Biotech Hangout

On this week’s episode of Biotech Hangout, hosts Daphne Zohar, Josh Schimmer, Brad Loncar, John Maraganore, Paul Matteis, Mike Yee and Tess Cameron open up with market commentary and how derivatives, debates and dynamics are impacting stocks including Scholar Rock, Biohaven, Roche and Regeneron. The group also highlights CeriBell, which is the first medtech IPO in years. The hosts turn to neuro sentiment with a look at Lundbeck’s acquisition of Longboard at an approximate value of $2.5 billion net of cash. The conversation turns to the idea of competitors benefiting from M&A and data, with this week’s example of Bright Minds Bioscience’s market cap going from $4 million to $172 million. The group also discusses the FDA’s approval of Novocure’s Optune device for the treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer before turning to a conversation on vaccines, including Moderna’s upcoming Phase 3 CMV data. Wave Life Sciences first-ever therapeutic RNA was also covered, which led to a discussion on how important milestones open new doors. Other topics discussed include the launch of City Therapeutics, Benitec’s gene therapy update, and more. *This episode aired on October 18, 2024.

On this week’s episode of Biotech Hangout, hosts Chris Garabedian, Bruce Booth, Josh Schimmer, Eric Schmidt and Sam Fazeli start the show on the topic of M&A and ponder “where are the deals?” as they consider potential reasons such as the U.S. election, too few assets or too few buyers. The conversation turns to the venture funding environment with a preview of the third quarter venture funding numbers. On the theme of stock price reactions, the group digs into why Sarepta’s has dropped despite its gene therapy now fully approved and discusses Soleno’s stock jump on the news from regulators to not hold an advisory meeting over its new drug application. In other news, the group highlights another China deal, this time between AstraZeneca and CSPS Pharma for a pre-clinical novel lipid-lowering therapy. The hosts also discuss the move by Lily to go after the compounding pharmacies, GSK agrees to settle Zantac lawsuits and the latest on Pfizer and Starboard which leads to a broader discussion on activism in biopharma. Regarding data, the hosts cover GSK’s RSV data, Scholar Rock’s spinal muscular atrophy data, among other topics. *This episode aired on October 11, 2024.

On this week’s Biotech Hangout, hosts Josh Schimmer, Brad Loncar, Sam Fazeli and Tess Cameron kick off the show digging into some macro trends and the potential of an incoming M&A wave. The conversation then turns to a range of topics related to China, including the impact of the stimulus, recent innovation, and the latest obesity assets & China-sourced drugs. The hosts also discuss the updates coming out of Roche’s business day, including the company’s acquisition of a CDK inhibitor from China’s Regor. On the data front, the hosts discuss Poseida and Roche’s myeloma data and J&J / Legend’s Carvytki data, then turn to other news of the week including J&J’s battle to implement a 340B rebate model, BioNTech & Instadeep AI Day updates, IGM Biosciences pivots to immunology, Harrow relaunches Triesence, and more. *This episode aired on October 4, 2024.

On this week’s Biotech Hangout, hosts Daphne Zohar, Brad Loncar, Josh Schimmer, Chris Garabedian, John Maraganore and Sam Fazeli kick off the show sharing perspectives on the markets and its effects on the growing queue of biotech IPOs, particularly following the influx of large private deals over the past few months. As the founding CEO of Alnylam, John provides his thoughts on the Helios-B full study data presentation at the ESC Congress while the broader group weighs in on the competitive implications of the data. The hosts also discuss Recursion, which shared some mixed data this week on its lead AI-derived drug candidate. In other data news, the group discussed the battle of the BTK inhibitors with both Sanofi and Roche announcing multiple sclerosis clinical trial readouts. The management theme was prominently featured in this week’s discussion as the hosts talk about some rules of engagement for biotech executives, ‘founder mode versus manager mode’ leadership styles, and ponder the sweep of management changes announced by Dyne Therapeutics. The hosts also set the stage for anticipated data announcements at the upcoming World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) and European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), and much more. *This episode aired on September 6, 2024.