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4
May
2024

Success in Film and Pharma: Contingent But Not Random

Film and pharma, like many creative endeavors, exist in a world of power law economics, where a handful of exceptionally successful products account for a massively disproportionate share of the total revenue.  Consequently, in both domains, there’s a powerful incentive to “pick winners.” Every studio head and every R&D leader tries desperately to do this.  But there’s a problem: as...
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1
May
2024

Investing in Biotech & Healthcare Delivery: Vineeta Agarwala on The Long Run

Today’s guest on The Long Run is Vineeta Agarwala. Vineeta is a general partner with Andreesen Horowitz’s Bio & Health fund. She invests in a variety of therapeutics and diagnostics startups. Gate Bioscience, Rome Therapeutics, Rezo Therapeutics, Bighat Bioscience, Function Oncology, and Orbital Therapeutics are a few examples. She also is a physician by training, still sees patients once a...
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10
Apr
2024

Meet the Timmerman Traverse for Sickle Forward Team

I’m thrilled to announce a new initiative to raise $1 million to fight sickle cell disease. It’s the Timmerman Traverse for Sickle Forward. A team of 21 biotech leaders are banding together for Sickle Forward in 2024. It’s a nonprofit dedicated to improving newborn screening and treatment of sickle cell disease in Africa. When we hit that goal, we will...
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4
Apr
2024

How CymaBay Survived a Safety Scare

In November 2019, Sujal Shah was the CEO of a public company with two promising late-stage clinical trials underway. The company was worth more than $900 million.  A couple months later, he found himself cornered in a parking lot by an activist investor—one of a handful pressuring him to shut down and liquidate his company CymaBay Therapeutics. “I can smile...
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6
Mar
2024

Early Detection, and Treatment, for Alzheimer’s: Valerie Daggett on The Long Run

Today’s guest on The Long Run is Valerie Daggett. Valerie is the founder and CEO of Seattle-based AltPep. This company is working on an unusual diagnostic-and-therapeutic strategy against Alzheimer’s disease. I wrote about the company in June 2023 when it raised $53 million in a Series B financing that included Section32, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, and Eli Lilly among others....
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