Silverback Therapeutics’s wind-down and reverse merger process can serve as a template for other companies when their clinical trials fail. The company’s response to its setback also teaches us about scenario planning, the importance of moving quickly when a key program doesn’t deliver hoped-for data, and why we should look ahead to a biotech ecosystem that anticipates the consequences of – and opportunities stemming from – its inevitable clinical setbacks.

Though its program failed in clinical trials, Nektar kicked off an appreciation for what might be possible with a better IL-2. As other companies carry on with programs in part inspired by Nektar’s early data and vision, we explore failure in biotech, ignoring the naysayers, and the value of carrying on when the odds are slim.