Why is old exon science getting new traction? What’s unsettling biotech VCs? And who will be the next CEO of PhRMA?<br><br>Adam is out, so Elaine and Allison dive into the latest news, including how China and artificial intelligence are straining biotech VC firms, in addition to more M&amp;A. They also discuss how a cancelled Food and Drug Administration meeting led to a biotech’s demise. Plus, there’s new hope for an old theory on treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy. STAT reporter Jason Mast details the clinical testing underway.

396: A new trick for old science, and biotech VCs' scrambled playbook

The Readout Loud

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** The Readout Loud

## Participants

- **Allison DeAngelis** (None)
- **Elaine Chen** (None)
- **Jason Mast** (None)

## Transcript

Welcome to this week's episode of The Readout Loud, a weekly biotech podcast from STAT. I'm Allison DeAngelis. I'm Elaine Chen. Adam Forrestine is out this week. It's Thursday, April 9th. And this week, we're going to talk about a new hope for an old theory on treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Jason Mass joins us to detail the clinical testing underway. But first, a word from our sponsor and a recap of this week's news.

All right, Elaine, it is just us ladies this week. We kicked out Adam. He has vacated the premises, and we are taking over the podcast. It's so refreshing.

It really is. We will have Jason Mass on the podcast to bring a little, you know, male energy. But for right now, how you doing? I'm good. It's always nice with Adam. I'm kidding. I feel like I'm sounding good, but I should put out an disclaimer or disclaimer to listeners that I do have a little bit of a cold. So if my voice sounds atrocious, don't let me know. I don't want to hear it.

Elaine, should we kick off the news? Yeah, so the MNA streak that we've been seeing the past few weeks, it has continued. This week, Gilead Sciences said that it's going to spend more than $3 billion to buy the German biotech Tubulus. It's Gilead's attempt to boost its oncology pipeline. Tubulus specializes in antibody drug conjugates, and it has an ovarian cancer and non-small cell lung cancer treatment in early clinical testing.

Gilead's move also comes just a few months after it said it would acquire Arcelix in a deal worth $7.8 billion. Those two companies had already been working together on a multiple myeloma CAR-T therapy that could be approved later this year. And last month, Gilead announced that it was buying Oro Therapeutics, which is focused on drugs for autoimmune diseases, for up to $2.2 billion. So Gilead is emptying those coffers. They're on a spending streak.

Also this week, Neurocrin Biosciences said that they're going to buy Soleno Therapeutics and its treatment for a Prader-Willi syndrome for $2.9 billion. Soleno's drug was approved last year to treat hyperphagia, one of the defining features of Prader-Willi syndrome, which causes relentless hunger and leads patients to overeat. All this M&A news must be making investors happy. And so I want to turn to you, Allison. You published an article this week detailing the challenges that biotech VCs have been facing.

Tell us about what's going on. Yeah. Well, there is a bit of optimism in the venture capital industry right now because we're seeing these exits. We're seeing acquisitions like this. We are seeing biotech IPOs. And that gives investors some long overdue opportunities to return money to their investors.

But I took a little bit of time over the last couple of months to sit down with a bunch of VCs, talk to – I think I talked to about two dozen investors...

396: A new trick for old science, and biotech VCs' scrambled playbook

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

396: A new trick for old science, and biotech VCs' scrambled playbook

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.