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The head of the UK arm of Fujitsu, the technology group at the centre of the Post Office Horizon scandal, received a 50 per cent pay rise last year as its parent company injected fresh capital to offset falling orders and reputational damage.

Accounts for UK-based Fujitsu Services, a subsidiary of the Japanese IT services company, show its highest-paid director — understood to be UK head Anwen Owen — earned £591,000 in the year to March 2025, up from £388,000 a year earlier. Owen, a former senior civil servant who joined the UK company’s board in 2022, previously held roles at the Treasury and Cabinet Office.

According to the accounts, Fujitsu’s parent injected £80mn into the business to “strengthen the balance sheet” and support operations, following a £200mn capital infusion the previous year.

Revenues fell 9.2 per cent to almost £1.1bn, while profit recovered to £15mn from a loss the year before. However, the company’s order pipeline contracted by a fifth to £904mn, with management warning that the “loss of future new business due to reputational damage arising from the Horizon inquiry remains a key risk”.

More than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 due to faults in the Horizon computer system, which was developed by Fujitsu and falsely showed accounting shortfalls. More than 230 sub-postmasters were jailed, and at least 13 are believed to have taken their own lives.

In its latest filings, Fujitsu said it “continues to support the inquiry process until its conclusion” and is “engaging in discussions with the UK government regarding an appropriate and proportionate contribution” to compensation for victims.

The company said ahead of the inquiry’s final findings, “it is not possible to estimate the amount of a future financial contribution” and therefore no provision has been made in its balance sheet.

The pay rise and cash injection were first reported by the Times and the Sunday Telegraph.

Fujitsu has suspended bidding for UK government contracts until the conclusion of the public inquiry into the Horizon system.

The company told the Financial Times that it continued to work with the government “to ensure we adhere to the voluntary restrictions we put in place regarding bidding for new contracts” and was “engaged with government regarding Fujitsu’s contribution to compensation”.

It added that “improved operating margins and the successful delivery of strategic cost reduction measures” had helped boost pre-tax profits.

“We remain focused on supporting our UK customers, through the delivery of innovative IT services and solutions,” the company said.

The UK government last week pledged to improve the compensation schemes for victims of the Horizon scandal. Business secretary Peter Kyle said ministers would create an appeals process for sub-postmasters who accepted fixed-sum payments under earlier settlements, allowing them to pursue full, evidence-based redress.

The first report of the public inquiry, released in July, found that both Post Office and Fujitsu employees were aware of serious flaws in the Horizon system but “maintained the fiction” that it was reliable. The government has accepted all but one of the inquiry’s 19 recommendations, including proposals for an independent body to oversee redress in future cases.

Fujitsu’s accounts also disclose a £4mn damages claim filed by a former sub-postmaster in July. Fujitsu does not identify the claimant, but media reports have linked the case to Lee Castleton, whose story featured in ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office. The company said it was “not yet possible to predict the outcome” of the case.

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Targeted Pulse, your weekly wrap-up of the top developments in oncology. This week, we saw several breakthroughs in targeted therapies and FDA decisions, bringing renewed hope to patients and clinicians alike. From regulatory designations for promising new drugs to crucial clinical trials, here are the top stories that shaped the week.

Low-Dose Nivolumab Offers Novel Strategy for Hodgkin Lymphoma Treatment

A phase 2 study found that a low-dose regimen of the immunotherapy drug nivolumab (Opdivo; 40 mg) combined with lenalidomide is a highly effective, chemotherapy-free strategy for classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL). The combination achieved an overall response rate of 90% with a favorable safety profile.

Crucially, researchers observed that the 40 mg dose was sufficient to achieve complete PD-1 receptor occupancy, suggesting that the standard, higher nivolumab dosing may be excessive. The findings advocate for using pharmacodynamic biomarkers to guide personalized, cost-effective dosing schedules. This evidence-based approach challenges traditional dosing models, offering a path to significantly reduce treatment costs and improve global access to nivolumab, especially in resource-limited areas. A phase 3 trial is currently underway to compare this novel low-dose regimen with the standard ABVD chemotherapy.

FDA Approves Lurbinectedin/Atezolizumab for ES-SCLC Maintenance

The FDA has approved the combination of lurbinectedin (Zepzelca) and the immunotherapy atezolizumab (Tecentriq) for first-line maintenance treatment in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC). This regimen is for patients whose disease has not progressed after initial induction therapy.

