FutureCast | Back to the future: How old drugs are enabling new discoveries and a new era for treating depression
In today’s FutureCast discussion, RA Capital Principal Zach Scheiner, Senior Associate Becca Silberman, and Managing Partner Peter Kolchinsky talk about the past, present and future of depression therapies and why we’re confident that new uses and forms of old molecules, including psychedelics, will, in the next decade, bring relief to many of those among us who suffer from untreatable depression. Hop in the DeLorean with us at 88 miles per hour as we go 'Back to the Future'.
I walked 100 miles for this term sheet
Thanks to the selfless efforts of a handful of smart and dedicated volunteers from a few tech transfer offices (TTOs), law firms, and investment firms, the fraught process by which technology licenses are extricated from universities is getting a significant upgrade.
Transforming Forma - The Science of Giving a Damn
Outgoing Forma Therapeutics CEO Frank Lee talks with Rapport about bringing a patient-centric mindset to a biotech steeped in science and Forma’s acquisition by Novo Nordisk.
Alnylam is doing what the IRA is telling it to do
The recent announcement by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals that it was holding off on a planned Phase 3 pivotal study for vutrisiran (marketed as Amvuttra in its sole approved indication so far, hATTR amyloidosis with polyneuropathy) in Stargardt disease illustrates how the Inflation Reduction Act is already having a negative impact on small molecule and orphan drug R&D prioritization. Alnylam’s announcement also brought out skeptics of the biotech industry, who argue the new law is being scapegoated by innovators who want to overturn its Medicare drug-negotiation provisions.
Saving money for Medicare by abandoning new drugs for Medicare patients
As the founder of two biotech companies in Arizona that are currently fundraising to support drug development, it’s clear to me that the Inflation Reduction Act will steer me away from developing cancer drugs for older Americans. This is a problem that can be fixed.
Navigating a storm that threatens American biotechnology
Over the past four decades, David Beier has observed and participated in the evolution of the US biotechnology industry for several key vantage points. The industry’s success and freedom to innovate, he says, has been underpinned by – and helped create – a marketplace that was open enough to fully reward risk-taking investors devoting capital to cutting edge science. Today, that success faces new threats.
The NIH, R&D, and the first mile of the marathon - a conversation with John LaMattina
A conversation with former Pfizer research head John LaMattina about the persistence of the misperception that NIH invents the drugs that biopharma companies sell, the chance encounters that can lead to breakthroughs years or even decades later, and the tough math facing investors and heads of research across the industry when deciding whether to invest in a project that’ll only enjoy nine years of market exclusivity.
When life-saving medication should be in aisle three
We talk a lot about access to care and the hurdles that might keep people from getting the medicine they need. Usually, we’re talking about the price of healthcare or the inanity of insurance requirements. But other hurdles hide in plain sight, as is the case with naloxone (Narcan), birth control, and other drugs that could (and should) be available over-the-counter (OTC).
Innovation and biopharma M&A: feature, not bug
If the FTC begins to look askance at M&A between commercial-stage biopharmaceutical companies and the innovative smaller biotechs that so often are the sources of new medicines, that would be bad news for future R&D and the patients who depend on our industry for life-saving medicines. That they might do so in the name of preserving or protecting innovation in the first place would add insult to injury.