FTC & the zombie pharma dinosaurs, plus RIP José Baselga, NCATS & SPACs: a BioCentury podcast
By Jeff Cranmer, Executive Editor
March 23, 2021 1:46 AM UTC
On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss the legacy of AstraZeneca’s José Baselga as well as the next steps for the U.K. pharma after releasing data from the U.S. trial of its COVID-19. The team also assesses the impact of Christopher Austin on translational science during his tenure at NCATS, FTC’s new aggressive approach to biopharma M&A and what SPACs could mean for private European companies.
Baselga, a distinguished cancer researcher and head of the oncology business at AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN; NASDAQ:AZN), passed away on March 21 at the age of 61. Senior Editor Karen Tkach Tuzman and Washington Editor Steve Usdin discuss Baselga’s influence on cancer drug development over the past few decades.
The editors then turn to AZ’s latest COVID-19 data drop to evaluate where the pharma’s vaccine may fit into the global armamentarium.
As Christopher Austin prepares to step down as director of NCATS to become CEO-partner at Flagship Pioneering, Tkach Tuzman discusses the outsized impact his work has had on translational science.
Turning to Washington, Usdin discusses how the FTC under the leadership of Acting FTC Chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter is likely to create more friction around transactions that in the past have not faced substantial regulatory oversight, and what this might mean for small biotechs. Usdin points out that while some industry observers argue that mega mergers can lead to layoffs, erode value and lead to promising therapies getting killed, others say there are downsides to preventing M&A.
“Other people look at it, and they’ve told me and said, ‘Look, you have to have some way of dealing with large pharma companies that aren’t being as productive as they ought to be. If you can’t have these mega mergers, you’re going to have zombie dinosaur companies just clumping around forever with no way of putting them out of their misery,’” Usdin said.
For this week’s Deal in Focus, BioCentury’s editors analyze last week’s IPO by LSP-sponsored European Biotech Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:EBACU), which raised $120 million in what is the first SPAC to list from a major life sciences-focused European VC.
Executive Editor Jeff Cranmer explains how SPACs such as EBAC could ease the path to listing on NASDAQ for private Europe companies. The traditional route to the exchange for these companies can involve as much as two years of relationship-building with U.S. investors, a process that can include the need to put together a syndicate for a crossover financing round — a lengthy and time-consuming process.
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