The approval is based on the phase 3 IMforte trial, which demonstrated statistically significant improvements in survival. Compared to atezolizumab alone, the combination reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 46% and the risk of death by 27%, with a median overall survival of 13.2 months. This maintenance strategy addresses a critical need in ES-SCLC to proactively prevent aggressive relapse.

FDA Approves Cemiplimab for Adjuvant Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma

The FDA has approved the immunotherapy cemiplimab-rwlc (Libtayo) as the first and only adjuvant treatment for adults with high-risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) following surgery and radiation.

This approval is based on the phase 3 C-POST study, which demonstrated that cemiplimab significantly improved disease-free survival (DFS). The treatment reduced the risk of cancer recurrence or death by 68% compared with placebo, addressing a critical unmet need for patients with a high risk of relapse. The findings also showed an 80% reduction in locoregional recurrence risk, marking a practice-changing milestone in preventing recurrence for this vulnerable population.

Orca-T Earns FDA Priority Review in Heme Malignancies

The FDA granted priority review to the biologics license application (BLA) for Orca-T, an investigational allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy for treating high-risk hematologic malignancies, including AML, ALL, and MDS. The priority review is based on data from the phase 3 Precision-T study. This trial showed that Orca-T significantly improved patient outcomes compared to standard allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (alloHSCT), particularly in achieving survival free of chronic graft-vs-host disease (cGVHD). Specifically, Orca-T achieved a high survival rate with a much lower incidence of moderate to severe cGVHD (13% vs 44%). This milestone aims to provide a potentially curative option with reduced treatment-related complications.

Dato-DXd Delivers Significant TNBC Survival Benefits in Phase 3 Trial

The antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) datopotamab deruxtecan (Dato-DXd; Datroway) showed statistically significant improvements in both overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) for the first-line treatment of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). The pivotal phase 3 TROPION-Breast02 trial demonstrated that Dato-DXd was superior to standard chemotherapy for patients for whom immunotherapy was not a treatment option. This is the first trial to show an OS benefit in this challenging patient population, suggesting a potential shift in the standard of care for a disease often associated with a poor prognosis.

Officials in the Trump administration are reportedly weighing the possibility of selling portions of the federal government’s $1.6tn student loan portfolio to private investors, which experts say could carry risks for both taxpayers and borrowers – potentially reshaping the student loan landscape in unpredictable ways.

Senior officials at the education and treasury departments have been engaged in internal conversations about offloading select, high-performing segments of the government’s student debt holdings, according to a Politico report this week. These loans are part of the larger portfolio owed by roughly 45 million borrowers nationwide.

Administration officials have also reportedly reached out to figures in the financial industry, including potential buyers, to discuss the idea. The deliberations, which began earlier this year, initially included “department of government efficiency” (Doge) officials stationed at the education department but are now being guided primarily by senior political appointees.

It’s unclear how far the administration will take the idea, or which parts of the $1.6tn portfolio could be put on the market.

Daniel Zibel, vice-president and chief counsel at the National Student Legal Defense Network, described the proposed loan sale as a “complex and unprecedented” idea, essentially the reverse of the 2008 financial crisis, when the government bought privately held loans to stabilize the market.

“The system for student debt is incredibly complicated, and for the administration to do this in a way that lives up to the protections that exist in the law for student loan borrowers makes it even more complicated,” Zibel said.

Selling them off now, he said, would shift repayment and management responsibilities to private entities, raising questions about enforcement, oversight, and the continuity of borrower protections. It could also eliminate the government’s power to cancel the loan.

“If you’re talking about unilateral cancellation, like what president Biden had been talking about, the department would certainly lose all authority to tell a private company that they had to cancel a debt,” he said.

The sale proposal aligns with the administration’s broader goal of reducing the federal footprint in the student loan system and encouraging more private-sector involvement. It could also explain why the Trump administration was so eager to roll back the loan forgiveness offered by the Biden administration.

“Now we know why President Trump and Secretary [Linda] McMahon are hell bent on squeezing every last dollar out of families with student debt,” Mike Pierce, executive director of Protect Borrowers, said in a statement. “Once again, we see that across the Trump Administration, when Wall Street’s demands run against the financial needs of working people, the banks get what they want.”

