Buying into Tomorrow’s Drug Platforms

Published on Jun 15, 2022
Dylan Kissane, Inova
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Platform partnerships and dealmaking often involve newly emergent technologies, including cell and gene therapies, RNA technologies, gene editing, and AI and machine learning. These technologies and approaches are widely expected to deliver the next generation of transformative medicines and thus attract significant investment from top pharma firms. Still, biotechs must ensure they have validated their IP before starting discussions with industry leaders.

Panelists Matthew Kinn (Recursion), Eric Ostertag (Poseida Therapeutics), and Elizabeth Schwarzbach (BigHat Biosciences) explained the importance of pursuing partnerships with a strong commercial mindset and clear market-fit arguments for their potential pharma partners. Platform companies need to be focused on their IP and have a strategy to protect that IP before approaching partners. A ‘proof of concept’ is also essential, Schwarzbach explained, for companies promising advances based on artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies where partners may have had unmet expectations in the past.

Kinn explained that cultural and vision fit is the most important element in any platform partnership. Having a shared mindset that can expand and grow as the platform itself evolves over years of collaboration ensures that the association remains strong. Kinn noted that the value of media – the capacity to address multiple therapeutic areas and develop “an untold number of programs” – represents an enormously valuable proposition for pharma companies and urged platform companies not to focus on a single disease area. Schwarzbach added that very few deals are spun out of BD offices alone, so building strong technical relationships with scientists and researchers is vital for platform players.

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