Private equity in autism care, a watershed FDA approval, and the future of ALS treatment

How did autism care become a big business? Can gene therapy be profitable? And whatever happened to that $40 billion merger?

We cover all that and more this week on “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast. First, STAT’s Tara Bannow joins us to discuss how private equity’s mounting interest in autism care has created an untenable situation for many parents in the U.S. We also explain the implications of Bluebird Bio’s long-awaited FDA approval, a controversial treatment for ALS, and the ups and downs of Merck’s reported interest in buying Seagen.

For more on what we cover, here’s the story on autism care; here’s more on the private equity angle; here’s the news on Bluebird; here’s the latest on ALS; here’s more on the future of mRNA; here’s where you can find episodes of Color Code; here’s where you can subscribe to the First Opinion Podcast; and here’s our complete coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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And if you have any feedback for us — topics to cover, guests to invite, vocal tics to cease — you can email [email protected].