Michele Zampini, associate vice-president of federal policy at the Institute for College Access and Success, says the plan is likely linked to the Trump administration’s broader ideological aim of shrinking or dismantling the education department.

“This is all part of that same conversation, because the department manages this huge, billion plus dollar loan portfolio,” Zampini said. “You can’t really wind down the department while still having responsibility for this type of loan portfolio. It’s driven by their desire to wind down the department more broadly. This is the roadblock in their way in many senses.”

Any attempt to sell off federal student loans would raise major legal and logistical questions. Borrowers could face uncertainty about whether current consumer protections, often more favorable than those offered in the private market, would remain intact. It’s also unclear whether the government would continue to guarantee the loans.

Zampini adds that the move would put borrower protections at particular risk “because there’s really no precedent for this”.

“There is no indication that there is, first of all, interest from the private market. And if there is interest, their interest would likely be to squeeze as much profit from the repayment as they could,” she said. “And so the interest of a private purchaser and a private investor would very likely not be to provide borrowers with any type of generous benefits or relief programs.”

This is not the first time the idea has surfaced. During Trump’s first term, the education department hired consulting firms to evaluate the student loan portfolio and estimate its potential sale value. That analysis revealed the loans were worth substantially less than government accountants had assumed, and the plan was shelved as the Covid-19 pandemic upended the economy.

Now, with Trump back in office, the administration appears to be reviving the concept as part of a broader rethink of the student loan system. Officials are reportedly exploring whether to transfer management of the loan portfolio, or segments of it, from the education department to the treasury department, an idea seemingly consistent with Trump’s stated desire to close the education department altogether.

“I don’t think this is driven by an interest in helping borrowers,” Zampini said. “Certainly, I don’t think it’s driven by an interest in improving the program. And I also don’t think it’s driven by an actual interest in saving taxpayers money. I think it’s driven mostly by a political interest.”

The potential sale is only one part of a sweeping effort to overhaul the student loan system. The administration has already rolled back nearly all Biden-era policies that offered loan forgiveness or expanded repayment options. It has also resumed collecting defaulted loans for the first time since March 2020, when the pandemic prompted a nationwide pause.

Still, it’s not completely clear how feasible these plans are under the current legal system.

“The law does specifically allow the secretary of education to work with the treasury department to sell loans,” Zibel said. “But it very clearly says that the secretary has to determine that it is in the best interest of the United States to do so, but also that there will not result in any cost to the federal government.”

The concerns are not just that current borrowers might be at risk of losing their protections, but that a student loan market controlled by private entities would increase the barriers to attend college.

“The federal student loan program is unique because the loans are not originated with the goal of making a profit on them,” Zampini said. “They are essentially an access tool to enable people to go to college who wouldn’t necessarily be able to access that same credit in the private market.

“All of those factors make them a lot less likely to generate a return for an investor. And so it’s hard to see how someone looking to make a return on these loans, on this portfolio, would do anything but increase as much as they can the amount of payment and decrease the relief programs and the flexibilities that the federal government offers.”

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The continuing US government shutdown has stopped official data releases, which will leave investors without the September inflation data that had been scheduled for publication on Wednesday.

Economists polled by Bloomberg had expected the consumer price index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to show an increase in inflationary pressures. Instead, the BLS said on Friday that it planned to release its data on October 24.

The CPI release, while more than a week late, will still come in time for the Federal Reserve’s rate-setters, which next meet on October 28-29, to factor it into their policy decision. At their last meeting, they signalled a greater focus on the risks from a slowing labour market than from rising inflation. The “dot plot”, the Fed’s survey of its own members’ forecasts, suggests that policymakers expect inflation to be running at 3 per cent by year-end, slightly above the current rate.

The absence of inflation data could keep investors from making big moves in markets. In place of the BLS data, many have resorted to a slew of private data providers alongside survey data from the Fed, such as its “beige book”, for insights into the US economy.

Still, President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post on Friday promising new tariffs on China led to a drop in stocks and a jump in volatility, suggesting that if the risks are high enough, some investors may jump, with or without the economic data to hand. Kate Duguid

How healthy is the UK economy?

Investors will scrutinise UK labour market data on Tuesday and GDP figures on Thursday for insights into underlying inflation pressures and the health of the economy.

Economists polled by Reuters expect annual wage growth (excluding bonuses) for the three months to August to edge down to 4.7 per cent, from 4.8 per cent in the three months to July. They expect the unemployment rate to be unchanged at 4.7 per cent.

