Botox & Allergan — Key Take-homes and & Highlights

This is botox: a Cold War bioweapon, a $4 million BLA, three corporate wars, and a drug that has defied the normal

Sep 23

2

Allergan: Botox, Rogue Scientists, and the Ultimate Beauty Franchise

This is the wild story of how a Cold War bioweapon became Botox — and how Allergan turned a sleepy ophthalmology drug into an enduring aesthetic…

Sep 18

9

1

3:36:35

Out this Friday: Allergan Pharmaceuticals

Sep 16

6

1

1:49

What is Approved?

Approved tells the definitive stories behind the world’s most interesting biotech ventures.

Sep 14

5

1

3:02

August 2026

Blueprint Medicines: Chasing Gleevec to a $9B Allergy Drug

Blueprint Medicines was built to find the next Gleevec for cancer. It ended up pivoting to allergic disease instead — and selling to Sanofi for $9B.

Aug 4

8

2

2:29:40

July 2026

Out next Tuesday: Blueprint Medicines

A 70 second teaser from Season 1, Episode 4

Jul 30

4

1:10

May 2026

Keytruda: How Merck's Pembrolizumab Became the Best-Selling Cancer Drug of All Time

In episode 3 of Approved, Alex and Matt trace the full story of Keytruda - from its origins as a failed antibody campaign in the netherlands through FDA…

May 14

19

3

2:07:35

March 2026

Episode #2: Geron

Geron was founded in 1990 to cure aging, built the field around telomeres & stem cells, and spent 34 years at it - only to end up with an FDA approval…

Mar 13

8

1

2:22:05

January 2026

Episode #1: Amylin Pharmaceuticals

Amylin pioneered the incretin class & staked their future on obesity 20+ yrs ago, yet sold for only $7B in 2012 - a pittance for the foundation of what…

Jan 30

22

5

4

1:46:27