Tag Archives: Alejandro Zamorano

Investors Building Life Science Companies from the Ground Up

12 Dec

By Alejandro Zamorano, VP of Business Development, LSN

LSN tracks ten categories of life science investors around the globe. Recently, we have begun to follow and emerging trend of established investors creating and launching their own companies. These investors are cognizant of the critical importance of good management when it comes to asset commercialization. The school of thought behind this innovate approach is that emerging technologies stand more of a chance when strong leadership and organization is put around an asset from the get-go. So, why is this occurring and how exactly is this being executed?

From the firms LSN has spoken with, this approach is essentially an fusing two key elements – Access to capital and access to a network of experts, both of which help to make leaner, faster, and more efficient companies. It all starts with sourcing novel science from a translational researcher, and building a business structure around it.

Since the investor is starting the company, it is possible to structure the “perfect” company from the ground up. This goes beyond investor fit – it’s a custom tailored company to fill a portfolio need. This can create significant advantages early on in the company’s life cycle, as fundraising seed capital isn’t a problem. By avoiding this part of the process, the company can focus on moving the science forward. Moreover, the company can structure the management strategically from the get-go, by having a business-savvy CEO in place who has the sales experience required to turn innovative science into a company.

Add to this that the investor can shepherd multiple assets through the pipeline by outsourcing work to CROs, and you have a great lean model for building a portfolio of companies. This model is gaining traction, so stay tuned as LSN tracks this evolving trend.

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Understanding your Therapeutic Asset’s Landscape

20 Nov

By Alejandro Zamorano, VP of Business Development, LSN

Most early stage biotech assets have the potential to target several disease areas. However, it is critical for entrepreneurs to maintain focus in a specific area – this helps to efficiently bring a product to market, and to show investors a firm commitment to a specific goal. But how do you choose which indication to pursue? Of course, there are advantages surrounding orphan drug regulation, hot disease areas, and other major factors. However, one area that many entrepreneurs do not investigate thoroughly is the early stage competitive landscape in their target indication area. This should, however, be a consideration in any entrepreneur’s mind.

This article seeks to offer a 30,000-foot view of the therapeutic landscape, based on a sample of over 14,000 therapeutic assets. As demonstrated by the graphic below, there is a dense concentration of therapeutic assets in a select few disease areas. In fact, the top 3 main indications represent over 50% of all therapeutic assets currently being developed. This high concentration means that differentiating your asset will potentially be more challenging.

Number of Therapeutic Assets by Disease Area

Screen shot 2013-11-20 at 12.51.39 PM (2)Click to enlarge

Competition will surface not only in the form of showing clinical significance, but also in the fundraising process. However, on a positive note, the clinical path for development should be much clearer, as companies have most likely traversed the same regulatory path your therapeutic is now embarking on. Learning from your competitors always pays dividends.

At the end of the day, you know your asset best, and how you fit into the competitive landscape. What is true for one company may not be true for another, but it is undeniable that every company looking to commercialize an asset needs to understand the therapeutic landscape and how to maneuver it most effectively.

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