Bank of England policymakers are concerned that wage growth is running too hot for their 2 per cent inflation target, particularly given the UK’s weak productivity record.

While the labour market figures remain uncertain because of poor survey response rates in recent years, analysts will focus on whether recent declines in employment are enough to cool wage growth. A sharp slowdown in wages and a deterioration in hiring could reinforce expectations of interest rate cuts in 2026.

Markets are pricing that the BoE will make one or two quarter-percentage-point cuts next year.

As for the GDP data, economists expect month-on-month growth in August of 0.1 per cent, up from zero growth in July, taking the three-month-on-three-month rate — now the Office for National Statistics’ preferred measure — to 0.3 per cent, up from 0.2 per cent previously.

Ellie Henderson, economist at Investec, also forecasts marginally stronger growth in August but said tax increases expected in the November Budget would have an impact on activity in the autumn.

“Various surveys suggest the prospect of fiscal tightening is already prompting households and firms to delay spending and investment,” she said. “Speculation around the scale of adjustment needed is likely to grow in the run-up to [the Budget on November 26], acting as a further drag on output.” Valentina Romei

Will China’s trade surplus keep defying gravity?

Chinese exports are expected to jump again when Beijing reports trade figures for September on Monday, as the outward flow of goods continues to swell despite the Trump administration’s tariffs.

Economists expect Beijing to report a year-on-year rise of 7.1 per cent in exports during the month, up from 4.4 per cent growth in September. With imports seen rising at a 1.5 per cent pace (up slightly from 1.3 per cent), China’s monthly trade surplus is expected to come in at a hefty $100bn.

The persistently strong figures have defied many economists’ expectations that China’s export machine would slow as Trump’s tariffs took effect — especially since the weakening dollar has sent the renminbi up 2.4 per cent against the greenback this year.

However, a growing chorus of analysts has pointed out that, on a trade-weighted basis, the renminbi is depreciating. It has fallen 8.6 per cent this year against the euro, for example, making exports to Europe more competitive.

China’s trade surplus with the Eurozone is growing rapidly. For the first eight months of the year, exports to the continent grew 5.4 per cent, while imports fell 9.9 per cent. China’s shipments of steel and textiles, for example, have surged, adding to trade tensions.

Jacqueline Rong, chief China economist at BNP Paribas, said China’s resilient exports to non-US markets were down to more than rerouting of trade with the US. The robust growth of its exports to Europe, she said, has been “driven mostly by China’s gain in market share . . . rather than trans-shipments.” William Sandlund

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 06: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the OpenAI DevDay event on November 06, 2023 in San Francisco, California. Altman delivered the keynote address at the first-ever Open AI DevDay conference.(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

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Here are five things in tech that happened this week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?

This Week in Small Business Technology News

Small Business Technology News #1 – OpenAI launches apps inside of ChatGPT.

Announced on Monday at its developer conference, OpenAI now lets you use apps directly inside ChatGPT, making conversations more interactive and personalized. To enrich the user experience, you can now interact with apps like Booking.com, Spotify, Figma, Coursera, Zillow, and Canva directly within ChatGPT. For example – users can say things like “Figma, turn this sketch into a diagram” or “Coursera, teach me machine learning” to activate apps. Some apps can display videos pinned to the top of the chat window and respond to user input. According to OpenAI, the system is built using Model Context Protocol (MCP), enabling apps to connect their data sources and render interactive UIs inside ChatGPT. OpenAI says users must collect minimal data and be clear about permissions. (Source: TechCrunch)

Why this is important for your small business:

Here’s the goal: companies use ChatGPT as their main portal. You’re using applications inside this portal. You’re integrating your ERP, CRM, HR and other applications inside this portal. You’re bringing in both inside and outside data in this portal. You’re using the portal to create videos, images and other content. None of this is out of the box. But the tools are available to start this journey. Some business platforms may choose to build themselves inside ChatGPT’s portal. Or you may need to hire a developer to do the work. Other AI Assistants – Gemini, Copilot, Claude, etc. – are doing the same thing. You’ll be asked, as a business owner to get in bed with one of them, for better or worse.

Small Business Technology News #2 – Microsoft Teams is finally adding this much-demanded feature – and it could massively boost your productivity.

