A New Chapter Begins for This Undervalued Drugmaker

This micro-cap biotech built its identity around a single innovation: a nasal spray version of metoclopramide, designed to offer faster relief for patients with diabetic gastroparesis.

Now, with a high-premium buyout from a specialty pharma partner, it’s turning the page.

Wall Street closed lower on Tuesday as warnings from top Wall Street CEOs about stretched tech valuations and potential market corrections sparked broad risk-off sentiment.

Merck (NYSE: MRK) just locked in a $700 million deal with Blackstone Life Sciences to fast-track a next-gen cancer therapy called sac-TMT.

The treatment is part of a growing wave of antibody-drug conjugates built to hunt cancer cells while sparing healthy ones.

Think of it as precision medicine with a fighter-jet brain. Smarter, faster, and far more targeted than the old-school chemo approach.

For Merck, it’s the latest sign that the post-Keytruda era won’t be about playing defense.

The Keytruda Successor Hunt

With Keytruda’s patents expiring later this decade, Merck is racing to build the next blockbuster before the window closes.

ADCs have become the hot spot of oncology, mixing biotech innovation with billion-dollar potential.

By teaming up with Blackstone, Merck can move more quickly without bearing the full financial burden.

You can feel the urgency, as it’s not just about funding, it’s about keeping the spotlight in a market that rewards whoever gets there first.

A Smarter Way to Bet on Science

This partnership isn’t just capital; it’s strategy.

Merck shares the risk, retains control, and gains extra fuel for its innovation engine.

You don’t often see Big Pharma and Wall Street pulling in the same direction, but when they do, the results tend to reshape industries.

Merck is quietly setting the next standard for how cancer breakthroughs get built.

Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM) is rethinking its entire menu of businesses, and Pizza Hut might be the course getting sent back to the kitchen.

After seven straight quarters of slowing sales, the once-iconic chain has gone from centerpiece to side dish.

It’s not that people stopped loving pizza; they just found faster ways to get it. Domino’s built digital dominance, while Pizza Hut clung to dine-in nostalgia.

Tacos Rising, Chickens Flying

While Pizza Hut cools off, Taco Bell and KFC are heating up.

Yum’s turning its energy toward what’s actually working: drive-thru innovation, global expansion, and brand buzz that prints money.

The company’s making it clear that sentimentality doesn’t pay the bills.

You can sense the shift toward growth that actually scales, not nostalgia that lags.

End of an Era, Start of a Strategy

Selling or spinning off Pizza Hut would close a massive chapter in Yum’s history, but it could also free up capital for brands that are still climbing.

The move’s bold, but so is cutting a legacy loose before it burns cash.

And if you’ve ever watched a company shed its past to save its future, this one might be your favorite sequel yet, the kind where the comeback doesn’t need a crust to make a profit.

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Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is reportedly in early talks to acquire SambaNova Systems.

This red-hot AI chip startup has been quietly developing the kind of technology that everyone else wishes they had.

The deal could fast-track Intel's comeback and reshape how the world's biggest chipmakers compete.

Instead of grinding through years of research, Intel might acquire the technology that makes AI inference chips run faster and smarter.

When Old Money Meets New Silicon

SambaNova's reconfigurable chips are designed to handle the rapid, everyday processing that AI systems require to operate in real-time.

That's the prize Intel wants: instant relevance in a market growing too fast to play catch-up.

This move also hints at a bigger trend: the age of buying innovation instead of building it. You can feel the shift as legacy giants rush to catch up with the startups rewriting the rules.

The Bold Trade for Relevance

For Intel, the objective extends beyond mere company survival; it involves initiating a transformative effort.

The acquisition of SambaNova has the potential to narrow the competitive gap with Nvidia, thereby positioning Intel as a significant player in the artificial intelligence sector almost instantly.

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Evoke Pharma [EVOK] $10.66 (+132.24%)

Evoke Pharma, which produces a nasal spray for diabetic gastroparesis, surged after agreeing to be acquired by QOL Medical in an all‑cash deal valuing the company at $11 per share – a 140% premium to Friday’s close.

Dennys Corp [DENN] $6.18 (+50.36%)

Denny’s jumped after a $620 million go‑private buyout led by the owners of TGI Fridays and P.F. Chang’s offered shareholders a 52% premium.

Tactile Systems Technology Inc [TCMD] $22.18 (+40.65%)

Tactile Systems rallied after reporting quarterly earnings more than double analyst estimates and stronger‑than‑expected revenue growth.

Sarepta Therapeutics [SRPT] $16.20 (-33.74%)

Sarepta plummeted after two Duchenne muscular dystrophy trials failed to reach statistical significance, clouding regulatory prospects for key gene therapies.

Ichor Holdings Ltd [ICHR] $15.73 (-31.39%)

Ichor fell after missing earnings estimates for the fourth straight quarter, posting a 41% profit shortfall despite slightly higher revenue.

Forward Industries, Inc [FORD] $10.44 (-25.32%)

Forward Industries dropped after unveiling a $1 billion share buyback alongside dilution fears and a sharp weekly drop in the price of Solana – its treasury asset.

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