A sweeping population‑genomics effort has generated the first large collection of complete genomes for Anopheles darlingi, the dominant malaria vector across South America. The dataset—more than 1,000 high‑coverage genomes from six countries—offers the clearest picture to date of how this mosquito species is structured, how it adapts, and which genetic pathways may be shifting under insecticide pressure.

Malaria transmission in South America remains persistent, with hundreds of thousands of cases reported annually, largely in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. An. darlingi is responsible for most of that burden, yet its evolutionary dynamics have been comparatively understudied. Previous work relied on limited genetic markers, leaving major questions about population structure, local adaptation, and the origins of insecticide resistance unresolved.

The new study, titled “Population genomics of Anopheles darlingi, the principal South American malaria vector mosquito,” led by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and published in Science, fills that gap by sequencing whole genomes from mosquitoes collected across forests, wetlands, agricultural zones, mining regions, and urban areas. “Our study plays a major role in revealing the evolutionary dynamics of a primary malaria vector,” said corresponding author Jacob Tennessen, PhD, in a press release. “These insights into Anopheles darlingi biology could help improve methods for blocking disease transmission.”

One of the most striking findings is the presence of strong selection signals in metabolic genes, particularly members of the cytochrome P450 family. The patterns observed suggest that An. darlingi populations may be adapting to insecticide exposure. “Insecticide resistance has only been sporadically documented in Anopheles darlingi, which have not been subject to intensive insecticide-heavy campaigns like those elsewhere in the world,” Tennessen said. “Resistance may be driven by agricultural insecticides rather than those used for vector control specifically.”

Beyond resistance‑associated genes, the researchers uncovered deep geographic population structure and high overall genetic diversity. Mosquitoes from regions such as Guyana and Venezuela showed substantial interpopulation divergence. “We observe deep geographic population structure, high genetic diversity including 13 putative segregating inversions, and no evidence for sympatric cryptic taxa despite high interpopulation divergence,” the authors wrote.

These findings have practical implications for malaria control. Understanding how An. darlingi populations are partitioned across the continent—and how they respond to environmental pressures—can inform surveillance strategies, insecticide deployment, and future genetic‑control approaches. “Vector‑targeted disease control efforts require a thorough understanding of mosquito demographic and evolutionary patterns,” the authors wrote. The genomic framework established here provides a foundation for that work, while also highlighting the challenges posed by a vector with substantial adaptive capacity.

Although the study expands the knowledge base for malaria‑vector biology in the Americas, the authors emphasize that it represents fundamental research rather than an immediate guide for policy changes. Still, the scale and resolution of the dataset set the stage for future investigations into Anopheles species across the region.

The Excellergy acquisition will complement Novartis’ existing allergy profile, anchored by the IgE blocker Xolair that in February 2024 was approved to treat food allergies in children and adults.

After buffing up its cancer pipeline last week, Novartis is now investing into its immunology portfolio by absorbing California-based Excellergy and its anti-IgE antibody for allergic conditions.

The acquisition agreement is valued at up to $2 billion, according to a news release on Friday, encompassing both upfront and milestone payments. Novartis did not provide a more detailed breakdown of its financial commitments. The companies expect to close the transaction in the second half of 2026.

The star of the takeover is Excellergy’s anti-IgE therapy Exl-111, a next-generation antibody therapy that, unlike medicines currently on the market, targets and removes IgE molecules that are already bound to receptors on immune cells. This mechanism, according to Excellergy’s website, prevents the activation of those receptors and thus the molecular cascade that would have otherwise resulted in an allergic response.

Additionally, by taking away bound IgE, Exl-111 also downregulates the expression of the corresponding receptors, which according to the biotech “reduces the re-sensitization potential.”

“Exl-111 is designed to go beyond conventional anti-IgE therapy, with the potential to deliver faster and deeper suppression of IgE signaling as well as improved symptom control,” Fiona Marshall, president of biomedical research at Novartis, said in a prepared statement.

Exl-111 is in an ongoing Phase 1, early pharmacokinetic data from which show signs of sustained drug exposure and “support a differentiated profile,” Novartis said on Friday. The pharma is looking to leverage Exl-111’s therapeutic potential for food allergy, chronic spontaneous urticaria, allergic asthma and other IgE-driven diseases.

Once in the Novartis fold, Exl-111 will run alongside Novartis’ other allergy assets, including the Roche-partnered Xolair, which was originally approved in 2003 for asthma but expanded in February 2024 to include use for allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, in children and adults with IgE-mediated food allergies.

