Xconomy: In Biotech, Everyones Going Public. Whats Your Excuse?
Summary
Schlessinger co-founded Sugen—the source of two approved drugs now at Pfizer, which acquired it during industry consolidation in the early 2000s—and Plexxikon, creator of a mutation-specific therapy for melanoma, vemurafenib (Velboraf).There are antibody drugs that go after cancer by shutting down kinase activity, perhaps most famously Genentech’s trastuzumab (Herceptin) and bevacizumab (Avastin), but a company dedicated to the specialty is unusual.When Kolltan declared its intentions to go public, in September 2014, it was just barely clinical stage, still in Phase 1 with KTN3379, a compound it licensed from AstraZeneca’s MedImmune division.In the wake of Exubera, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), two diabetes powerhouses, pulled the plug on their inhaled insulin programs.Approval finally came in June 2014, and Mannkind’s partner Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) began selling it earlier this year (with, it should be noted, a much smaller inhaler than Exubera).