This report captures a historical moment for life sciences. What were dreams or vague projections until recently are now solidifying realities. Highly personalized oncology therapies, the possibility of early cancer detection via a simple blood draw, AI's optimization of drug discovery, unseen breakthroughs in the formerly stagnating fields of neurology or dermatology — inspiring illustrations of each of these, and more, can be found in this piece, the result of more than 100 conversations with industry leaders.
But when dreams come true, new dreams replace them. That is what drives science. As the legendary biotechnologist and biotech founder Robert Langer told us: 'What is truly thrilling is the potential for discoveries that are currently beyond our imagination. Just as CRISPR emerged from basic research to revolutionize genetics, future breakthroughs will likely come from areas we are not even focused on today. It underscores the importance of supporting fundamental, curiosity-driven research.'
When work on this project started, in November 2023, it was palpable that the industry had been through tough times. The sector was still undergoing its post-pandemic slump — the depression in investment and economic activity which followed the exuberance (some call it irrational) of the COVID-19 years. Yes, we were assured that it was a matter of time for it to be over, for funds, stationed behind the corner, to be unbound again. But the slump had been ongoing for longer than expected, and optimistic projections had to be taken with a grain of salt. Well, by the time our team attended the annual Biocom California Conference in San Diego in late February, the tides had turned. By then, publicly traded biotechs were finally seeing an upward trend in their stocks and representatives from major VCs and financial institutions, like Goldman Sachs, were reporting marked increase in economic activity. Since January we have already seen strong and meaningful deals being made,' confirmed Joseph Panetta, the President & CEO of Biocom California. And indeed, M&As and IPOs, being solid barometers for the health of the biotech sector, have gone up recently. An example is the announced acquisition of MorphoSys by Novartis for $2.9 billion, and unlike the furies from the pandemic times, speakers at the Conference insisted, optimism is now based on hard science, like cell therapies, which are one of the centerpieces of this report.
While in San Diego, we spoke with Avidity Biosciences, who had just received an oversubscribed $400 million financing, which, we were told, came as a strong signal for the sector's recovery. The biotech is developing a new class of RNA therapeutics called Antibody Oligonucleotide Conjugates (AOCs) to treat muscle-related rare diseases such as myotonic dystrophy. 'The biotech sector is on the cusp of a recovery, fueled by continuous innovation and positive developments across the industry,' Avidity's President & CEO Sarah Boyce shared. Importantly, she noted that investors are now much more judicious: 'The challenges of the past few years, accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic, have led to a more discerning investment landscape, yet the advances in targeting previously untreatable diseases signal an exciting era for biotech.' Avidity is not alone in rejoicing in the market renaissance — eight U.S. biotechs went public in just the first few weeks of 2024. Some of them, like Kyverna Therapeutics, raised considerable amounts over $300 million.
Working on the second edition of The New Era of Life Sciences has brought us the additional gratification that a fine work's serial nature may entail — we have been delighted to have new and fascinating voices join in while observing the very real progress that most of our past year's interviewees have made toward their respective objectives. With this in mind, and given the undisputable nobility of life sciences' overarching task — saving human lives — we are more than looking forward to next year's edition when, hopefully, more dreams will have become reality.
We are proud to be launching the full report on May 14th at BioNJ's BioPartnering Conference in Jersey City, where over 700 guests will be welcomed by BioNJ's President and CEO Debbie Hart — join us!