In March last year, head-to-head data from a Phase 3 trial showed that Xolair was better than oral immunotherapy at preventing allergic reactions in people with food allergies. Xolair made $1.72 billion in 2025.

Novartis is on a mission to build out its pipeline, with CEO Vas Narasimhan telling investors during the pharma’s 2025 earnings call that “there’s really no change in our M&A strategy.” That is, he continued, the company will continue to look for early-stage deals in the “sub-$2-billion range” while also seeking out “medicines that could launch in the next five years.”

In October 2025, the pharma scooped up Avidity Biosciences for roughly $12 billion—one of that year’s largest acquisition agreements. The purchase gave the pharma a host of late-stage RNA programs for a variety of neuromuscular indications, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy and myotonic dystrophy type 1.

Novartis has since followed that up with a series of smaller deals. These include a $1.5 billion bet in January with China’s SciNeuro for an anti-amyloid antibody for Alzheimer’s disease and a $1.7 billion cardio contract with Unnatural Products in February. Last week, the pharma snapped up a breast cancer drug from Synnovation Therapeutics for $2 billion upfront and up to $1 billion in milestones.

While the accelerated approval unlocks only a small market opportunity for Rocket Pharmaceuticals, it will give the biotech a chance to prepare for future product launches, according to Jefferies.

Bouncing back from a 2024 rejection tied to manufacturing concerns, Rocket Pharmaceuticals’ gene therapy has now secured accelerated approval for the rare immune disease leukocyte adhesion deficiency-I—a decision that analysts say could help prime the company for future launches.

Leukocyte adhesion deficiency-I (LAD-I) is a relatively small market opportunity, analysts at Jefferies told investors in a note Thursday evening, forecasting below $50 million in sales. The disease, which compromises the immune system resulting in more frequent and severe infections, affects around 1 per 1 million people worldwide.

Rocket’s newly approved gene therapy, to be marketed as Kresladi, is likely to enter a sparse market, “perhaps treating <10 patients per year due to the rarity of the disease,” Jefferies added. The true value of Thursday’s approval, the analysts continued, is in how it will prepare the biotech for its future products.

“Kresladi’s US launch provides RCKT with experience in payor negotiations and commercial scaling, which can be leveraged for future launches,” they said. The approval also derisks Rocket’s gene therapy platform and manufacturing network, potentially making subsequent regulatory reviews run smoother.

Rocket is trading at $5.11 apiece in premarket hours on Friday, a 9% increase from Thursday’s closing price.

The FDA’s approval on Thursday was supported by pivotal Phase 1/2 data that in October 2023 returned a 100% overall response rate at 12 months. The most common side effects included anemia, low platelet counts, upper respiratory infections and liver enzyme elevations, the agency said in its announcement of the approval.

Kresladi was cleared under the FDA’s accelerated pathway, with full approval hinging on the validation of its clinical benefit in a confirmatory trial.

With Kresladi’s approval, investor attention now shifts to Rocket’s lead asset RP-A501, an investigational gene therapy for Danon disease, which Jefferies on Thursday said could unlock a $500 million opportunity for the biotech.

Last May, the FDA placed RP-A501 under clinical hold after a patient died of severe complications following infusion with the therapy. The patient in question developed capillary leak syndrome—fluids leaking out of blood vessels and into the surrounding tissues—which resulted in a drop in blood pressure.

The regulator lifted the hold in August, allowing Rocket to resume dosing in a mid-stage study with a recalibrated dose of RP-A501. Jefferies expects the biotech to restart the Phase 2 Danon study in the first half of 2026, according to its Thursday note.

While participants on a lower dose of Wave Life Sciences’ RNA therapy lost 5.3% total fat at the six-month mark, those receiving the higher dose saw a less than 1% drop at three months.

Wave Life Sciences touted body composition improvements in an early-stage study of its investigational RNA interference obesity therapy—but when it came to the higher 400-mg dose, analysts weren’t impressed. At $5.59 apiece when the opening bell rang on Thursday, the biotech was trading 54% lower than its previous closing price.

Oppenheimer analyst Cheng Li stuck by the candidate, however. “We would be buyers on any weakness, as the results further support the clean safety profile and once/twice-yearly dosing of WVE-007,” Li said Thursday, according to Reuters.

Wave is studying its siRNA therapeutic WVE-007 in the INLIGHT study, which includes a Phase 1 single-ascending dose portion in otherwise healthy adults who are overweight or obese, and a Phase 2a section that will look at several doses of WVE-007. Thursday’s readout comes from the Phase 1 portion of the trial.

