A year ago we published the first “Semper Maior” piece, making the case that biotech was on firm ground and ready for a reboot. We put out the second piece last summer, when it felt like the rebound was underway. Had the year ended in October or even November… well, you know. But here we are after a general market and XBI surge feeling like biotech is now truly recovering from its prolonged downturn. So let’s mine the data, as we have before, to get a sense of what happened in 2023 and what lessons to take with us into 2024.

In today’s FutureCast discussion, RA’s Raj Shah, Jake Simson, Tess Cameron, and Peter Kolchinsky revisit one of our most talked-about articles: Time to Reboot Biotech. Fresh financial analysis and actionable board room advice abound.

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.

Biotech board members and management teams are increasingly asking how their companies can benefit from what RA Capital and others call a “Series I” IPO process (also known as a data-driven or logic-based IPO). Here we’ve compiled common questions and answers.

Covid has flooded a barren vaccine startup landscape with capital. And that has revealed some valuable lessons for investors, company builders, Congress, and the public.

If the Biden drug plan passes, the United States will be consciously volunteering to put less capital to work in a large industry where we lead the world. No real argument can stand against the fact that less capital means fewer new products for patients.

The way that hospitals benefit from inflated list prices is a common theme across different kinds of drugs dispensed at hospitals and clinics across the country. When drug prices are a Trojan Horse for all kinds of other health care costs, we all lose.

Repatriating the American drug supply is key not just to averting shortages but to restoring and preserving the integrity of generic drugs in America.

Whatever therapy or intervention solves a previously unmet need is inherently novel. So any treatments for COVID-19 that turn out to work will be "novel" in every way that matters.