🧪 The Bulletin #57: Novel Biotech Pipeline for Drug Development & the Rebound of Nuclear Energy
Welcome back! In this week's bulletin — a new outlook for drug development partnerships and a potential rebound in nuclear energy.🌟
Hi there! I hope this week has been/will be a productive, peaceful, and positive week. Thanks for stopping by! 😊
💡For this semester, keep up with our content if you’re interested in:
Demystifying & breaking into VC
Finding opportunities in the start-up world
Keeping up with VC investment news at Brown & beyond (pro tip: this is essential to breaking in and finding opportunities)
Let’s jump straight into it.
∞ Pfizer + Flagship Pioneering: A new R&D model
A VC’s penetration into the startup ecosystem and a pharmaceutical company’s ability to commercialize—a potential match made in heaven? 🫶
Look no further. In June of last year, Pfizer and Flagship Pioneering joined forces to achieve a unique proposition: identify 10 single-asset programs in high demand and viability and focus on commercialization. 📈 With a contribution of $50 million upfront from both parties and access to Flagships’ 40+ biotech startup ecosystem, Pfizer is redefining the role of big pharma by grabbing the reins of scientific discovery rather than searching for the next hit. In a nutshell, Pfizer predetermines therapeutic focuses/biotech sectors of interest and Flagship provides the startups that fit Pfizer’s criteria. 🧑🔬
At a macro-level, this seems like a paradigm case of vertical integration. And from reading a newsletter on vertical integrators by Packy McCormick and his Not Boring newsletter, I’d say my conviction of Pfizer’s success is quite high.
The “Pharmatech” Industry
It’s now been a bit more than a year since the introduction of Pfizer and Flagship’s partnership—so what’s happened since then?
Current Pfizer + Flagship Pipeline:
Earlier this June and recently in August, Pioneering Medicines, the in-house drug discovery and development unit of Flagship, announced the introduction of two new companies to its pipeline: ProFound Therapeutics and Quotient Therapeutics.
Working towards expanding the human proteome by discovering all the combinatorial possibilities for encoding proteins to solve obesity
Utilizing revolutionary Somatic Genomics platform to link gene mutations to potential therapeutic targets for renal/cardiac diseases
While Pfizer is still 2 out of 10 companies deep into creating a powerhouse portfolio of revolutionary science, we already have a taste of what they’re looking for: startups rich in assets, revolutionary tech, and a broad-focused approach to therapeutic development not confined by one disease/target. It sure is an exciting stage for Pfizer, and I’m looking forward to see how the partnership continues to blossom with future additions. 🤝
What does this mean for therapeutic startups?
3 main points to consider:
💊 Efficiency in asset development is key:
Startups should focus on development platforms that generate multiple assets, not just one. This ensures that an obsolete target/drug does not make the company itself obsolete.
💸 Partnership models between VCs and pharma provide startups the chance to secure early pharmaceutical buy-ins + create funding opportunities in a challenging market
Increased partnerships may encourage the growth of biotech market activity as pharma looks for startups at earlier stages rather than solely through acquisitions at later stages.
📊 Tailoring your assets to a pharma’s needs will be mutually-beneficial and increase the startup’s likelihood of success.
Now more than ever, considering the trajectory that pharmaceutical companies are taking in drug R&D will greatly increase visibility and buy-in probability
Although it’s been a grudgingly quiet few years in the biotech space, new heavy hitters with the wildest technological advancements are soon to enter the stage—and we’ll all be the witnesses. 📸
⚡️ Is Nuclear Energy really the Future?
The nuclear energy has been on sinusoidal curve of ups and downs in the past few years. Peaks of anticipatory excitement usually troughs with the usual collective disappointment when a initiative/company/technology falls through.
We’ve been stuck in a trough over the past years with the shutting down of reactors and the focus on alternative energy sources like solar. However, there’s been a recent re-invigorated interest in nuclear as shown by the Department of Energy in their Advanced Nuclear Commercial Liftoff plan updated this past September.
From the US Department of Energy:
“US nuclear capacity has the potential to triple from ~100 GW in 2024 to ~300 GW by 2050… Combined with the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) incentives, this demand has created a step change in the valuation of the existing fleet and new reactors. In 2022, utilities were shutting down nuclear reactors; in 2024, they are extending reactor operations to 80 years, planning to uprate capacity, and restarting formerly closed reactors.”
Key Takeaways:
♻️ Nuclear is necessary for decarbonization goals
The US requires ~700-900 GW of additional clean firm capacity to reach net-zero; nuclear is the only proven option that can do that at scale by generating carbon-free electricity alongside other renewables
☢️ Building off of existing nuclear capacity
Uprating current reactors by ~2-8 GW is essential for extending licensing
Improved nuclear systems built on existing nuclear sites could lead to upwards of 95 GW of nuclear energy; economies of scale will generate multi-units plants for cheaper
⬇️ The time is NOW
US government is in full support of the deployment of new nuclear at all stages of development. Commercial nuclear technologies are supported by the Loan Programs Office (LPO) while demonstration & research programs are funded by Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) and Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED)
Waiting until mid-2030s to scale nuclear may lead to missing decarbonization targets and/or nuclear supply chain overbuild.
Beyond the US government, 14 banks with big names like Barclays, Morgan Stanley, and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank expressed their support for the tripling of nuclear capacity by 2050.
Although positive sentiment does seem to be growing once again, only time will truly tell whether this is another transient phase of excitement, or the true impetus to achieving mass-scale nuclear energy. 🚀
💻 We’re Updating Our Website
We love our website, and want to make sure it is accurate and up-to-date. Please let us know through this form if you are a part of the VWV team (Investment Committee, Advisors, Alumni) and have changes you wish to make to your personal profile. We appreciate all of you! 😊
🍎What We’re Consuming In Venture
🧠This news article in The New York Street Journal on an FDA approval for Neuralink’s brain chip in regards to vision restoration
👶This article by Tome Ireland of Asimov Press on the development of artificial wombs
🐐Re-listening to Naval Ravikant's timeless advice on VC and life on the Knowledge Project Podcast
That’s it for this week, feel free to email me at daniel_k_lee@brown.edu with any inquiries!
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