Onyx Pharmaceuticals: Focus Is a Double-edged Sword
• By Mark Ratner
Onyx Pharmaceuticals announced last June that it would focus solely on its lead product candidate, BAY 43-9006, in Phase III and partnered with Bayer. Its stock has since soared. The company is responsible for some development, and so maintains an active clinical capability. It also negotiated a US co-promotion right. Both may make it an attractive in-licensor, but more than infrastructure, its greatest validation and attraction will come from showing that management made the right choice in prioritizing. It's an all-or-nothing bet, to be sure.
It's a truism in biotech that when it comes to raising money,
the time to eat is when the food is on the table. But investors
don't put money into biotech companies only to see it sit in the
bank.
Another truism says that the most attractive biotechs are those with a product engine that can generate whole classes of...
With low valuations for biopharma companies that recently went public and little hope of a near-term turnaround as uncertainty lingers, IPO numbers may stay low for the rest of 2025.
After presenting encouraging Phase II data on the GSK-3 inhibitor elraglusib at ASCO, Actuate Therapeutics is hoping to hold a pre-NDA meeting with the US FDA.