Microsoft Teams is introducing a new pop-out window feature for channels (previously available only for chats). This means users can open channel conversations in a separate window, enabling better multitasking and visibility across multiple conversations. (Source: TechRadar)

Why this is important for your small business:

Currently, according to the report, Teams supports pop-out windows for 1:1 chats, letting you open a conversation in its own window. But channels (group/team conversations) did not have that pop-out ability until now. Microsoft says it expects the feature to be rolling out soon – possible next month – to desktop clients. By the end of the year, the company says that Teams will be able to update work locations through automatic recognition of WiFi networks. The update is part of a larger push to enhance coordination and productivity in hybrid work settings.

Small Business Technology News #3 – Perplexity CEO: Comet AI browser can boost productivity so companies won’t have to hire more people.

Perplexity’s CEO Aravind Srinivas says their new Comet AI browser could significantly boost productivity and add trillions to the U.S. GDP. Describing Comet as a “true personal assistant” that allows users to complete more tasks in the same amount of time, Srinivas said it could save individuals up to $10,000 per year in productivity value. (Source: CNBC)

Why this is important for your small business:

Not sure where the $10K annual savings comes from. Regardless, I’ve downloaded the Comet AI browser and have been using it over the past week or so. It’s as good as Chrome, which has been my go-to browser before. With most browsers like Chrome you have to navigate to your AI Assistant or go into “AI Mode” for a full interactive experience. This comes out of the box with Comet. I’m not seeing huge productivity savings yet, but that’s likely due to my inexperience with the product.

Small Business Technology News #4 – AI tools are changing how workers complain to their employers.

AI tools like ChatGPT are reshaping how employees file workplace complaints – often making them sound more legally sophisticated than they are. Employees are submitting complaints that resemble legal documents, quoting laws and citing statutory violations. These complaints often appear to be written by lawyers but are likely generated by AI tools like ChatGPT. (Source: JD Supra)

Why this is important for your small business:

Firstly, good for the employees. If they’ve got a beef and need an AI Assistant’s help to make a good argument, that go for it. But please: check your facts. According to the authors, employers may feel alarmed by the formal tone and legal references, but many claims misapply employment law, lacking key elements like protected classifications (e.g., race, gender) that are necessary for legal liability. As well, AI-generated complaints may confuse workplace disputes with legally actionable claims. Experts suggest employers should calmly assess the substance of a complaint before reacting to the legal-sounding language – and look for tell-tale signs of an AI-generated complaint such as overly formal phrasing.

Small Business Technology News #5 – Talkdesk Survey: AI Is Growing At Small Businesses But There’s No Plans To Reduce Headcount

Customer service platform Talkdesk released their survey on how small businesses are integrating AI with their customer service. Among the findings: 51 percent have already integrated AI into customer service operations to elevate customer service and, despite AI’s usage, 9 out of 10 those respondents plan to keep or grow their human service teams. (Source: Yahoo Finance)

Why this is important for your small business:

Talkdesk (a client of my company) has released a new customer service platform specifically geared towards small businesses called Talkdesk Express. There’s lots of great information in this new survey on how businesses are using customer service platforms – and AI – to help them provide a better experience and increase productivity.

Each week I round up five small business technology news stories and explain why they’re important for your business. If you have any interesting stories, please post to my X account @genemarks

“It’s a little bit morbid, but it’s to write what you want your obituary to say, and then try to live your life up to that,” Housel tells Fortune in discussing his latest book “The Art of Spending Money.” 

He isn’t the first to adopt the approach for living a fulfilled life. The sentiment echoes that of Berkshire Hathaway’s legendary investor, Warren Buffett, who says many of his life philosophies were gleaned from his right-hand man, Charlie Munger, who passed away in 2023.

“Early on, write your desired obituary, and then behave accordingly,” Buffett wrote in a previous shareholder letter in 2022. 

Now it’s one of Housel’s ways to measure legacy too: if it’s not important enough to take to the grave, it doesn’t matter at all. 

“If I were to write what I want my obituary to say, I would want it to hopefully say: ‘Morgan was a good husband, a good dad, a loving friend, helped his community, helped people in need’” he said.  

Housel’s new book breaks down spending as an art rather than a science 

Housel is known for his bestseller The Psychology of Money, which dissects how people’s previous beliefs, behaviors, and emotions impact finances. Now, he’s unveiling the psychology behind spending. 

