daraxonrasib? Why did biotech stocks perform so badly this week? And are concrete beaches better than normal beaches? We discuss all that and more on this week's episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT's biotech podcast. We bring on Leanna Stokes, who was diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer in 2023. She discusses how participating in RevMed's trial for daraxonrasib has affected her disease and life, and what the drug means for patients and the field. We also chat about other data presented during last week's meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the market reaction to Abivax's ulcerative colitis data, and the upcoming meeting of the American Diabetes Association.