Why two promising heart drugs flopped and what’s next

Adam Feuerstein is a senior writer and biotech columnist, reporting on the crossroads of drug development, business, Wall Street, and biotechnology. He is also a co-host of the weekly biotech podcast The Readout Loud and author of the newsletter Adam’s Biotech Scorecard. You can reach Adam on Signal at stataf.54.Elaine’s stories explore the boom in new obesity treatments, new drug payment models, the ways companies are affected by FDA changes, and the emerging psychedelics drug sector. She co-writes The Readout newsletter, and co-hosts STAT’s weekly biotech podcast, The Readout Loud. You can reach Elaine on Signal at elaineywchen.70.Allison covers what hot startups are getting up to, and who’s financing them. She is also co-host of the weekly biotech podcast, “The Readout Loud.” You can reach Allison on Signal at AllisonDeAngelis.01.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. Be sure to sign up for “The Readout LOUD” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.