NovaCardia & Domain: New-Model Spec Pharma Investing

Domain partner Eckard Weber has become a master of the one-two punch in venture investing. The process (now in its third iteration following Merck's $350 million acquisition of NovaCardia): find a drug no one cares about; create a low-infrastructure company around it; find a second drug; sell off the lead drug through an acquisition; develop the second drug a bit more with the same management; then sell that one too. The first deal at a minimum pays back the investors; the second deal juices the returns. It's a model many VCs want to follow.