Oct 26, 2026 · 28 min
Moderna trial leads biotech week in review
120 - Breaking Biotech Week End Wrap Up - Oct 25th, 2026
The wrap-up connects Moderna’s melanoma trial with developments involving QIAGEN, Nautilus, and Iambic Therapeutics.
- 1Moderna’s Intrapath 001 trial in resected melanoma anchors the episode’s biotech news coverage.
- 2The market update sits alongside stories involving QIAGEN, Nautilus, and Iambic Therapeutics.
- 3Matthew Cloutier frames the episode as a concise end-of-week review of biotech developments.
Don't miss
The episode highlights Moderna’s Intrapath 001 trial in resected melanoma as its lead biotech story.
The brief
Matthew Cloutier opens the October 25 wrap-up by setting out its agenda: a market update and three biotech news stories, led by Moderna’s Intrapath 001 trial in resected melanoma.
The episode’s central thread is Moderna’s melanoma program, which gives the weekly review a specific clinical focus rather than a broad survey of biotech headlines.
Coverage also turns to QIAGEN, Nautilus, and Iambic Therapeutics, extending the discussion across several companies named in the week’s biotech news.
The result is a compact end-of-week dispatch: Moderna supplies the lead story, while the market update and company coverage fill out the broader review.
What was said on this episode
46 statements · 24 positive · 16 negative · 2 mixed · 4 neutral
Qiagen’s acquisition is likely to support smaller life-science tools companies’ valuations.
“that's certainly going to help support some of the smaller tools companies' valuations”
Listen at 0:52
Iambic’s valuation should be lower because the company remains early stage.
“its valuation should be given it's so early stage”
Listen at 1:21
Hot CPI data led to an increase in the 10-year Treasury yield.
“that led to an increase in the 10-year yield”
Listen at 1:59
Market concerns center more on AI infrastructure growth sustainability than inflation.
“it seems like instead of there being inflation concerns, that there's more concerns with growth and the sustainability of the AI infrastructure build-out”
Listen at 2:24
Bond-market moves reflect concerns about growth and AI infrastructure sustainability.
“there's more concerns with growth and the sustainability of the AI infrastructure build-out”
Listen at 2:27
Falling ten-year Treasury yields will pressure large-cap technology companies.
“if the 10-year yield is going to continue to sell off, that's going to put pressure on sort of a large cap tech companies”
Listen at 2:36
IWM rose 2% during the week.
“IWM rallied 2% this week”
Listen at 3:16
The Silent Therapeutics acquisition was valued at about $1.3 billion.
“the deal was for about $1.3 billion”
Listen at 3:33
Continued yield pressure would benefit small-cap stocks, including XBI.
“If there's continued pressure on yields, though, I think it does bode well for small caps, XBI being part of that”
Listen at 4:40
Markets mostly expect no rate increase, which would benefit biotech markets.
“Most of the weighting is on no rate increase, which would be good, I think, for our world.”
Listen at 4:54
Moderna’s melanoma trial produced a recurrence-free survival hazard ratio of 0.58.
“the intent to treat recurrence-free survival hazard ratio was 0.58”
Listen at 7:27
Moderna’s phase-three melanoma efficacy broadly maintained its phase-two level.
“the data maintains its high level like that. So I think overall that's good”
Listen at 7:44
Two-year recurrence-free survival was 82.2% with treatment versus 70% for control.
“the two-year recurrence-free survival, it was 82.2% for the treatment group versus 70%”
Listen at 7:50
Treatment-group adverse events caused more discontinuations than control-group events.
“14% of the adverse events in the treatment group led to discontinuations as compared to only 8%”
Listen at 8:39
The Moderna treatment group showed a numerical imbalance in deaths versus placebo.
“there was also an imbalance in deaths with the treatment group, the Moderna group versus the placebo”
Listen at 9:00
Neoadjuvant treatment appears preferred for this melanoma population.
“it seems like neoadjuvant treatment is a preferred method to go about this specific patient population”
Listen at 10:04
BMS’s neoadjuvant Opdualag/Yervoy approach outperformed Moderna’s trial results.
“when you do that, the results are actually a lot better than the Moderna trial would be”
Listen at 11:10
The Nadina neoadjuvant regimen produced better results than Moderna’s melanoma trial.