Housel emphasizes that spending is not about getting things down to a science, it’s an art that shouldn’t have a “one size fits all” approach. How you’re spending it also makes all the difference: Housel says if a majority of your expenditures are material items, you haven’t yet learned the most important life lessons. 

Housel says that when he was in his 20s, his aspiration for the material world was at its highest– yearning for things like a new Ferrari or a mansion. Later in life, he realized that family and community took precedence over anything he had wanted to splurge on in his past. 

“When you do that exercise [writing your obituary], you immediately realize what you would not care about:  your salary, the size of your house, how often you bought a new car, where you went on vacation. That does not matter at all,” Housel added. 

Other successful founders have emphasized long-term legacy over short-term spending.

Jeff Bezos famously used a similar approach to decide to leave his cushy financial job and start Amazon, for instance.  

“I wanted to project myself forward to age 80 and say, ‘OK, now I’m looking back on my life. I want to have minimized the number of regrets I have,’” Bezos has previously explained. 

“50 or 60 years from now, I am not going to say, I wish I earned more and spent more. There’s a very good chance we’re going to look back and say, ‘I wish I was more helpful and more loving to the people who I really cared about in my life’,” Housel said. 

Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26–27, 2025 in Riyadh. CEOs and global leaders will gather for a dynamic, invitation-only event shaping the future of business. Apply for an invitation.

Earlybird registration is set to close at the end of October for C21’s new three-day format-focused market, conference and screenings event, which is set to take place in Lisbon between April 21 and 23, 2026.

The event is designed as a sales and acquisitions market, connecting buyers and sellers around formats, factual and drama. It will be supported by a two-track conference programme: the Future Formats Forum and The Content Acquisitions Summit.

Both these tracks will be focused on uncovering content trends, buyer priorities, and sales and coproduction opportunities across channels and platforms worldwide. They will mine data from C21’s ongoing Content Strategies premium report strand.

C21’s editor-in-chief & managing director David Jenkinson said: “The focus on formats and factual at Content Europe has been welcomed by the business and we are set to announce some significant speakers and initiatives around the event in the coming weeks. It’s clear the demand for a sales and acquisitions market in the spring is strong following the closure of MipTV, but what is also clear is that these genres are the ones currently defining global business.

“We have already taken additional space at The Marriott in Lisbon to accommodate high demand for the event and will be making a number of further announcements shortly.”

C21 has signed a deal with Amsterdam-based LineUp Industries to become an event partner on Content Europe, with founders Julian Curtis and Ed Louwerse joining the advisory board.

Curtis (left) said: “The demise of MipTV left a big gap in the formats calendar. Our sector will benefit hugely from a dedicated industry gathering and we’re looking forward to working with C21 in delivering an event that gives a voice to all parts of the business – indies to studios, big or small. We aim to make this not just a market but a fun celebration of what we do and the value we deliver.”

Content Europe has also announced that Formats Biz founder Chiara Duranti has joined the advisory board. “Chiara is a champion of global formats and her insights will provide a valuable contribution to the event,” Jenkinson added.

Duranti said: “I’m truly honoured to join the advisory board of Content Europe. As founder of FormatBiz, I believe it’s crucial to have a space that both tracks global trends in scripted and unscripted formats and supports real exchange between buyers and distributors. This new spring market is a timely and strategic response to the industry’s evolving needs.”

Further information will be announced shortly.

The building blocks of Content Europe are:

Subcutaneously administered systemic therapies are expected to reduce administration times, minimizing the time an individual treatment chair or room is needed while simultaneously giving patients the freedom to choose how to spend more of their time outside the clinic, according to J. Thaddeus Beck, MD, FACP.

The most recent regulatory approval of subcutaneous treatment was announced on September 19, 2025, when the FDA approved pembrolizumab and berahyaluronidase alfa-pmph (Keytruda Qlex) for subcutaneous injection for use in adult and pediatric patients aged 12 years and older in all solid tumor indications approved for the intravenous (IV) formulation of pembrolizumab (Keytruda).^1,2

The agent was tested in the phase 3 Study MK-3475A-D77 (NCT05722015) in patients with untreated, metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without EGFR, ALK, or ROS1 genomic tumor aberrations. Patients were randomly assigned to receive subcutaneous pembrolizumab (n = 251) or IV pembrolizumab administered every 6 weeks with platinum doublet chemotherapy.

