| |   | Hello, everyone. Damian here with a novel idea in venture capital, the implications of biotech's latest billion-dollar deal, and an unsurprising failure five years in the making. | | | Two biotech VCs want to ‘free the founders’ from onerous terms For biotech entrepreneurs, the path to success almost always involves raising money from venture capitalists who buy up the lion’s share of equity, leaving even the most successful founders with fractional stakes in their own brainchildren. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
As STAT’s Allison DeAngelis reports, founder-friendliness is the bedrock principle of Curie Bio, a new venture firm intended to, in the words of its leaders, “free the founders.” Led by biotech veteran Alexis Borisy and entrepreneur Zach Weinberg, Curie has raised about $250 million to invest in startups, offering founders higher equity stakes than other biotech VCs and providing fledgling companies with a central hub of scientific equipment and access to expertise.
“We’re believers in the power of entrepreneurialism, if you can set it free,” Borisy said.
Read more. | Pfizer, Biohaven, and biotech's new normal The good news, for biotech, is that Pfizer’s $12 billion acquisition of Biohaven, announced yesterday, represents a roughly 80% premium over where the company was trading just a day before. The sobering part is that Pfizer’s offer of $148.50 per share just about matches Biohaven’s market value as recently as November.
As STAT’s Matthew Herper reports, the deal might help ease what has been a brutal bear run for biotech stocks, as it suggests that plunging valuations can indeed persuade cash-rich pharmaceutical firms to shell out for smaller drugmakers.
But future deals might hinge on biotech companies acknowledging that this year’s downturn represents a correction and not a momentary interruption to 2021’s record heights. Biohaven, by taking a deal that would have seemed irresponsibly cheap just six months ago, might represent the new normal.
Read more. | In-depth biopharma, business, and policy analysis at your fingertips Sign up for STAT Plus to receive in-depth analysis of the biotech and pharma industries, exclusive one-on-one interviews with industry pioneers, and inside intelligence from Capitol Hill. Don't be the last to know. Subscribe today to start reading. | A biotech failure five years in the making Back in 2017, Northwest Biotherapeutics said it had collected enough clinical trial data to determine whether its cancer vaccine could delay the growth of brain tumors longer than standard of care, meaning the data were ready for analysis.
After five years of delay, obfuscation, and broken promises, Northwest finally presented results yesterday. They were not worth the wait.
As STAT’s Adam Feuerstein reports, Northwest’s cancer vaccine, called DCVax, performed worse than placebo. Patients who received the treatment went a median 6.2 months without their brain tumors returning compared to a median of 7.6 months for patients offered a placebo. Overall, patients treated with DCVax had a 10% higher risk of tumor progression compared to placebo.
Northwest’s shares fell as much as 70% on the news.
Read more. | What did Seagen know, and when? On April 23, at about 4:30 a.m., Seagen CEO Clay Siegall was arrested on charges of fourth-degree assault domestic violence, according to court records. On April 28, he led the company’s first-quarter earnings presentation, speaking at length about its business and pipeline prospects. One week later, on May 5, Seagen appointed an interim CEO to assume Siegall’s duties during a “leave of absence,” the company said in a filing with the SEC. The following Monday, May 9, Seagen made that appointment public.
That timeline raises the question of just when Seagen learned of Siegall’s arrest and how quickly the company took action afterward. The company has not yet publicly acknowledged that its CEO and co-founder has been charged with assault; its May 9 disclosure says only that Seagen “is aware of an alleged incident of domestic violence that occurred recently at Dr. Siegall’s home.”
A spokesperson for the company declined to answer questions or comment beyond what Seagen has said publicly. | More reads - Why a controversial patent rights waiver could be a ‘missed opportunity’ to tackle the next pandemic. STAT+
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- Pharma showers John Thune with campaign cash. STAT
- Emergent hid evidence of Covid vaccine problems at plant, report says. New York Times
| Thanks for reading! Until tomorrow,  | | | |
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