| | | |   | Hello, all. Damian here with news of biotech's latest nadir, criminal charges for a longtime CEO, and a venture firm making Washington inroads. | | | Turns out biotech had further to fall  Yesterday, the closely watched XBI biotech index had its worst single day since 2015, falling to lows it hasn’t seen since drug pricing became a major issue in the 2016 presidential election.
The day’s 8% decline means biotech has been roughly cut in half in the past 12 months, as the chart above illustrates. More than 120 biotech companies are now trading at valuations below their cash reserves, according to Jefferies, and a long-predicted surge in pharmaceutical M&A has yet to materialize.
According to analysts, the industry has two problems: The glut of publicly traded companies has spread investor interest thin, and macro concerns about interest rates and inflation have shifted attention toward businesses that actually make money and away from speculative sectors like biotech and tech. Neither issue is likely to go away any time soon, meaning the latest XBI nadir probably won’t be the last. | Seagen’s CEO on leave after domestic violence arrest Longtime Seagen CEO Clay Siegall is on a leave of absence, the company said yesterday, following his April 23 arrest on charges of domestic violence.
In a statement, the company formerly known as Seattle Genetics said it was “aware of an alleged incident of domestic violence” and that Siegall “has denied these allegations and has informed the company that he is engaged in a divorce.” According to court documents, Siegall was arrested in the early morning of April 23 and charged with fourth-degree assault domestic violence. He was released the following afternoon, according to the documents.
Seagen has appointed an interim CEO and “is conducting a thorough investigation with the assistance of an independent law firm,” the company said. Siegall co-founded Seagen in 1998, becoming CEO in 2002 and chairman in 2004.
Seagen's share price fell about 14% yesterday. | Early engagement and regulatory considerations for drug development by emerging biotechs Despite robust funding and government initiatives for the development of orphan drugs and personalized medicines, small emerging biotech companies are typically very lean on resources, lacking the infrastructure required to bring their innovation to the market. Download this whitepaper, and find out how to navigate the complexities of drug development as a small biotech organization. Gain insights into key considerations for forming successful partnerships, and learn more about why it’s crucial to engage a regulatory strategist in all aspects of drug development. | Flagship pioneers its way to K Street Flagship Pioneering, the firm that founded Moderna, has hired a team of lobbyists, representing a first among health care venture capital outfits.
As STAT’s Nicholas Florko reports, Flagship has retained the services of Tarplin, Downs & Young, which also represents Gilead Sciences, Merck, and Abbvie. It’s not clear what the five lobbyists now on Flagship’s payroll will actually do; the associated paperwork lists “healthcare innovation and access” as the only issue.
The move marks Flagship’s latest inroads into Washington. Last year, the firm hired Stephen Hahn, the FDA commissioner under President Trump, and in January it recruited Tom DiLenge, the former top policy official at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization.
Read more. | Moderna’s courtroom innovation Moderna, facing intellectual property lawsuits related to its Covid-19 vaccine, has mounted an intriguing defense: We didn’t infringe your patents, but even if we did, you should be suing the government instead.
As the Wall Street Journal reports, Moderna said in a court filing that, because the company’s sole U.S. client is the federal government, any claims of patent infringement should be directed at federal authorities, citing a law that protects government contractors from certain lawsuits. Genevant, one of the companies suing Moderna, told the Journal that “rather than respond to the substance of our claims, Moderna is trying to shift responsibility for its patent infringement to the U.S. taxpayer.”
Genevant, along with Arbutus Biopharma, are not seeking to block the sale of Moderna’s vaccine but rather collect a royalty on future revenues and the roughly $40 billion the company has made so far. Separately, Alnylam is suing both Moderna and its rivals at Pfizer and BioNTech, claiming each infringed its lipid nanoparticle patents. | More reads - Telehealth aims to crack open Paxlovid’s prescription bottleneck. STAT
- Novavax 2022 Covid vaccine deliveries off to slow start. Reuters
| Thanks for reading! Until tomorrow,  | | | |
No comments