Given the cyclical nature of the biotech industry, companies--both public and private--are forced to weather financing storms every few years. During lean times, one strategy is to cut operations to create the basis for a financing event and stave off the inevitable cash cliff. But a company focusing all its efforts on one, or at most a few, projects has very little to fall back on should its lead opportunity fail. And the equity markets may not come back in time. BioTransplant's CEO-Donald Hawthorne, brought in to save the company, understood from the beginning that companies with just a few months of cash left tend to fail. His challenge: to avoid failure, while at the same time maximizing the chance that in the event of bankruptcy, at least some of the assets of the company could create additional value.
By Heather Slowik
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Deal Snapshot: Sanofi obtained global rights to a pair of bispecific antibody candidates for autoimmune and inflammatory bowel disorders from Helixon-affiliated AI firm Earendil.
Plus deals involving Spruce/BioMarin, Boehringer Ingelheim/Cue, Onconetix/Ocuvex, Allakos/Concentra, Sanofi/Nurix, Pfizer/Flagship Pioneering, Alcon/Aurion and more.
With the FDA asking for another Phase III trial, the short bowel syndrome drug apraglutide could be years away from market, while the Linzess patent expiry and near-term debt loom.
The Oxford group has linked up with the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad.
After dropping its lead program in December, Spruce has been exploring strategic options – and thinks it has a de-risked path for MPS IIIB therapy tralesinidase from BioMarin.
Private Company Edition: After Q1 venture capital investment slumped relative to 2024 totals due to declines in both smaller financings and mega-rounds, Q2 started off with six $100m-plus financings in the first half of April after there were only three in February and six in all off March.
Lead drug GLM101 will move into its first placebo-controlled trial based on positive results in adults and adolescents with PMM2-CDG in an open-label Phase IIa study.
