EQRx Aims To Upend Industry’s Pricing Model, With Me-Too Drugs

With a $200m series A financing and an illustrious founding team, including Alexis Borisy and Peter Bach, EQRx plans to develop cheap me-too drugs. The start-up could pose a new threat to big pharma.

Thinking big business concept as a large rocket blasting through the smoke of a group of jet air planes as a financial metaphor for corporate winner as a 3D render.
EEQRx hopes to disrupt industry's business as usual pricing model • Source: Shutterstock

A start-up with ambitions to disrupt the industry's long-standing drug pricing model could be a new threat to big pharma. EQRx has $200m in financing, a big-name leadership team and a mission to develop me-too drugs that cost a fraction of the cost of first-to-market brands.

EQRx is the brainchild of venture capitalist and entrepreneur Alexis Borisy, formerly of Third Rock Ventures, who will be CEO....

Scrip Podcast

Keep up with the top pharma business news of the week. On the go.

Scrip brings you a weekly bulletin of top picks.

More from Start-Ups & SMEs

Scrip-Business (Free-1): Top-Selling Drugs 2024: Keytruda, Ozempic And Dupixent Dominate

 
• By 

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.

Pentixapharm Poised To Make A Splash In The Radiopharmaceuticals Pool

 
• By 

The German group is spinning off from Eckert & Ziegler and listing in Frankfurt, though a leap to the NASDAQ will likely follow once it has more data on a lymphoma theranostic.

Finance Watch: GondolaBio, BridgeBio’s Second Spinout Of 2024, Launches With $300m

 
• By 

BridgeBio spun out oncology assets in May to focus on rare diseases and now it has sliced off a few rare disease candidates for GondolaBio. Also, Avidity and Kymera closed follow-on offerings that grossed $345.1m and $225m, respectively, and Vandria extended its series A round to $30.7m.

Borealis Seeks Aurora In RNA-Based Drugs For Renal Disease

 

With $150m in series A funding, the Versant- and Novartis-backed start-up is betting it can overcome the challenges to getting RNA medicines into the kidney.

More from Business

How A New Healthcare Dialogue Is Driving Market Access In Mexico

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.

How Novartis Is Elevating CVD Outcomes, Driving ‘Personalized Access’ In APMA

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.

India Rare Diseases: Court Shows Path For Policy Action, Funding, Price Issues-- Test-2

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.