Funding and M&A activity in the healthcare sector remained strong as Sling Therapeutics raised $123 million for a phase 3 trial, Science Corp secured $230 million for brain-computer interfaces, and GE HealthCare entered talks to acquire Sofie Biosciences for $1 billion. Novo Nordisk partnered with Anthropic to bring AI into its R&D pipeline, and Novartis acquired a platform from Sironax for $125 million. However, pipeline results were divided, with Skyhawk Therapeutics reporting positive Huntington's disease data while Novartis scrapped its Phase 2 ALS drug candidate.
01Company specific
Sling Therapeutics Secures $123M Series C for Phase 3 Thyroid Eye Disease Trial
Oral small-molecule reformulation of a shelved oncology asset provides a capital-efficient attack on an expensive intravenous monoclonal antibody monopoly.
Sling Therapeutics secured $123 million in a series C financing round to fund a for its oral thyroid eye disease therapy, linsitinib. The late-stage study aims to enroll 120 participants to test the small molecule's ability to reduce eye bulging over a 24-week period, with the first patients already dosed. Forbion led the financing round, which included participation from existing backer TPG Life Sciences Innovations and new investor Sectoral Management. Linsitinib targets the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor and was originally developed as a cancer treatment by Astellas before Sling licensed it in 2022. The oral small molecule competes with intravenous monoclonal antibody therapies like Amgen's Tepezza and Viridian's Lumvoa, offering an alternative route of administration for patients who decline antibody treatments.
Novo Nordisk Partners With Anthropic to Use Claude AI in R&D
Deploying frontier AI directly to automated clinical trial documentation replaces labor-intensive regulatory overhead, converting Novo Nordisk's administrative bottlenecks into software-scale drug development velocity.
Novo Nordisk partnered with Anthropic on September 16 to integrate the firm's Claude models into its drug discovery and development pipelines. The Danish drugmaker will initially test Claude Science alongside frontier models to accelerate research workflows and strengthen AI-driven software development. Novo Nordisk already uses Claude to automate trial report generation, which cuts the time required for patient documentation creation from months to minutes. CEO Mike Doustdar noted that the tools will aid reasoning and human biology understanding, while Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei emphasized the goal of shortening research timelines.
Novartis Acquires Blood-Brain Barrier Platform from Sironax for $125 Million
Out-licensing a transport mechanism while retaining therapeutic assets allows early-stage biotechs to self-fund late-stage trials without diluting equity or forfeiting their core pipeline.
Novartis is paying $125 million to acquire a blood-brain barrier delivery platform from biotechnology startup Sironax. The transaction gives Novartis full ownership of the technology, which is designed to transport large molecules into the central nervous system. Sironax will use the proceeds to advance three clinical-phase candidates, including its primary SIR2501 for ALS and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Sironax will retain rights to develop and commercialize certain assets using the platform.
Science Corp CEO Max Hodak Speaks on End of Screen Era at TechCrunch Disrupt
Advancing biohybrid retinal implants into human trials transitions brain-computer interfaces from consumer hardware concepts into high-barrier, clinical-stage medical devices capable of direct sensory replacement.
techcrunch.com reports that Science Corporation has raised $230 million in a Series C round at a $1.5 billion to develop advanced neural engineering and brain-computer interface technology. CEO Max Hodak founded the company in 2021 after co-founding Neuralink. Science Corp has enlisted a top neurobiologist to lead the first United States human trials for its biohybrid brain-computer interface. The company's PRIMA implant restores eyesight in people with severe vision loss through a pair of glasses with a tiny camera that beams captured scenes onto a chip implanted in the retina. Hodak will discuss these developments at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, making the case for a post-screen technological era where interfaces adapt through brain-computer interactions.
Demonstrating that an oral RNA splicing pill can reduce mutant huntingtin validates small-molecule genetic modulation as a scalable alternative to invasive neurodegenerative gene therapies.
Skyhawk Therapeutics reported final mid-stage trial data showing its once-daily RNA splicing pill improved Huntington's disease patients by an average of 0.94 points on a functional scale over 15 months. That performance marks a 1.59-point improvement over untreated patients from a natural history database, who declined by an average of 0.65 points over the same timeframe. The drug, codenamed SKY-0515, also lowered mutant huntingtin protein levels by more than 60% at a higher dose without any reported serious adverse events. Patients taking the pill consistently outperformed the comparison group at checkpoints spanning three, six, nine, 12, and 15 months. Skyhawk is advancing the therapy into two larger clinical programs, including a late-stage trial named FALCON that has enrolled 144 participants across Australia and New Zealand.
Huntington's Scale Change Over 15 Months (points)
SKY-0515 patients gained 0.94 points while natural history controls dropped 0.65.
Novartis Ends ALS Drug Program Following Phase 2 Trial Failure
Repeated late-stage clinical failures across distinct therapeutic pipelines threaten Novartis's ability to offset impending patent losses through internal research and development.
Novartis has discontinued development of its Phase 2 treatment candidate for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis after the drug failed to meet its primary and secondary trial endpoints. The study, known as Astrals, compared the candidate VHB937 against a placebo in 251 patients with early-stage disease. VHB937 acts as a TREM2 stabilizer and activator designed to prompt microglial cells to protect motor neurons. The setback deepens an R&D slump for the Swiss drugmaker following paused autoimmune CAR-T trials and failed studies for an Lp(a)-lowering drug and a muscle-wasting therapy. Novartis continues to evaluate the drug candidate, also called lifonebart, in a Phase 2 trial for Alzheimer's patients.
GE HealthCare in Talks to Acquire Sofie Biosciences for $1 Billion
Securing in-house production of short-lived radiopharmaceuticals eliminates supply-chain bottlenecks for molecular imaging equipment makers, shifting competition from hardware design to proprietary diagnostic tracer access.
GE HealthCare is in advanced talks to acquire radiopharmaceutical developer Sofie Biosciences for approximately $1 billion. The transaction would expand the medical technology company beyond traditional imaging equipment like MRI, CT, and PET scanners into consumable diagnostic agents used in cancer detection. Sofie operates a production network across 15 locations and manufactures radioactive chemicals and theranostic properties. Trilantic North America previously invested in Sofie in 2024, acquiring a nearly 26 percent stake that valued the company at up to $550 million. The deal follows GE HealthCare's $2.3 billion of Intelerad in March 2026, marking its second major transaction since spinning off from General Electric. GE HealthCare's pharmaceutical diagnostics division generated $2.9 billion in last year.
Capital flows and technical innovation remain robust across biotech and diagnostics, but late-stage pipeline failures like Novartis's ALS program show clinical execution risks persist. Whether AI partnerships and novel platform acquisitions can consistently de-risk early discovery stays unproven.
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