Ep. 349 - Start-up Spotlight, Compounding Wegovy & Neuropysch

BioCentury This Week

BioCentury This Week
Ep. 349 - Start-up Spotlight, Compounding Wegovy & Neuropysch
Feb 09, 2026 Season 7 Episode 349
BioCentury

2025 marked the end of a four-year slide in series A financings for biotechs, with 144 biotechs raising an aggregate of $8 billion, up $1 billion from the prior two years. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s Danielle Golovin assesses which companies VCs backed last year and what their investments say about where technology is headed.
Washington Editor Steve Usdin offers a perspective on why compounded Wegovy is an assault on the biopharma industry and also explains how the spending bill signed into law last week is a rebuke to proposed White House biomedical cuts.
And Executive Editor Selina Koch unpacks her interview on The BioCentury Show podcast with neuroscientist and Seaport Chair Steven Paul, noting that while serendipity drives drug discovery in psychiatry, it’s engineering that gets it across the finish line.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/658367

#BiotechFinancing #SeriesAFunding #VentureCapital #DrugDiscovery #BiopharmaPolicy

00:00 - Introduction
02:15 - Start-up Spotlight
11:03 - Compounded Wegovy
18:10 - Congress Rebuffs Trump Cuts
23:50 - Steve Paul on Neuropsychiatry

To submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at podcasts@biocentury.com.

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Episode Artwork Ep. 349 - Start-up Spotlight, Compounding Wegovy & Neuropysch 33:55 Episode Artwork Ep. 348 - Biotech's 2026 Catalysts. Plus: China's New Orphan Rules 31:08 Episode Artwork Ep. 347 - Speeding China's Innovation. Plus: Neuro Catalysts and Newcos 29:48 Episode Artwork Ep. 346 - 2026 Public Markets Preview 30:54 Episode Artwork Ep. 345 - TAC to the Future. Plus: GSK Deal, MFN 30:33 Episode Artwork Ep. 344 - JPM Momentum and Asia’s Hotbeds of Innovation 43:19 Episode Artwork Ep. 343 - JPM Deals, Policy Outlook, Approval Trends 25:19 Episode Artwork Ep. 342 - 2026 Biotech Kickoff 25:54 Episode Artwork Ep. 341 - BioCentury's '25-'26 Picks. Plus: BioMarin & Biotech ICYMI 38:15 Episode Artwork Ep. 340 - Obesity Data, Kymera & FDA Survey Results 32:50 Episode Artwork Ep. 339 - Biotech M&A, In Vivo CAR Ts & FDA Tumult 35:21 Episode Artwork Ep. 338 - Semaglutide’s Alzheimer’s Miss. Plus: Vaccine Policy, Cell, Gene Therapy Funding 29:46 Episode Artwork Ep. 337 - FDA’s Moving Goalposts & China’s Innovation Arc 33:55 Episode Artwork Ep. 336 - Cautious Optimism and M&A Momentum 41:01 Episode Artwork Ep. 335 - Neurology's Coming Inflection Point 40:11 Episode Artwork Ep. 334 - Pazdur’s New FDA Role, SITC & China RNAi 36:04 Episode Artwork Ep. 333 - Is This Korea’s Biotech Moment? 45:39 Episode Artwork Ep. 332 - Obesity in Focus. Plus: What’s Next for FDA 28:03 Episode Artwork Ep. 331 - Metsera M&A Melee & Tidmarsh Ouster 27:56 Episode Artwork Ep. 330 - China's Innovation Moment 43:15 Episode Artwork Ep. 329 - Novartis' $12B Avidity Buy. Plus: Base Editors 31:23 Episode Artwork Ep. 328 - Brain Shuttles, GSK Q&A and FDA Vouchers 33:59 Episode Artwork Ep. 327 - Where Gene & Cell Therapy Go Next With Evotec's Bernd Mühlenweg 23:04 Episode Artwork Ep. 326 - Market Outlook, Biosecure Returns, Biotech M&A 36:01 Episode Artwork Ep. 325 - Pfizer MFN Deal, New Trial Paradigm & Billion $ Fund 30:11