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Skinnier Patients, Fatter Wallets
Eli Lilly is seemingly sick and tired of middlemen taking a huge chunk of patients' money all while Lilly itself gets blamed entirely for the wild drug prices. As such, they've started a website which focuses on direct delivery of drugs to patients, with an initial focus on its new weight loss drug.
Given the absolute mass of that weight loss market, this makes a lot of sense. People are probably underestimating just how popular these drugs are going to be a decade down the line, presuming no major side effects surface.
Pretty much the only thing they have working against them is it being injectable, but rest assured that's being worked on.
Oh and by the way, Lilly also said they "Stand Against the Use of its Medicines for Cosmetic Weight Loss". (wink-wink)
At least they're gonna stand against it until FDA says it's cool. Then they will very much stand for it and the $100 billion a year or whatever it'll be worth.
FDA Approves
It was a big 2023 for FDA. They approved 55 new drugs, seven for Pfizer alone.
13% of all approvals for one company is crazy. At least it should help make up for the $30B drop in Covid vaccine revenues from 2021 to 2023.
Moonwalk Biosciences
Launched this week with $57M and the goal of creating epigenetic medicines.
Tango Therapeutics & Twist Bioscience are reportedly inconsolable about having a much cooler new rival. Flagship Ventures said to be readying Macarena Therapeutics in response.
And check out that team shot with the article – who knew Tim Robinson had such range.
Team Roast - Esteemed Author
Experts in the field are often asked to write books on their topics of specialty. Naturally, they sometimes like to mention it in their company profiles.
So, what book authorship is this Managing Director bragging about?
No book.
Ok, chapter?
No chapter.
Paragraphs?
Maybe. He claims to have 'contributed' to a book chapter, so really it could be a couple sentences.
Way to flex, dude!
23andMe (andArbitrator)
The data leak problems at 23andMe are leading to some highly defensive positions. The company is claiming that its own systems were not compromised, but rather the problem was its clients who reused passwords and login IDs that were stolen from other websites.
In their defense, what exactly is the company supposed to do in that case? 2-factor authentication would have been a good idea, but should it be mandatory any more than deadbolts on our doors should be mandatory?
The interesting part of the story is where its terms of service preclude class action and require customers to undergo "forced arbitration".
As ever, the only winners will be the lawyers.
de Leon's Legacy
In biotech, establishing a new company near others can really supercharge your ability to attract the best talent in the field. The effect of concentration has been documented time and again in Boston and the Bay Area.
But if you want to be a real intrepid founder, guess you can be like Immorta Bio and start up in that biotech hotbed known as Miami Beach. Because nothing instils confidence in a scientific endeavor quite like being located near a popular spring break destination in a state known for healthcare fraud.
Guess if you’re focusing on the "disease" known as aging you could find a worse place to test out your products than hell’s waiting room.
Team Roast - Biolinq
Pretty good Team shot here. It's well organized, kneelers have proper knee up/down, background removed to focus on the people. All good.
One quibble, though. Should a healthtech company be gathered around, perhaps worshipping a literal black box? Seeing that, now we have to wonder - do they really have any idea how their stuff works??
Team Roast - And the Nominee is...
CEO is an important job. To be one, you must know what you are doing, or at least trick people into believing your lies.
Some things that are verifiable are former employers, university degrees and number of Grammys won.
In the case of Rocket Pharmaceuticals, CEO Gaurav Shah did indeed win a Grammy as he mentions in his bio but beyond that win, he only mentions having been nominated for one other, despite snagging another nomination in November. Guess it could be because he's waiting to see if he wins.
For the curious, his most recent nomination was for the song Abundance of Millets, based on a speech about grain made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Yeah, it's about as good as it sounds from that description.
Let's just say you will not hear us playing that ever again at BioPharmGuy HQ. Goes to show, there is an audience for anything nowadays.
If you're interested, tune in February 4 to see if he can defeat Afrobeats legends Burna Boy & Davido among others to bring home a second Grammy.
And hey, as Shah's profile also insists on mentioning his summa cum laude-ness while an undergrad at Harvard (despite now having an MD), let's throw it back to another MD who was summa cum laude from Harvard featured back in our Jun 8, 2023 newsletter.
That prior guy at least italicized his Latin (and French). Yet no Grammy nominations.
The award for best CEO with an MD who is still dwelling on his Harvard grades goes to...Gaurav Shah!
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