The results showed that at six months, participants treated with 240-mg WVE-007 shed 14.3% of their visceral fat, a statistically significant improvement from baseline and up from 9.2% at three months. Total fat mass at six months dropped 5.3% while lean mass increased 2.4%. Patients at this dose level also saw a 3.3% reduction in waist circumference and 0.9% decrease in body weight at six months.

However, when it came to three-month data from a 400-mg cohort, analysts appeared to be expecting more, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Participants in this cohort saw 5% visceral fat loss, 0.2% loss of lean mass and total fat loss of less than 1%.

“Investors are likely discouraged by the 400 ‌mg ⁠data at 3 months, which look similar on visceral fat as 240 mg and not as good on total fat and lean mass, though there appear to be some differences in ⁠the baseline BMI and body composition of this cohort that could explain some of these observations,” Leerink Partners said ⁠in a Thursday note, Reuters reported.

Wave noted in its press release that this cohort had a leaner baseline body composition, with lower BMI and more participants with healthy levels of visceral fat. The company also noted that a posthoc analysis showed a 7.8% reduction in visceral fat, a result “similar to that observed in the 240 mg cohort.”

The biotech also presented visceral fat-to-muscle ratio, a metric used to quantify body composition, for the 240-mg dose group at six months. A single dose of 240 mg resulted in a 16.5% drop in this ratio—better than what was achieved by a 2.4-mg dose of Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide at six months, according to Wave—a 12.2% decrease from baseline.

Last December, Wave reported a 9.2% reduction in visceral fat at three months with the 240-mg dose, accompanied by a 0.9% increase in lean mass. Truist analysts at the time called the data “impressive.” Wave’s shares crested 80% following the readout.

Despite the stock crash this week, analysts at Mizuho Securities said in a Thursday note that WVE-007 delivered “good data.” The reduction in visceral fat and waist circumference, “while stabilizing lean mass is particularly encouraging, and continues to showcase WVE-007 as a differentiated mechanism for obesity.”

The firm models around $7 billion in peak worldwide sales for WVE-003.

The biotech now plans to begin the Phase 2a portion of INLIGHT in the second quarter, looking to enroll patients with higher body mass index and weight-related comorbidities, according to the Thursday release. The biotech will also run new trials of WVE-007 as part of incretin-based regimens or as a post-incretin therapy.

Beam is now in the strongest position of all companies advancing a genetic therapy for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, according to analysts at William Blair.

Beam Therapeutics’ investigational base editor increases the functional levels of a key enzyme that is otherwise deficient in patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, opening a path to pivotal development later this year.

Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, also known as AATD, is a heritable disorder caused by mutations to the SERPINA1 gene that result in a deficient AAT enzyme. Patients with AATD can suffer from progressive damage to the lungs, cirrhosis and sometimes liver failure. Beam’s asset, BEAM-302, is designed to correct the underlying genetic alteration in AATD and increase the production of functional AAT.

Phase 1/2 data presented on Wednesday support this mechanism. After a single administration of 60 mg BEAM-302, 94% of circulating AAT was correctly folded, while the concentration of the faulty enzyme dropped by 84%. The average circulating level of AAT reached 16.1 uM.

“This is the highest mean serum AAT level we have clinically seen to date from SERPINA1 correction approaches,” William Blair analysts told investors in a note on Wednesday, calling the data “impressive.”

Initial safety findings for BEAM-302 indicate that adverse events were mostly mild to moderate, with no dose-limiting toxicities. The biotech detected one case of grade 4 liver enzyme elevation—a signal that, according to William Blair, was “muting upside potential”—though this was asymptomatic and did not require medical intervention.

“Overall, today’s results reinforce BEAM-302’s best-in-class profile and place Beam in the strongest position among emerging genetic approaches to AATD,” the firm said.

With these data, along with feedback from the FDA, Beam on Wednesday also announced that it will seek the regulator’s accelerated pathway for approval. A pivotal expansion portion of the ongoing Phase 1/2 study will form the basis of this application and is slated to start in the back half of this year.

Analysts from H.C. Wainwright expressed confidence in the asset, writing in a Wednesday note that Beam’s readout not only de-risks its pivotal plans but also “reinforces our conviction in BEAM-302’s best- and first-in-class potential.”

If approved, the firm projects annual peak revenues of approximately $4 billion for BEAM-302.

