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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 drugs against a variety of targets—so long as that

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