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Eisai/Biogen
Biggest drug industry news of the past week was Lecanemab's approval by the FDA. It is a treatment shown to slow the progression of Alzheimer's in the earliest stage patients.
It comes with relatively common side effects, including brain bleeding, so definitely not a free lunch. Though it's a relatively cheap lunch compared to Aduhelm, that prior Alzheimer's dog from Biogen.
Lecanemab, which showed actual positive trial results, will only cost $26,500/yr whereas Biogen was pricing the old model at $56,000/yr.
Not yet available through Medicare, it will be some time before Lecanemab sees wide usage, but it will definitely rack up some sales if Medicare gives it the green light.
'Stealth'
When a company puts out a press release to say they received $78M in a Series B, you would think that's the end of their stealth days. Not so for Perceive Biotherapeutics. They made sure to mention they are still in stealth mode.
We don't think that word means what they think it does.
Team Roast - Dating
In order to get a feel for what the management of a company are capable of doing, you may think some background on them would be in order. Maybe a summary of skills and experience? You know, like every company does.
Or, maybe you'd simply settle for the date they joined the company?
If you're on board with that last idea, Neurotrauma Sciences has you covered.
Of course if you click on the person's name it will send you to a page explaining their backgro...wait, no it doesn't. It sends you to the company About Us page.
So you really do only get the date they joined the company. Useful.
MassBio
Another year, another CEO at MassBio. Kendalle Burlin O'Connell is the third in as many years. Let's hope she sticks around a bit. If not, good luck finding the next sucker.
BioPharmGuy’s only direct experience with MassBio was participating in the lowest-tier of their softball league, playing out at a field near Tufts where the right-field fence was so short it was only a double if you cleared it. #glorydays
PsiOxus --> Akamis Bio
Boooo! These guys had to take a cool name and ruin it by picking some crap from Greek mythology:
"The company’s new name is derived from “Akamas,” one of the warriors who was inside of the mythical Trojan Horse which facilitated the successful Greek attack on Troy from inside the city’s otherwise impenetrable walls."
They're evidently proud of themselves for choosing such an obscure Greek story from which to pull this name. Honestly picking any ancient Greek name is so clever and unique for a biotech company.
There's definitely none named Athena Discovery, Zeus Scientific, Herophilus, Hesperos, Hera BioLabs, Hera Therapeutics, Heraeus Medical, Heragen, Poseida Therapeutics, Artemis Diagnostics, Artemis Therapeutics, Antares Pharma, Ares Genetics, Socrates Health Solutions, HebeCell, Persephone Biosciences, Prometheus Biosciences, Elpis Biopharmaceuticals, Enceladus Pharmaceuticals, Epirus Biopharmaceuticals, Theseus Pharmaceuticals, Aphaia...
Moderna
We recently mentioned how Moderna has been blocking our newsletter, so now they must feel our wrath!
No, but this is some newsworthy stuff – it seems Moderna had data they chose not to share with the FDA about the bivalent booster during the accelerated approval discussions.
Why yes, it was negative data. However did you guess?
The data was (were?) preliminary, but it was showing the bivalent booster performing worse than OG Covid vaccine when it came to preventing infection.
Considering reports are saying said the FDA was 'disappointed' and 'angry', they were surely absolutely LIVID. They're doing their best to make sure the vaccine is making it to people as quickly and safely as possible and Moderna is over there getting rich while playing them for fools.
That really set the table nicely for Moderna's subsequent announcement that they will be charging ~$120 per vaccine once the government stops paying them for it.
Back to normal, folks!
Team Boast - Ageless
This startup is boasting about having a "Scientific, Regulatory and Medical Dream Team", which sounds cool, but who's on this 28-person team of dreams?
They're not saying.
But they do randomly grab chunks of the dream team's various resumes and stitch them together into a wild Frankenresume for some reason. It's an extremely odd group resume, and one of the weirdest team pages we've ever come across.
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