The results showed that the predefined acceptance margin was met for the pharmacokinetic end points with the lower boundary, 96% CI for cycle 1 area under the curve 0 to 6 weeks, and 94% CI for cycle 3 C_trough, of the geometric mean ratios above the prespecified threshold of 0.8 for comparability. Descriptive analyses of efficacy also indicated that the confirmed objective response rate was 45% (95% CI, 39%-52%) in the subcutaneous arm vs 42% (95% CI, 33%-51%) in the IV arm. Progression-free survival and overall survival outcomes were also similar between arms.

“I think [this approval] is the wave of the future. [I expect that] more of these monoclonal [antibodies] will be given subcutaneously,” J. Thaddeus Beck, MD, FACP, medical oncologist at Highlands Oncology in Rogers, Arkansas, said in an interview with OncLive®.

In the interview, Beck discussed the regulatory agency’s approval of subcutaneous pembrolizumab, its significance for patients and providers, and considerations that should be made before the agent is introduced into clinical practices.

OncLive: What makes this approval of subcutaneous pembrolizumab meaningful?

Beck: The approval of the subcutaneous form of pembrolizumab gives us another option that we can use to tailor treatments for patients’ individual situations. The main benefit is the ease and simplicity of administration [since it allows for a] shortened administration time. It’s a 2.4 mL or 0.5 teaspoon size injection that can be given in seconds instead of [over 30 minutes].

We’ve had very good feedback from patients who are on the trial [about] how it really changed the way they thought about treatment. They liked the fact that it was shorter and quicker, so that they could be in and out. They could have more time to do what they wanted to do before and after their treatment, [providing] much more of a pleasant experience for them.

What will be the immediate effect of the approval?

The patients like it better. It will save chair time, so treatment chairs or rooms will not be occupied as long. You can cut the infusion time down. If it’s being given with another IV chemotherapy, you can drop the last infusion, given that it is subcutaneous, and the patients will have a better experience.

What is important to note about the design of the pivotal trial?

The trial was designed with two arms that compared sequential treatment. The first arm was IV therapy for [X] cycles, followed by subcutaneous therapy. The second arm was subcutaneous therapy, followed by IV therapy. Then patients were allowed to assess how they felt with the treatment and choose which one they’d like to continue with. Most patients chose the subcutaneous version.

There were no unique adverse effects or safety signals. Other than the administration difference, [the subcutaneous formulation] seemed to act in the same form and fashion [as the IV formulation].

What is your advice to those looking to integrate the subcutaneous formulation into their practice?

People have to get partially undressed [to receive the therapy], so you’ll need a private area to [allow for that]. We’re in the process of building a new facility, and we’re taking this change into account. We’re creating a whole separate fast track area where patients can [experience] the faster workflow and have more privacy, so they can take advantage of this program.

8 October 2025 – The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB, the Bank) raised EUR 500 million through its latest Green benchmark Sukuk issuance under its enhanced 2025 Sustainable Finance Framework (the Framework).

The Bank, rated Aaa/AAA/AAA by S&P, Moody’s and Fitch (all with Stable Outlook) priced the 5-year Trust Certificates under its US$25 billion Trust Certificate Issuance Programme.

The Joint Lead Managers (JLMs) for this issuance were Barclays, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole CIB, HSBC Bank plc, ING and Nomura.

The transaction is the Bank’s first EUR benchmark issuance this year. This followed its two other successful public USD benchmark transactions that raised a total of ~USD 3.5 billion from the global capital markets earlier this year. IsDB has now completed its 2025 funding program.

The latest Green Sukuk issuance, the Bank’s second overall, represents an important milestone for IsDB in the EUR markets, positioning the Bank as a future frequent EUR issuer.

The issuance witnessed a record-breaking orderbook– both in terms of both volume (5 times over subscription) and number of investors – reflecting the Bank’s very active investor outreach with EUR investors over the recent months and the robust market demand for AAA-rated paper in a challenging market environment. The Bank’s active investor engagement over the months culminated in a large increment of new investors participating in this issuance.

The proceeds of the EUR 500 million Green Sukuk issuance will be deployed to finance and re-finance (in whole or in part) eligible projects with environmental benefits under the ‘Green Project categories’ as defined in the Framework.