Merck’s acquisition of Terns Pharmaceuticals follows other big-ticket purchases, including of Verona Pharma and Cidara Therapeutics, as the pharma prepares for the impending expiration of its blockbuster’s patents.

Continuing its campaign to grow its pipeline amid Keytruda’s looming loss of exclusivity, Merck has moved to absorb Terns Pharmaceuticals and its mid-stage leukemia drug, an asset that analysts say could offer the pharma a multi-billion revenue opportunity.

The Terns buyout is “one of the best deals [Merck] has made since its spree began ahead of the Keytruda LOE,” analysts at BMO Capital Markets wrote in a note to investors on Tuesday evening, responding to swirling reports that the pharma was in late-stage talks with the California biotech. The rumor was first broken by the Financial Times.

BMO called Terns’ lead asset, the oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor TERN-701, a “differentiated agent” in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), adding that it has elicited robust major molecular responses in a highly refractory patient population. TERN-701, the analysts estimated, “offers an unadjusted peak sales of >$4B, meaningfully contributing to Merck’s plans to patch its Keytruda LOE hole at the end of the decade.”

Under the terms of Wednesday’s acquisition agreement, Merck will purchase all of Terns’ outstanding shares for $53 a pop—a 31% premium to the biotech’s average stock price over the preceding 60 days—resulting in a roughly $6.7 billion equity value. The deal has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies and the parties expect to complete the transaction in the second quarter.

The Terns takeover further diversifies and strengthens our position in oncology as we continue to look for opportunities to broaden our portfolio into other therapeutic areas,” Merck CEO Robert Davis said in a statement on Wednesday. In particular, the agreement “builds on our growing presence in hematology,” he added, calling TERN-701 a “potential best-in-class candidate” for CML.

Taken orally, TERN-701 is an allosteric inhibitor of BCR-ABL1, a protein that arises from an abnormal genetic fusion that is the hallmark of CML. Phase 1 data revealed last December showed an overall major molecular response rate as high as 75% at 24 weeks, with a tolerability profile that supported daily dosing.

“Unprecedented remains the only suitable adjective to describe the compound’s clinical profile,” William Blair analysts wrote in a Dec. 9 note, adding that TERN-701 “is on track to challenge Scemblix’s dominance and disrupt the treatment paradigm of CML.” Owned by Novartis, Scemblix was first approved in October 2021 for the same indication. The drug made $1.285 billion last year.

William Blair analysts value TERN-701 so highly that they questioned Merck’s offer, saying in a note Wednesday morning after the deal was announced that it “does not fully capture the potential of TERN-701.”

“We believe another bidder could emerge with a more attractive offer,” the firm added.

RBC Capital Markets agreed. “We view the decision to acquire TERN before full dose escalation as a sign of high confidence in the asset,” the analysts wrote in their own note on Wednesday. They added, however, that Merck’s price “opens the door for competing bids from other potential acquirers where the deal makes strategic sense,” such as AbbVie or Bristol Myers Squibb.

Key protections for Keytruda, Merck’s mega-blockbuster PD-1 inhibitor, are set to expire in 2028, after which the pharma can expect to cede some of the market to biosimilars. In addition to a recent spate of deals, the pharma has is also working to maintain its earnings through the reformulation of Keytruda into a subcutaneous injection, which the FDA cleared in September last year. Merck is marketing the product as Keytruda Qlex.

Still, the pharma has been an aggressive dealmaker over the past year, betting billions to enrich not only its late-stage pipeline but also its commercial portfolio. In November 2025, for instance, Merck swallowed Cidara Therapeutics for $9.2 billion, gaining a Phase 3 antiviral drug. A few months earlier, the pharma dropped $10 billion to acquire Verona Pharma and the FDA-approved Ohtuvayre for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

For Terns, the deal represents a triumphant exit after refocusing its attention last August on TERN-701. Once a rising star in obesity and the MASH space, Terns announced at that time that it would look to partner off a clutch of metabolic assets amid an oversaturated market in the obesity realm. Terns was one of several companies that BioSpace highlighted as likely M&A targets for Big Pharma this year.

While RA Capital Management has yet to commit to a merger plan, it noted that its new blank-check company, Research Alliance III, could target companies abroad, including those from China.

RA Capital Management has a new shell company and it’s looking for overseas players—particularly those from China—to bring to the U.S. public market.

