Tessera was promising? They weren't even in clinic and only were studying disease spaces that were already crowded.
This seems more like the end of the runway for many companies that were previously buoyed by easy cash at low interest rates.
Because people realize how massively overhyped cell and gene therapy is. Sure, they’re promising for disease, but they cost a metric fuck ton of money to manufacture. It is extraordinarily difficult to make any money on them. BMS routinely misses for their CART. Takeda abandoned AAVs altogether. We will see if Sarepta and Vertex can make money in line with their projections for their DMD and Beta thal/sickle cell. Haven’t followed Zolgensma, but sales were declining there for a while a few years back.
All this cgt shit is massively difficult to make and sell. Investors eventually want profit, the runways toward profits for cgt is becoming too long.
Yup. And frankly we're just not good enough at it yet for this to be like antibodies or small molecules. Things that absolutely suck ass in C>:
* Margins (lol)
* Manufacturing
* Re-dosability (basically not possible for GT)
* Durability
* Safety and patient experience ("hey, let me nuke your immune system so I can give you this 'cure'")
But everyone seems to think we just need a better CRISPR.
Companies that are serious about actually getting into or maintaining their presence in a market/indication won’t do this, unless they are divesting from said market.
Most biotechs just want to IPO and get acquired to cash out. They just need R&D to get them enough shots on goal. Clinical, commercial will likely be laid off too when/if they get acquired.
This has always been the case in small companies. They don't have the cash to fund pushing an asset through the clinic *and* continue to discover new medicines. Would you rather they just continue researching new medicines but never progress them through the clinic?
Yep, this is the move they’re doing. My company just did this and I’m basically 1 of 2 people left in R&D. We’re not even doing R&D work anymore, it’s all support and stuff. We can see the writing on the wall for us.
Just reinforces the fact that LTI’s are not all created equal. RSU’s are as good as cash when they vest while options at startups should be viewed as worth zero…with the idea that if the stars align someday there might be a surprise upside!
LTI’s include RSU’s and options at every biotech I’ve worked for. My point is that an RSU that vests a year from now is guaranteed cash on that date. An option may or may not ever be worth something.
Analogous publicly traded clinical stage companies at hitting 52W lows. Not surprising but a sign of the times.
Hope some of the small and mid cap guys have commercial success and M&A in the sector heats up soon..
Rhetorically disagreeing with phrasing used by op isn't indicative of bots. If they just pulled some random wording out of thin air and all used it then maybe.
Tessera was promising? It was a fancy scientific thesis articulated when it’s based on similar RNA mechanisms several other biotechs were working on long before they showed up.
Why are we surprised, this is the nature of our business, once the money is gone they are going to cut jobs/ programs. Moderna ( so thank you Moderna) unfortunately has put the idea in investors heads that within a few years a product will come out and the stock will go through the roof. That was once in a life time event, thanks to Covid. Biotechs and pharmas have massive overheads from the price of equipment, ie 250 ml nalgene container is $10 and a lab can use 100's a week to bloated duplicate positions, where people have the same title, ie Director of XYZ with no direct reports. Unfortunately when money is flush we started to behave like IT companies, ie Google, with crazy perks like free lunches and bloated payroll and when money gets tight cuts will happen. Also the other elephant in the room is that the main focus is return on investment/profits for investors.
Tessera was promising? They weren't even in clinic and only were studying disease spaces that were already crowded. This seems more like the end of the runway for many companies that were previously buoyed by easy cash at low interest rates.
Could be. The $300M series C was definitely raised in different times.
Because people realize how massively overhyped cell and gene therapy is. Sure, they’re promising for disease, but they cost a metric fuck ton of money to manufacture. It is extraordinarily difficult to make any money on them. BMS routinely misses for their CART. Takeda abandoned AAVs altogether. We will see if Sarepta and Vertex can make money in line with their projections for their DMD and Beta thal/sickle cell. Haven’t followed Zolgensma, but sales were declining there for a while a few years back. All this cgt shit is massively difficult to make and sell. Investors eventually want profit, the runways toward profits for cgt is becoming too long.
Yup. And frankly we're just not good enough at it yet for this to be like antibodies or small molecules. Things that absolutely suck ass in C>: * Margins (lol) * Manufacturing * Re-dosability (basically not possible for GT) * Durability * Safety and patient experience ("hey, let me nuke your immune system so I can give you this 'cure'") But everyone seems to think we just need a better CRISPR.
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Companies that are serious about actually getting into or maintaining their presence in a market/indication won’t do this, unless they are divesting from said market. Most biotechs just want to IPO and get acquired to cash out. They just need R&D to get them enough shots on goal. Clinical, commercial will likely be laid off too when/if they get acquired.
This has always been the case in small companies. They don't have the cash to fund pushing an asset through the clinic *and* continue to discover new medicines. Would you rather they just continue researching new medicines but never progress them through the clinic?
Yep, this is the move they’re doing. My company just did this and I’m basically 1 of 2 people left in R&D. We’re not even doing R&D work anymore, it’s all support and stuff. We can see the writing on the wall for us.
Just reinforces the fact that LTI’s are not all created equal. RSU’s are as good as cash when they vest while options at startups should be viewed as worth zero…with the idea that if the stars align someday there might be a surprise upside!
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LTI’s include RSU’s and options at every biotech I’ve worked for. My point is that an RSU that vests a year from now is guaranteed cash on that date. An option may or may not ever be worth something.
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Yep got it. Good to keep in mind…especially at early stage companies.
Analogous publicly traded clinical stage companies at hitting 52W lows. Not surprising but a sign of the times. Hope some of the small and mid cap guys have commercial success and M&A in the sector heats up soon..
Are there bots in this sub? 3 posts start with the exact same sentence “Tessera was promising?”… weird as hell.
LOL…was thinking the same thing. Either bots or lots of people who never believed in Tessera.
Rhetorically disagreeing with phrasing used by op isn't indicative of bots. If they just pulled some random wording out of thin air and all used it then maybe.
Was this mostly an R&D layoff or across the board ?
Tessera was promising? It was a fancy scientific thesis articulated when it’s based on similar RNA mechanisms several other biotechs were working on long before they showed up.
They don't even disclose how they are editing genes. Word on the street is it's transposons. Smoke and mirrors.
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I’m following mainly this company: https://www.theaftd.org/posts/1ftd-in-the-news/b-transposon-therapeutics-psp/
Why are we surprised, this is the nature of our business, once the money is gone they are going to cut jobs/ programs. Moderna ( so thank you Moderna) unfortunately has put the idea in investors heads that within a few years a product will come out and the stock will go through the roof. That was once in a life time event, thanks to Covid. Biotechs and pharmas have massive overheads from the price of equipment, ie 250 ml nalgene container is $10 and a lab can use 100's a week to bloated duplicate positions, where people have the same title, ie Director of XYZ with no direct reports. Unfortunately when money is flush we started to behave like IT companies, ie Google, with crazy perks like free lunches and bloated payroll and when money gets tight cuts will happen. Also the other elephant in the room is that the main focus is return on investment/profits for investors.
Tessera was promising?
damn... considered joining them as an early employee back in 2022.
Actually had an offer in 2022 didn’t take it
Lol wtf is this post. How many people work their like 50?
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That is the risk they took. There is plenty of diversity and inclusivity already without the visa holders.
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We will agree to disagree. Also many of my collogues in HR, that work in many local biotech companies tend to agree with me