Biotech came back from the long weekend to a policy hangover and a risk-off tape. XBI and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index fell more than 2% as investors processed a vaccine-policy firestorm at FDA and fresh macro jitters.
On the policy front, controversial vaccine-safety claims from an ACIP chair and an FDA official are putting federal vaccine oversight under the microscope, while the House moved to keep rare pediatric priority review vouchers alive and the FDA itself leans into agentic AI to streamline its own work.
Commercially, the UK is agreeing to boost drug spending by 25% to dodge US tariffs, Lilly is trimming Zepbound self-pay prices again as GLP-1 competition bites, Novo Nordisk's semaglutide just missed in Alzheimer's, and dealmakers are still writing checks—from Regeneron’s gene editing tie-up with Tessera to a $130M Series B for amyloidosis and new capital plans in Alzheimer’s and Stargardt disease.