The new special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), called Research Alliance III, could have up to $57.5 million in firepower, according to an SEC filing on Tuesday. In looking for a target, the blank-check entity is keeping its options open, looking for a life science startup with an asset or a platform that could set it apart in the market—regardless of its location.

“RA Capital Management believes there are significant opportunities relating to promising drug therapies developed abroad, including in the [People’s Republic of China],” according to the securities document.

Research Alliance III hasn’t yet launched on the Nasdaq—the SEC filing on Tuesday is a prospectus to register its intent for an initial public offering (IPO)—nor has RA Capital Management committed to searching exclusively for a Chinese target.

SPACs offer an alternative—and typically easier—path for young companies to go public. The process starts with sponsors raising capital from investors by conducting an IPO for their shell company. Once successfully public, the resulting blank-check company will look for a target that it can merge with, effectively bringing that startup to the public markets and infusing it with a hefty sum of capital.

The SPAC became a popular track to Nasdaq in 2021, when the industry was flush with pandemic-era investment cash. Companies like Roivant, Cerevel Therapeutics—which has since been acquired by AbbVie for $8.7 billion—and the beleaguered 23andMe all went public that year via SPACs.

More recently, stem cell specialist PrimeGen US went public via SPAC, merging with DT Cloud Star Acquisition Corporation last month in a deal that valued the startup at around $1.5 billion. DT Cloud Star went public in July 2024 with a $69 million raise.

RA Capital Management itself has had a successful run with SPACs. Its first shell company, Research Alliance I, merged with POINT Biopharma in March 2021, giving the radiopharma player $300 million in capital. Eli Lilly swallowed POINT a couple years later for $1.4 billion.

The venture capital firm’s investment portfolio also includes biotechs such as 89bio, which was acquired by Roche last September for $3.5 billion, and Aktis Oncology, which became the first IPO of this year with a $318 million raise.

Now, RA Capital Management wants to turn this expertise eastward, looking to China for promising technologies in keeping with a broader trend across the biopharma industry. Top drugmakers have in recent months ramped up partnerships with Chinese biotechs in search of innovative therapies. Such deals include Novartis’ $1.5 billion play with SciNeuro for Alzheimer’s disease and AstraZeneca’s $2 billion bet for Jacobio Pharma’s KRAS blocker for cancer.

Following last month’s $7.8 billion purchase of CAR T biotech Arcellx, Gilead’s dealmaking train chugs along with yet another acquisition—this time securing Ouro Medicines’ pipeline of T cell engagers for inflammatory diseases.

Gilead Sciences is bringing Ouro Medicines into its fold in an acquisition deal that could exceed $2 billion in value. The move continues what CEO Daniel O’Day called the pharma’s “proactive and disciplined” strategy to business development, which also saw the acquisition of CAR T collaborator Arcellx last month.

On an upfront basis, Gilead has agreed to pay $1.675 billion to swallow Ouro and its T cell engager OM336, according to a Monday evening release. The pharma will also be on the hook for $500 million in contingent milestone payments.

Gilead is hoping it won’t have to foot that bill alone, however. Also on Monday, the company announced it is nearing a parallel agreement with Galapagos that would see the Belgian biotech shoulder 50% of the upfront and milestone payments of the Ouro deal.

Founded by Monograph Capital and GSK, Ouro launched in January 2025 with $120 million in starting funds and a mission to develop therapies that could reset the immune system. OM336 was at the forefront of this push, entering the clinic in June and winning the FDA’s Orphan Drug designation for immune thrombocytopenia. The drug also secured the agency’s Fast Track designation in January.

OM336 is currently in early-stage basket studies for autoimmune cytopenias and seropositive autoimmune diseases. Gilead did not detail its development plans for OM336, with CMO Dietmar Berger saying only that the drug, which targets the BCMA and CD3 proteins, represents “a differentiated approach with the potential to induce durable disease control,” and that it “complements our expanding inflammation pipeline.”

Gilead has been on a dealmaking kick recently, dropping $7.8 billion in February for Arcellx, with which it is advancing the multiple myeloma therapy anito-cel. An application is under FDA review with a target action date of Dec. 23, 2026.

In January, Gilead also linked up with OncoNano Medicine for a drug delivery system that could help the pharma package one of its cancer treatments. And last October, Gilead partnered with Pregene, putting up to $1.64 billion on the line for an in vivo cell therapy, though details of this agreement remain sparse.

If Gilead is successful in bringing Galapagos in on the Ouro deal, the smaller company would not only take on half of the acquisition cost but also entirely fund the development of OM336 until registrational studies. At that point, Gilead would step in and carry half of the financial burden alongside Galapagos.

