The year in pharma

While the financial landscape didn’t change much for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies this year, the geopolitical forces shaping the industry did. So did the technological ones. Improved linker chemistry, advances in oral versions of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, and—as ever—artificial intelligence began to take form across new drug pipelines. Here is C&EN’s look back at the past year.Cancer and weight loss commanded attentionThe weight-loss drugs semaglutide and tirzepatide have been runaway successes for their makers. Eli Lilly and Company became the first trillion-dollar pharmaceutical company by market capitalization this year. Now investors are looking for the next big thing.The race is on to develop weight-loss drugs that are more effective and less invasive than existing glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist drugs. Lilly is currently developing a pill for weight loss, as are a slew of start-ups, several of which caught the attention of major investment and pharma firms this year. Novo Nordisk recently signed multibillion-dollar partnerships with Deep Apple Therapeutics and Septerna for small molecules for cardiometabolic diseases. London-based Verdiva Bio, meanwhile, smashed the European start-up financing record with a $411 million series A funding round in January to develop oral GLP-1 medicines.Most recently, pharma giants Pfizer and Novo Nordisk almost came to legal fisticuffs over acquiring Metsera, which develops cardiometabolic therapies for weight loss and other indications that build on GLP-1receptor agonists. (Pfizer ended up having to boost its initial offer, but it came out on top and bought the firm.) At a recent investor forum