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On today’s #BiotechHangout hosts Eric Schmidt Daphne Zohar Josh Schimmer Paul Matteis will dive into an M&A discussion (are we in a “good market” for biotech?), plus targeted oncology modalities & wild trading dynamics ($JANX & $CTMX), $SLRN founder steps down & other CEO transitions, gene therapy news: $BLUE & $VRTX prep for commercial use & Feng Zhang CRISPR startup locks up patents, Walking Fish shuts down, Maze finds new Pompe partner in Shionogi, $LLY’s donanemab adcomm, $DNLI’s regulatory update, & more: https://lnkd.in/ef7Dzjm7

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“There’s certainly gravitation to areas that are more IRA proof,” says Paul Matteis. Josh Schimmer adds that “there’s always a need for innovation. There’s always buyers and sellers, with ebbs and flows depending on what companies need especially as they get towards the end of important patent cliffs.” #BiotechHangout

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#BiotechHangout kicks off with a look at biotech M&A. Daphne Zohar notes Jefferies' Mike Yee pointed out that pharma has over $500B in capital available for deal making, and another analyst Jake Weber posted that available capital would be sufficient to purchase the entire biotech sector.https://twitter.com/BioStockAnalyst/status/1788193215004184781

“It seems like something is wrong. There ought to be more demand to get patients on these drugs,” Eric Schmidt on slow uptake of gene therapies for sickle cell anemia and other genetically driven diseases. Paul Matteis identifies several limiting factors: risk tolerance, therapeutic alternatives, and autologous delivery requiring pervasive procedures. #BiotechHangout

“It’s not a good strategy for a company to be built to be bought,” says Daphne Zohar on how management teams can influence M&A. “You need to focused on building important new medicines with the ability to have a standalone story.” #BiotechHangout

On interpreting announcements around CEO change, Daphne Zohar highlights red flags such as a CEO being asked to step down or lack of a transition plan. An announcement that a search is being initiated suggests that it was sudden, not planned, and there is no one else on the team that’s able to step in.” #BiotechHangout

“Let’s not let good science get in the way of empirical results,” says Eric Schmidt on evaluating emerging oncology modalities like bispecifics. Eric’s example: “ADCs are a massive class… here to stay and will only get more innovative and more specific in therapeutic profiles.” #BiotechHangout

“Looks like $JANX is emerging as a real leader in a very exciting new therapeutic modality,” says Josh Schimmer, who believes Janux has cracked the code for solid tumor T cell engagers, with positive data in prostate cancer and room for additional dose escalation. #BiotechHangout

Eric Schmidt asks: has biotech grown overly dependent on M&A as an investment thesis? Josh Schimmer observes that biotech has always been overly dependent on M&A. “It is just the nature of what the biotech industry is.”#BiotechHangout

Charlene Liao

CEO and Board Chair of Immune-Onc Therapeutics, Inc.

2mo

Very nice discussions.

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