One Company's Distraction Is Another's Lead Product

Hoping to unfreeze investor attitudes toward the industry, biotechs are embracing product strategies with the enthusiasm of religious converts. Platforms are out; so, increasingly, is discovery. The clinic is in. Targacept and Layton Bioscience are both embracing this philosophy, which enabled their deal in which Targacept bought rights to a marketed small-molecule from cell therapist Layton.