This potential Galapagos deal “meaningfully de risks Gilead’s investment profile,” analysts at Truist Securities told investors in a note late Monday. The agreement would ease the pharma’s upfront, milestone and R&D expenses “while preserving downstream economics and commercialization control.”

Indeed, under the proposed partnership with Galapagos, Gilead will retain all global commercialization rights over OM336 except in the Greater China region. Galapagos, meanwhile, will be eligible for tiered royalties ranging from 20% to 23% of net sales. The biotech will also absorb “substantially all” of Ouro’s operating assets and employees.

Gilead and Galapagos are long-time partners. The companies first joined hands in July 2019 to advance a broad portfolio of investigational drugs, with the pharma putting more than $5 billion on the line.

In January 2025, however, the partners drastically restructured the agreement, deciding to split Galapagos into two entities: One would pursue Galapagos’ emerging cell therapy pipeline while the other would look for new areas to work in. Under these new terms, Gilead would have a 25% stake in both the resulting companies. Months later, however, in May last year, Galapagos ditched these plans, instead saying it would “explore all strategic alternatives for its existing businesses.”

Overall, the top 16 largest pharmaceutical companies spent $159 billion on research and development in 2025, compared to $165 billion the year prior. Here’s where all that cash went at companies like Johnson & Johnson, Amgen and Pfizer.

R&D spending at the top 16 pharmaceutical companies declined by 3.6% overall in 2025, as many aggressively cut spending and refocused pipelines. AbbVie had the steepest decline, meaning the company spent 29% less on research.

Overall, the top 16 heavyweights spent $159.1 billion on R&D in 2025, compared to $165 billion the previous year.

Johnson & Johnson’s research expenses fell by nearly 15% to $14.7 billion. Much of that decline can be attributed to changes made in 2023, when the healthcare giant completed a prioritization of its R&D investment within the Innovative Medicines segment. J&J exited a number of programs at the time, including infectious diseases and vaccines, such as a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) adult vaccine program, hepatitis and HIV development.

While that program wrapped up in 2024, J&J’s 2025 spend reflects a slimmer organization.

Similarly, Bristol Myers Squibb dropped R&D spending by 11% in 2025 to $9.95 billion. The company attributed this to lower impairment charges for the period, which can result from writing down failed programs, and the ongoing strategic productivity initiative.

BMS originally announced that program in April 2024, pledging to achieve $1.5 billion in cost savings through eliminating jobs and prioritizing development programs. The company cut several legacy programs from its 2019 Celgene acquisition in the process.

Merck is also doing a little restructuring. The company cut R&D expenses by 12% for 2025 thanks to lower charges for business development activity. But those savings were offset by higher clinical activity and restructuring costs.

Pfizer, too, flagged restructuring across the company as impacting its R&D spend, which fell 4% to $10.21 billion.

AbbVie, meanwhile, took on $4.48 billion in impairment charges to its line item on R&D expenses. Absent that charge, the company’s adjusted R&D spend actually rose by $1 billion, CEO Robert Michael explained during a February earnings call. After the adjustment, AbbVie spent $8.99 billion on R&D, according to the company’s earnings report.

On the other side of the coin, pharmas including GSK and Amgen pumped money into research.

Amgen had the biggest increase, with 22% more going toward programs like the weight loss asset MariTide. The company spent $7.27 billion overall on R&D, representing 20% of its revenue.

Regeneron had a 14% boost, spending $5.85 billion on research. Among the larger pharmas, the company spends by far the greatest share of its revenue on R&D, with 41% of its income going toward clinical development and related expenses.

Across the pond, GSK bumped up R&D spending by 18%, particularly increasing its spend in oncology and vaccines. The company expects to continue this trend as it invests more and adopts operational efficiencies to lower costs.

One drag on GSK’s R&D expenses was the termination of the anti-TIGIT program belrestotug, which meant an impairment charge of £471 million ($631 million). The therapy produced disappointing results in the Phase II GALAXIES Lung-201 study in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Meanwhile, GSK funneled energy—and cash—into its antibody drug conjugate (ADC) programs, the MASH drug efimosfermin, hepatitis B treatment bepirovirsen and more.

Finally, AstraZeneca added 5% to its funding for R&D, for a total of $14.23 billion. This went toward work on immuno-oncology bispecifics, cell therapy and ADCs. Key readouts throughout the year also unlocked Phase 3 development, which accelerated expenses.