“the results are actually a lot better than the Moderna trial would be”
Listen at 11:11
Moderna’s stock sell-off will probably continue.
“the sell-off is probably going to continue”
Listen at 12:32
Moderna’s valuation remains excessive relative to its eligible treatment population.
“The valuation is still way out of step as compared to what the eligible treatment population would be.”
Listen at 12:34
Non-small-cell lung cancer is Moderna’s major target indication.
“The big dog, or at least the gold, the gold. medal that they're going to be trying to achieve is non-small cell lung cancer.”
Listen at 13:07
Moderna’s renal-cell-carcinoma trial is expected in early 2027.
“the renal cell carcinoma trial that I believe is going to be released in early 2027”
Listen at 13:38
Positive renal-cell-carcinoma data could sustain Moderna’s valuation.
“if that seems to be particularly positive, then maybe you can sustain this valuation”
Listen at 13:52
The Qiagen acquisition supports valuations of smaller life-science-tools companies.
“it's certainly supportive of the valuations of a lot of the companies that are smaller out there”
Listen at 15:54
Current valuations of AI-linked life-science-tools companies may not be justified.
“whether or not that valuation is warranted today is kind of another thing”
Listen at 17:00
Life-science tools M&A should help maintain sector valuations.
“the M&A in this space is certainly helpful for it and is going to be able to maintain some of these valuations”
Listen at 17:15
Nautilus Bio faces a significant market-adoption drawback.
“where I see a significant drawback has to do with the market itself”
Listen at 18:47
Nautilus will struggle to persuade users to switch from mass spectrometry.
“I just think it's going to be a challenge to get people to switch”
Listen at 19:18
Nautilus Bio’s commercialization will be harder than management expects.
“i think it's going to be a lot harder than they think it is”
Listen at 19:38
Nautilus Bio will find early commercialization difficult.
“I think it's going to be very challenging for them to get a lot of commercialization early”
Listen at 19:59
Nautilus Bio’s valuation is far too high for its pre-revenue status.
“I think its valuation in the threes and fours is way higher than it should be”
Listen at 20:24
Nautilus Bio’s valuation is far too high at its current level.
“its valuation in the threes and fours is way higher than it should be”
Listen at 20:24
Nautilus Bio’s stock price will rebound after its earnings report.
“I think that on Tuesday, we're going to get a snapback in the price”
Listen at 20:59
Nautilus Bio’s price will rebound after its Q3 earnings report.
“on Tuesday, we're going to get a snapback in the price”
Listen at 21:00
AI-designed drugs may have lower development failure rates.
“if you can leverage ai to design a better drug then maybe you have a lower chance of failure”
Listen at 22:23
BioXcel ultimately went bankrupt after developing AI-enabled neuroscience drugs.
“the company did end up going bankrupt”
Listen at 22:52
Iambic’s market capitalization fell to about $700 million.
“the valuation actually cratered completely. And the total market cap is about 700 million.”
Listen at 23:41
Iambic has about $400 million cash and a roughly $250 million enterprise value.
“their pro forma cash sits at about $400 million, so the enterprise value is about $250 million”
Listen at 23:49
Iambic’s approximately $250 million enterprise value is reasonable for its early-stage asset.
“the enterprise value is about $250 million, which kind of makes sense for an asset like this how early it is”
Listen at 23:52
Iambic’s IAM1363 showed a 23% confirmed systemic response rate.
“they show a 23% confirmed systemic overall response rate at 12 out of 53 patients”
Listen at 24:49
Iambic’s IAM1363 showed an 18% intracranial response rate.
“for intracranial overall response rate or objective response rate, they have 18%, 4 out of 22”
Listen at 24:56
Iambic’s IAM1363 is showing responses in some heavily pretreated patients.
“it's encouraging that they're starting to get a response in some of these patients”
Listen at 25:34
Some IAM1363 responders have remained on treatment for more than one year.
“some of them have been on the treatment for over a year, which is certainly positive”
Listen at 25:40
Iambic’s heavily pretreated patients are showing responses, which is encouraging.
“they are starting to see some responses, which I think is pretty optimistic”
Listen at 26:06
Iambic is expected to provide another clinical-data update in early 2027.
“we should see an update in early 2027”
Listen at 26:22
Inventiva’s MASH drug Q4 readout will probably be positive.
“I think it's probably going to do well”
Listen at 27:16
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
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