This is IsDB’s first Green Sukuk under the newly‑launched Framework that was published in July 2025 and supersedes the 2019 Framework. The enhanced Framework aligns with the latest editions of the ICMA Principles and Guidelines, including the 2025 Green Bond Principles, the 2025 Social Bond Principles and the 2021 Sustainability Bond Guidelines.

The Framework introduces more stringent eligibility criteria for green project categories and detailed criteria for social project categories. The Bank also added two new eligible categories in the Framework, namely (a) Climate Change Adaptation and (b) Food Security and Sustainable Food Systems, reinforcing their role in its overall operations strategy and reflecting the increasing project approvals in these sectors in recent years.

The enhanced Framework was reviewed independently by S&P Global, which then published a strong Second Party Opinion (SPO) whereby most of the project categories were assigned Medium Green and Dark Green shading. S&P also noted that there are no weaknesses in the Framework and that it is fully aligned with the ICMA Principles.

Execution Timeline

IsDB formally announced to the market, on Wednesday 24 September 2025, a fixed income mandate for the JLMs to arrange a series of virtual calls and physical meetings in UK, France and The Netherlands, with a potential new 5-year Green EUR Sukuk issuance to follow, subject to market conditions.

Throughout the week of 29^{September, the Bank met with a diverse range of investors, particularly focusing on ESG dedicated accounts. The Bank was also building upon the investor outreach that it had undertaken across Northern and Southern Europe in early September.}

Despite a volatile backdrop, market conditions were supportive for IsDB to announce a EUR 500mn Will Not Grow (WNG) 5-year Green Sukuk transaction on Tuesday, 7 October. After gathering positive interest, the Bank officially opened the orderbook the next morning, on Wednesday, 8 October, with a guidance of EUR SOFR Mid Swap (MS) plus 47 basis (bps) area.

Investor demand quickly exceeded EUR 1.5 billion (bn), enabling the Bank to set the final spread at EUR SOFR MS plus 44 bps, i.e. three bps tighter from guidance. This translates to a profit rate of 2.793% for investors, payable on an annual basis and priced at par.

The momentum continued even with the tighter pricing and final orderbooks closed in excess of EUR 2.6bn (incl. EUR 225mn JLM), resulting in IsDB’s most oversubscribed trade ever as well as its largest EUR book on record.

The final distribution was very well diversified across investor types: Central Banks / Official Institutions / Sovereign Wealth Fund (42%); Asset Managers / Fund Managers (30%); Insurance and Pension Funds (22%); and Banks / Treasury (6%).

From a geographical point of view, Europe turned out with the largest share (53%), followed by MENA (27%), Asia (13%) and the UK (7%).

Dr. Zamir Iqbal, the Vice President (Finance) and CFO of IsDB, said: “The work on the Bank’s enhanced Sustainable Finance Framework reflects the Bank’s commitment to further scale up sustainable development in our Member Countries. The latest AAA-rated EUR Green Sukuk is a landmark achievement that showcases the Bank’s impact and capabilities. The strongest credential for the Bank is very strong interest of investors – we are grateful for their endorsement and confidence in the Bank’s mission and its sustainable finance framework.”

Mr. Mohammed Sharaf, the IsDB Treasurer and Mr. Zakky Bantan, the Manager of the Capital Markets Division added, “The most significant takeaway from this issuance is the influx of new investors. Extensive investor outreach, together with the robust Sustainable Finance Framework, made this possible. We highly appreciate all the support from investors. We look forward to build upon this success for future issuances when we return to the EUR markets next year.”

Jamie Stirling, the Global Head of SSA Debt Capital Markets at BNP Paribas concluded: “An impressive issuance by IsDB that underscores the growing appetite of European investors for high-quality AAA exposure in the region. Partnering with IsDB and the other lead managers, we assembled a broad, diversified investor base – many of them first-time Sukuk participants – demonstrating the confidence placed on IsDB Green Sukuk paper. Congratulations to all the team, a very well-deserved result.”

IsDB is a AAA-rated supranational and multilateral development financial institution with 57 Member Countries (MCs) and a mandate of delivering social and economic development with a focus on sustainability in its Member countries and Muslim communities worldwide. The Bank’s operations span across four continents, touching the lives of nearly 1 in 5 of the global population. Its mission is to equip people to drive their own economic and social progress at scale, putting the infrastructure in place and enabling them to fulfil their potential. The Bank’s targeted efforts across multiple continents foster an environment where the primary focus is on human development and well-being.