Hunter Goble

When should biotech platform companies choose to remain independent and grow to become the next big pharma, versus exit via M&A? To answer this, we should first ask: Why do biotechs typically position themselves for M&A rather than long term independent growth? Biopharma M&A is the preferred route of exit for most founders and investors for two key reasons: 1) Rapid, lump sum cash liquidity for shareholders. 2) Hand off risk to partners. Sell assets to big pharma to leverage their capabilities in navigating the long, expensive and risky path to commercialization (e.g., FDA approval, payer negotiations, manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution) One downside of this is that, post M&A, the hard-earned platform capabilities (the people, knowledge, technology and practices that constitute a biotech) are stripped for parts and largely lost. In the choice between independent growth vs. M&A for biotechs, I propose a simple heuristic for identifying "platform escape velocity". When the risk adjusted return yielded by a (continuously compounding) biotech platform outweighs the value of a wholesale M&A exit for the same timeframe, then the balance tips in favor of independent growth over acquisition. Factors to consider: (1) Time frame to exit. Weighing a sizable M&A in 3 years versus a theoretically larger public market cap in 10 years can be challenging. (2) Sharpe Ratio. What is the projected delta in profit between independent vs. M&A commercialization? (3) Platform rate of compounding. How much does compounding economies of scale in your platform bend your PoS/RAR for each incremental asset? (4) Cost of Commercialization. Are you capitalized, equipped, and staffed as an independent biotech to commercialize? H/T David K. Yang

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Tomorrow at MassBio's Align Summit, I'll be representing CytoReason on a panel with distinguished representatives from Genentech, BigHat Biosciences, BioNTech SE and Locust Walk. In the session "AI Partnerships: Integrating for Strategic Value" we'll bring up best practices for integrating AI/ML into pharma and biotech companies. We'll also discuss the the competitive advantages that these capabilities can unlock, and when to build, buy, or rent these capabilities. Thanks MassBio for organizing this important event, in partnership with Locust Walk and McKinsey & Company. For more info, see the link in comment below.

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We started out Q1 with cautious optimism and the numbers continue to show the confidence was warranted. Biopharma M&A activity more than doubled nationally during the year’s first three months, coinciding with a rebound in venture capital deals as well as a flurry of IPOs. These are all good signs that the drug development cycle is normalizing and should translate into additional funding being available at the seed and Series A stages. Certain to be on the minds of funders and startups attending #AlignSummit24 on Thursday! https://lnkd.in/erEiJm6S  

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Is Biotech back? Well, IDK I'm not a VC and have no real data other than my gut. But.... I see the signs. When the hiring market heats up the first group of candidates we see to become hard to hire are Sr. Research Associates. They have the skills and training to add value on day one by taking over the workflows that might be time sucks for a Sr. or Principal scientist. These candidates are "Goldilocks" candidates. where they're not too experienced to where they want to lead. But there also not too green to where you have to spend a ton of time training them on your workflows. They're bench science workhorses and the real MVPs of many teams. And we are starting to see this level of candidate get reabsorbed into hiring companies at a pretty fast rate. So, if you're hiring for a Sr. Research Associate level individual my advice is to move quickly on the candidates you like, odds are others will want these candidates as well. #movequick #biotech #sfbayarea

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🌟 This week in the longevity biotech field, Rubedo Life Sciences made headlines with two major announcements: securing $40M in Series A funding co-led by Khosla Ventures and Ahren Innovation Capital to advance senolytics into atopic dermatitis and psoriasis, and a strategic partnership with skincare giant Beiersdorf to develop science-based anti-aging skincare products. 🔬The focus on skin ageing—arguably the most visible indicator of ageing—makes sense as the "low hanging fruit" in the longevity biotech space. However, despite its clear effects, it is still challenging to test many claims. The problem is the vague definition of skin ageing, which includes a long list of ageing phenotypes (e.g. wrinkles, spots, pores, pigmentations, etc) with clear differences in sex, gender, and ethnicity. Chinese women typically develop wrinkles rapidly between the ages of 40 and 50, compared to a more linear development in French women from ages 20 to 60. The lack of reliable scales or testing models also complicate the issue. With FDA regulatory changes aimed at tightening cosmetic skin product testing, the industry could slowly close those gaps and achieve significant improvements in standards. 💡 Rubedo's journey is a great example of a longevity biotech company pioneering the path from bench to bed to market with a platform technology focuses on a clear hallmark of ageing, senescence, with clear leads and clinical applications. This is only because of the potential of integrating great science with practical and pragmatic anti-agieing applications. 👏 Thanks Marco Quarta, for sharing your time and insights during such a pivotal and exciting time. I am inspired by your humility, resourcefulness, and visionary leadership. And congratulations to Ali Siam, and Rubedo team and board, and investors. #LongevityBiotech #AntiAging #SeriesA #SkinCare #SkinDiseases https://lnkd.in/ey7q-K_V

