The VCs with $520 million to 'free the founder'

Biotech entrepreneurs out to raise money often face a vexing decision. You can accept a big check, but that means giving up control of your company to venture capitalists with their own ideas on how it should be run. Or you can take a much smaller check that comes with no strings but also no expert guidance.

Curie.Bio, a recently formed investment firm, is offering a middle option. As STAT's Allison DeAngelis and Matthew Herper report, Curie has raised $520 million to invest relatively small sums in emerging companies and offer them services like a contract research organization. The firm plans to invest in roughly 15 startups this year, and to steadily grow to 40 investments annually by 2025.

"When you start a company in software, at some point, at least in the last 20 years, some part of you goes, 'Should I do Y Combinator?'" Curie co-founder Zach Weinberg said. ".... That is our goal for Curie. At some point, when anybody is thinking of starting a company, they have a spark, they think, 'Should I do Curie?'"

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Personnel

Pharma's C-suites keep shifting

Sanofi's head of research and development is leaving the company for a similar job at Johnson & Johnson, marking the latest departure in a season of change for the world's largest drugmakers.

Sanofi disclosed John Reed's departure yesterday, and J&J confirmed his hiring hours later. Reed joined Sanofi from Roche in 2018, promising to overhaul the company's research operation and presiding over its expansion into messenger RNA and genome editing.

Sanofi is the latest major pharmaceutical firm to lose a top executive in recent months, and Reed's departure follows a CEO succession at Bayer and the resignations of Novartis R&D leader Jay Bradner and Mathai Mammen, Reed's predecessor at J&J.

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Earnings

And now a word from Biogen

Chris Viehbacher, about three months into perhaps the most interesting job in biotech, will host his first quarterly Q&A as CEO of Biogen this week, a chance to outline his vision for a company in transition.

Biogen's earnings call, slated for Wednesday at 8 a.m. ET, is likely to focus on Leqembi, the Eisai-partnered medicine for Alzheimer's disease that won FDA approval in January. The drug's ultimate commercial success rests on convincing Medicare that its demonstrated benefits are worth paying for, and Viehbacher can expect questions on just what role Biogen is playing in that process.

Beyond Alzheimer's, analysts are sure to ask Viehbacher about his plans for Biogen's oft-debated pipeline of new medicines, which has gotten little respect from investors in recent years, and his views on making high-dollar acquisitions, something the company has been loath to do.

Covid-19

Novavax gets another shot

Novavax, the company that developed a powerful Covid-19 vaccine and then repeatedly bungled its rollout, might yet bolster its flagging business.

The U.S. government agreed to buy 1.5 million more doses of Novavax's vaccine, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, agreeing to partially fund the company's work on future vaccines for new variants. Novavax did not disclose how much money it would receive or what per-vial price the government would pay.

The deal, meant to augment federal stockpiles before private buyers take over the Covid-19 vaccination process, gives Novavax a potential lifeline. After repeated regulatory and manufacturing delays kept its vaccine off the market, Novavax ran into lower-than-expected demand in the U.S. The company has said its vaccine, which has milder side effects than its competitors, could compete in the market for booster doses.

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