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.
Investing in specialty pharma depends more on capital efficiency than spectacular scientific or clinical success. And the new master of this theme is Domain Associates, whose returns--says one of its limiteds--are now among the best in the industry (which, he notes, hasn’t always been true).
Domain’s latest essay in capital efficiency: NovaCardia Inc. Set up in 2001, the company raised $88 million, and it used...
Merck’s immuno-oncology blockbuster was the world’s best-selling drugs by revenues for the second year in a row, with an almost $12bn lead over its closest rival, Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 drug Ozempic.
Ordspono, a bispecific antibody newly approved in the EU to treat follicular lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, joins Libtayo in Regeneron’s growing oncology portfolio.
Nemluvio is a first-in-class IL-31 inhibitor that the US FDA approved for prurigo nodularis.
CEO Bill Anderson would not be drawn on whether the drug, currently approved for chronic kidney disease associated with type 2 diabetes, will hit a previous forecast of €3bn peak sales, but expansion into heart failure may make that figure look conservative.
Companies stand a better chance of securing public reimbursement in Mexico for innovative medicines if they understand changing approaches to healthcare. The shift means the emergence of managed entry agreements and a focus on economic impact, explains AMIIF, Mexico's research-based pharmaceutical industry association.
Novartis’s APMA chief outlines the company’s tailored approach to deliver long-term outcomes, novel access solutions via innovative financing options and shape the CVD disease ecosystem in the extraordinarily diverse region. Partnering to build AI infrastructure is another key prong.
A court order encompassing funding, drug pricing, clinical trials and overall policy implementation aspects is expected to bring about a paradigm shift in the treatment of rare diseases in India. Sarepta, Roche and Sanofi are among the key players that have been part of pricing discussions.