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Cormorant Asset Management, LP is very pleased to be supporting Altrubio’s Series B financing. I’m quoted in this WSJ article by Brian Gormley highlighting recent advances by biotech companies like AltruBio Inc. and our former portfolio company Prometheus (acquired last year by Merck for $10.8B), bringing novel targets and approaches to the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases such as ulcerative colitis. Altrubio is in the vanguard of efforts to exploit checkpoint inhibition in T-cells to restore proper balance of the adaptive immune system in inflammatory disorders. Blockade of checkpoint inhibition to stimulate anti-tumor T-cell immunity has revolutionized the treatment of cancer. Altrubio is now taking an inverse approach leveraging the novel immune checkpoint inhibitor PSGL-1 to combat T-cell-driven inflammation in ulcerative colitis and other autoimmune/inflammatory disorders.

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Our partner Eddie Eltoukhy has identified these opportunities in Biotech. Eddie has a PhD in bioengineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and over a decade experience as an operator. Reach out to him if you are working on these areas of biotech. Pear VC - Technology-Driven Therapeutic Platforms Companies developing therapeutic assets with a core product engine Proprietary tool, workflow, or samples leading to novel biological data sets Preference for omics platforms or high throughput screening / engineering workflows First-in-class or best-in-class drugs - Next-Generation Therapeutic Modalities Technologies to improve the efficacy, safety, access, or reach of next-gen modalities including the following: Genomic medicines (gene tx & gene editing) Cell therapies Targeted protein degraders Antibody-drug conjugates Radiopharma - Precision Medicine New technologies supporting the discovery of novel biomarkers and the generation of proprietary data sets for applications in: Disease screening Therapy selection Recurrence monitoring - Life Sciences + AI Software Platforms Software & AI-driven platforms to improve all aspects of life sciences R&D, including: Target discovery and validation Drug design and optimization Manufacturing Regulatory Clinical development

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Values are all about what makes you unique - as a group of people, not as a business or from a scientific point of view. Getting the wording right is critical. They have to resonate, be descriptive and form the foundation of your culture. Come take a look at our guide to defining your Values....

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After a turbulent few years, 2024 has given the biotechnology industry some signs of a return to normalcy. For one, venture investment appears to have stabilized at levels seen prior to a pandemic-era spike. Data presented by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization at the group’s annual meeting this week in San Diego showed private drug companies in the U.S. raised $3.8 billion during the first quarter.... Venture capital firms are also active in raising cash, reloading for new investment in the sector. Several new groups have launched this year, including Regeneron’s venture arm and Goldman Sachs’ first life sciences fund, which raised $650 million. Established investors are busy, too: ARCH Venture Partners outlined plans in February to raise $3 billion, while Canaan Partners X LLC recently added $100 million to its 13th fund.... #investing #investment #IPO #MergersandAcquisitions #funding #financing #biotech #biotechnology #returningtonormal #capitaldeployment Biotechnology Innovation Organization #celltherapy #genetherapy #cellandgenetherapy #advancedtherapies #regenerativemedicine #lifesciences #lifescience #BIO2024

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Abby Levy talks about venture's role in US healthcare and what we can expect to see as technology impacts the space on TFR. Check out the rest of the conversation with Abby & Alan Patricof of Primetime Partners on Episode 433.

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Couple of weeks ago had the pleasure of sharing my story to Alexander Benkendorf about starting CastPrint and later moving on to join Verge HealthTech Fund and the learning along the way. Some topics we discussed: 💡What does it take to bring innvation in healthcare 💡How did my startup background help me better prepare for VC work 💡How founders can better engage with VCs and what are the tips and tricks from the "other side" Thanks Alexander for having me!

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Discover 10 big pharma and biotech companies that have spun out their own venture capital arms to invest in startups in the industry. #venturecapital #veteranventures

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I recently sat down with Michael Batko, CEO at Startmate and Founder of Puddle Pod for Episode 11 of Insane Ambition. Startmate has invested in 230+ startups, much of it under Michael's leadership, and now has $3.5b in value across its portfolio companies. In this episode, we discussed: - Michael's journey from consulting, then living in the Amazon rainforest, to leading Australia's biggest startup accelerator - The future of Australia's startup ecosystem - The labour government's very stupid plan to make it harder for people to qualify as sophisticated investors (now thankfully shelved) - Startmate City! Startmate's plan to build Australia's first startup city. Probably the most ambitious idea I've ever heard from a startup accelerator. - The balance between visionary thinking and traditional startup advice (think Elon Musk's plan to colonise Mars, vs Y Combinator's problem/customer obsession) - "The Courage to Be Disliked", and its influence on Michael's approach to life and business. Links in the description below 👇

