2020 and 2021 were the heyday for special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs. We got in on the act ourselves – twice! – and we’ve learned a lot about why SPACs can sometimes work for a biotech in very particular circumstances, but also why mostly they don’t. We would also note that in certain market conditions, chasing merger targets with a SPAC can be extremely challenging. So we pulled the plug on our second SPAC. Here’s the story.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The biotech sector is experiencing the most severe downturn of at least the last 20 years. There have been many other downturns in the more recent past, but this one is different. Here Peter Kolchinsky discusses why - and how we’ll rebound.

When a biotech company is valued at around the same amount of cash it has sitting in the bank, is it a safe investment? Some investors might think so - and so we looked at the data. The answer might surprise you.

Created through the fusion of parallel efforts at RA Capital and Atlas Venture, TRIANA is a newly launched biotech that is building its pipeline using a target-first, rational approach to molecular glue discovery.

Gateway is RA Capital’s new board-building tool. It’s free to use, so give it a try. And if you’re on a biotech board or aspire to be on one, please take a minute to fill out a profile.

Take a few minutes at the beginning of a board meeting to give the board the big picture before asking them to analyze individual pieces of your narrative. At RA Capital, we encourage our companies to use a tool called the Elephant Slide. This slide helps visualize a company’s value proposition, goals, challenges, and upcoming decisions in one place - allowing you to address the elephant in the room.

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.

Interest in life science technologies and tools is accelerating with the advent of CRISPR and other aspects of synthetic biology. The ability to have a capital efficient way to advance these innovations is very attractive and will help drive innovation.

Interest in life science technologies and tools is accelerating with the advent of CRISPR and other aspects of synthetic biology. The ability to have a capital efficient way to advance these innovations is very attractive and will help drive innovation.

The so-called venture creation model has fully taken root, underpinned and enabled by biotech's longest-ever boom cycle and unprecedented sums of available capital.

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.