Welcome back to your monthly news roundup, where we take a look back at the top moments to hit the pharma headlines. It’s time to reflect on November 2025
The obesity price pinch
This month, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly’s decision to cut US prices for their blockbuster obesity drugs was the latest plot twist in President Trump’s tariffs thriller. Look a little closer, though, and the move makes strategic sense. A new definition released earlier this year means up to 70% of US adults could now be classified as having obesity, turning an already significant clinical need into a truly large-scale population health challenge. By lowering list prices, both companies unlock access to government reimbursement – shifting treatments that were once largely self-pay into the realm of Medicare and federal coverage. Novo’s CEO has cautioned this will have a low single-digit drag on global sales growth in 2026, but it’s not all doom and gloom. Early concessions could allow Novo and Lilly to lead a market widely projected to exceed $100bn by 2030, turning discounts into widespread adoption. A win for patients and for both companies’ innovation funds.
A virus at the root of lupus?
A discovery in the autoimmune world arguably delivered this month’s biggest breakthrough. Stanford researchers identified Epstein–Barr virus as a key driver of lupus, discovering that infected B cells are over 25 times more common in lupus patients than in healthy controls. One of the study’s investigators even called it “the single most impactful finding of my career”, suggesting lupus may be “the first major autoimmune disease with a clear upstream target”. If true, the field’s focus could shift from lifelong immunosuppression to preventative EBV vaccines – a future in which lupus isn’t just treated, but intercepted. And the stakes couldn’t be higher for women, who carry most of lupus’s burden. As Alnylam’s Carol Pitcher-Towner noted in an EMJ GOLD podcast: “Lupus affects women nine times more often than men, yet women still take longer to be diagnosed and have poorer health outcomes as a consequence.”
The six-day cold chain
Meanwhile, supply chains quietly had their own headline moment. Frontier Scientific Solutions launched the first dedicated EU–US air corridor for life sciences, a six-days-a-week, temperature-controlled route linking Ireland and North Carolina. While it may sound niche to the uninitiated, most in pharma know that cold-chain failures cost an estimated $35 billion a year – largely due to temperature excursions and delays – making logistics every bit as key as pipeline. By stripping out handoffs and tarmac time, the corridor promises fewer ruined biologics and faster movement of therapies between two of the world’s busiest pharma hubs. It will also bring 350 new jobs to Shannon and Wilmington, proving that amid price cuts and life-saving science, sometimes the most critical innovation is simply keeping medicines on the right side of cold.
Honourable mention of the month
Staying in North Carolina, Novartis’ decision to build a major manufacturing hub in the state wouldn’t usually be front-page news, but it lands differently when viewed against the backdrop of Trump’s tariff campaign. Having covered the pricing fallout, it’s worth noting the physical one: companies aren’t just trimming margins, they’re moving bricks. Novartis is the latest to opt for manufacturing “inside the wall” rather than sparring with import duties – a trend also seen at Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and more. The firm says the site will create around 3,000 indirect roles in the region by 2030, underscoring how tariff-era pressure could serve the US in more ways than one.