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May SCDI update: if you've been paying attention it should come as no surprise that the clinical development index was down ~11% in May vs. the Dow up ~2%. YTD the SCDI is down ~12% vs. the Dow up ~3%. Monthly stock change below: ICON (ICLR) + 7.5% Bio-Rad (BIO) + 5.8% Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) -1.3% Medpace (MEDP) -1.5% Evotec (EVO) -5.2% IQVIA (IQV) -6.9% West Pharmaceutical Services (WST) -9.0% Charles River (CRL) -9.6% Veeva (VEEV) -12.7% Harvard Bioscience (HBIO) -14.1% Fortrea (FTRE) -32.2% CryoPort (CYRX) -37.5% Evotec Charles River Laboratories Bio-Rad Laboratories Medpace Thermo Fisher Scientific Veeva Systems ICON plc IQVIA West Pharmaceutical Services Fortrea Cryoport Inc. Cryoport Systems Harvard Bioscience #clinicaldevelopment #clinicaltrials #cro #schaferclinicaldevelopmentindex #scdi #pharma #biotech

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How does a venture capitalist pick winning startups? Ben Hemani of Bison Ventures joined us on the podcast this week to discuss the intersection of deep tech, biotechnology, and climate sustainability. Key insights: 1️⃣ Evaluating founders and teams in early-stage ventures is an art and a science. 2️⃣ How Ben and his team are navigating the current funding climate. 3️⃣ The powerful potential of cross-disciplinary approaches in tech and biotech. (Plus, why Ben and I both love a good platform company) This episode is packed with actionable advice for entrepreneurs and investors alike. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did! #VCInsights #TechInnovation #Biotechnology #StartupFunding

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🌟 Attention Biotech and Venture Capital Leaders 🌟 This morning, I picked up the #NVCA Quarterly report (1Q'24) for some reference data and came across a statement that made me pause: “However, many biopharma startups are pre-revenue and need to burn a significant amount of capital while making advances clinically.” While this statement is factual, it opens up significant opportunities for interpretation and, more importantly, ACTION. Today, I pose the following questions to our community: 💰 Investors: Besides leveraging AI what steps are you taking to support emerging biopharma companies through this historically challenging paradigm? 🕴 Biopharma Executives: Have you considered adopting an alternate business model to sustain the biotech business? At #UbuntuResearch, we have a unique perspective based on our current work, but I would love to hear from the community. Let’s engage meaningfully to address the complex issue of biotech financing. How can we collaborate to find innovative solutions? Source: Venture Monitor - Q12024 #Biotech #VentureCapital #GlobalDrugDevelopment #UbuntuResearch #BiotechExec

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Very interesting panel discussion last night at the BOSTON BIOTECH FORUM, LLC organized by Wendy Webber Nelson, PhD on the current and evolving fundraising landscape for biotech. Olga Danilchanka brought the MRL corporate VC perspective, with Peter Day with the banking angle from Piper Jaffray, John Alam sharing insights from his recent (wildly successful) CervoMed reverse merger, and John Alessi and Anna Tomczyk rounding out the group with the legal considerations from Dechert. Everyone, at all stages, is struggling to adjust to moving goalposts and uncertain pricing. The consistent north star seems to be the well-established value inflection points - Development Candidate molecule selection is the new minimum for series A financing, and teams on both sides of the table are aiming to fund enough to clear human proof of concept in hopes of derisking the IPO/M&A that might be expected at that milestone. Creative financing with grants, strategic deals, and reverse mergers are gaining ground, diligence levels are high, deals are slow, and those that do get done are often insider-led. I think Peter Day said it best "Whatever you see in the flashy big number headlines, every single team that closes their funding comes out feeling like they've walked a million miles through the desert." While these are undoubtedly difficult times for biotech fundraising, it's refreshing and encouraging to be able to talk with others who have been through it before from every aspect. It's also great to see so many people dedicated and focused on delivering life changing medicines. This field, so densely packed in this town, is blessed with brilliant people working ridiculously hard to make the world a little bit better.

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Ursheet P. from Mayfield Fund message to early founders: Don’t try to do it all on your own. You can get to scale faster, cheaper, and more efficiently through partnerships, collaborations, and outsourcing. Focus on your core capabilities and look externally to execute on scalability. #synbiobeta2024

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🔬 Discovering Biomarkers for Better Outcomes in Melanoma Treatment 🔬 Exciting news from ASCO 2024! Led by Jeffrey Weber, our team is proud to present pioneering findings on the role of predictive and pharmacodynamic biomarkers for response and toxicity in melanoma treatment. Our phase II trial combined tocilizumab (TOCI) with immune checkpoint inhibitors, reducing toxicity and revealing new biomarkers. Initiated in 2020-21, this work involved multiple high parametric flow cytometry panels to identify various myeloid, NK and functional CD4 and CD8 T cell populations linked to treatment outcomes. Our insights are paving the way for more personalized, effective melanoma management. 🔥 Hot Take: Inflammation Modulators are Here to Stay in Immuno-Oncology!🔥 📍 Check out our findings at ASCO Poster Abstract #9538; Poster Board #322. #ASCO2024 #MelanomaAwareness #TranslationalBiomarkers #TranslationalResearch

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