Category Archives: Biotech Letter

Behind Every Breakthrough Drug Is A Massachusetts Phone Number

My buddy who runs business development at a mid-cap biotech called me last week with an interesting complaint. He’s trying to scale up manufacturing for their promising Phase III candidate, and every vendor he talks to has the same response: “Great, we’ll get you on the Thermo Fisher (TMO) waiting list.” That conversation made me […]

Proof That Sometimes The Obvious Play Is Obviously Right

Did you know that pharmaceutical companies waste approximately 40% of their production capacity every single day? It’s been that way since the 1950s when most drug manufacturing processes were designed. A lot of people have no clue about this inefficiency, but it’s about to become the difference between winning and losing in the obesity drug […]

Sugar-Coating Nothing

Last week, I found myself sitting across from a former Abbott (ABT) executive at a quiet corner table in Chicago’s Union League Club, listening to something that made my biochemistry background tingle with excitement. We were discussing the recent market pummeling of Abbott shares following their third-quarter earnings, and he leaned forward with that conspiratorial […]

Patent Cliff Diving

Three months ago, I was having dinner with a former FDA reviewer who spent 15 years evaluating HIV drugs. Between bites of overpriced salmon, he mentioned something that made me nearly choke on my wine. “The lenacapavir approval process,” he said casually, “was the smoothest I’ve seen in years. Usually there’s some bureaucratic drama, but […]

The Laziness Premium

I spent last Tuesday afternoon on a call with a fund manager who runs $3 billion and couldn’t explain to me why his team was avoiding GSK (GSK). Something about HIV competition and patent cliffs and the usual hand-waving you get from analysts who haven’t actually dug into the numbers. I let him finish his […]