Monthly Vibe Bio Newsletter - December 2023
Every Cure for Every Community - Finding Clarity in Complexity ❄️
Welcome to ’s Monthly Newsletter! Stay up-to-date with our latest company updates and insights into the ever-evolving biotech funding landscape.
All of us, at Vibe Bio, wish you and your loved ones a wholesome holiday season and a prosperous new year. We appreciate you being a subscriber to our Substack. Your commitment, to finding every cure for every community, drives our mission.
Thank you and stay merry!
Please enjoy our December newsletter and let us know what you think in the comments below.
Industry Updates and Resources
Boston Business Journal: First-ever CRISPR drug for sickle cell disease, made by two Boston companies, is approved in the US - signs that gene-editing therapeutics will make a huge splash in 2024.
Radiopharmaceuticals are hot 🔥
BioPharmaDive: Artbio raises $90M
Fierce Biotech: Eli Lilly to acquire Point Biopharma Global
Stat News: Having a child with complex medical needs is hard enough. Navigating the health care system makes it worse. This is a stark warning to health policymakers.
BioSpace: Catalent, Ferring, ReNAgade and Pfizer among the pharma companies cutting staff in December.
LabioTech: Biotech mafia dominating vc funding; according to Sergey Jakimov, co-founder of LongeVC, “the biotech industry is complex, and requires a deep understanding of scientific and regulatory aspects, which may not align with the expertise of generalist investors.”
Informed Decision-Making for Turbulent Markets: Biotech Market Factors to Consider
Emerging Technologies
Artificial intelligence continues to mystify our society and every industry you can imagine. Biotech in particular can benefit greatly from AI-based applications and data mining. The goal is to develop a system that results in reliable responses to the human-prompted regulatory, toxicology, safety, and competitive intelligence questions. However, most LLMs are not knowledge-based models. Generative AI coupled with the incredible advancements in biotechnology have created unique options for biotech executives. Nobody can predict how fast AI and other emerging technologies will transform biotech.
Macroeconomic Uncertainty
Increasing federal interest rates, ongoing proxy wars, and equity market volatility are contributing to a perfect storm of uncertainty for global investors. Biotech investors are in a challenging position as they decide if they are willing to commit their funds into traditionally “high-risk” biotech investments.
Regulatory Concerns
In the United States, the constitutionality of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is being challenged by big pharma, arguing Medicare’s drug negotiation process violates the First Amendment. Let’s not forget the totally unforeseen possibility of a former United States president in criminal court while leading in their political party’s rating polls.
What should you do?
Some investors see this level of market uncertainty as an opportunity to take advantage of discounted assets. Others are clearly positioned in the ‘wait and see’ category. We’d love to hear from you and show you how Vibe Bio can provide you with decision-making clarity.
Learn about Vibe’s AI-guided Insights and Analytics
🔬 Assess the likelihood of your drug candidate succeeding in clinical trials, based on its preclinical data and competitive landscape
📈 Make informed decisions about your drug pipeline
🧫 Elevate your drug asset’s scientific present value
🧪 De-risks potential risks early in the development process
VibeCast Updates 🎙️
On VibeCast, our Industry Engagement Manager and show host Ray Dogum, interviews Vibe Bio community experts who come from diverse backgrounds and career paths. However, one commonality that all VibeCast guests have is a passion to improve society by encouraging research and educating others by sharing their own experiences.
Collectively we have the skills. We have the technology. We have the passion. We now need the community catalyst to bring it all together. That’s Vibe.
In addition to our YouTube channel, you can listen to episodes on:
Google Podcasts (shutting down April 2024)
We are always looking for interesting and knowledgeable people to interview on our show. If you know of a community member who would be a great guest, please let us know. You can suggest a guest by sending us an email, leaving a Substack comment below, or reaching out via social media.
Check out the latest episodes, 37-39 below
Breakthrough in Early-Stage Cancer Detection with Dawn Mattoon, PhD | VibeCast Episode 37
Dr. Dawn Mattoon is the Chief Executive Officer at Mercy Bioanalytics. She brings nearly 20 years of experience in the biotechnology industry and has held leadership positions in R&D, Strategy, and General Management for a series of exceptional companies including Invitrogen, Life Technologies, Thermo Fisher, and Cell Signaling Technology. Prior to joining Mercy, Dr. Mattoon served as the Senior Vice President for Clinical Diagnostics at Quanterix, where she led the development and commercialization of the company’s first two FDA authorized diagnostic tests for COVID-19, and received Breakthrough Device designations from the FDA for diagnostic tests in Alzheimer’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis. She has developed and commercialized products across a range of proteomic and genomic technologies and is thrilled by the opportunity to bring the highly innovative Mercy Halo diagnostic test portfolio to patients. Dr. Mattoon earned her Ph.D. in Genetics with a focus in signal transduction from Yale University, where she also completed her postdoctoral fellowship. Dawn and her husband of 27 years, Scott, are ten-year residents of greater Boston where they enjoy hiking, paddling, and occasional visits from their children Ryland (Junior, Davidson College), and Avery (Sophomore, Emory University).
Advantages of Founders Backing Founders in Biotech with Justin Olshavsky | VibeCast Episode 38
Justin Olshavsky is a Founder and General Partner of the Pioneer Bio+Health Fund, where he invests in early stage biotechnology, life science, and healthcare companies. Please reach out if you're building in bio+health! He previously founded Voyage Bio (YC S19) at 23 years old, which was later acquired by a public medtech company. At Voyage, he pioneered a novel therapeutic using cooling to prevent brain damage during stroke. Justin was the CTO / Co-founder, and the only engineer at the company from inception to acquisition. He is an award-winning product designer and has a background in mechanical engineering and bioengineering (UC Berkeley / UCSF / Clemson).
Finding Small Molecule Drugs Encoded in DNA with Jason Park | VibeCast Episode 39
Jason Park, PhD, is CEO and co-founder of Empress Therapeutics. He is also an Operating Partner at Flagship Pioneering and was a member of the founding team of Sonata Therapeutics, where he served as COO. Prior to joining Flagship in 2015, Jason was a core member of the Boston Consulting Group’s Health Care and Technology practices, operating out of BCG’s New York, Mumbai, and Paris offices. His projects include multiple large life science M&A opportunities and the design and implementation of a new funding model for a multinational Global Health organization focused on innovative technologies and interventions. Previously. Jason was a director at any early-stage biotech start-up focused on targeted drug delivery as well as the co-founder of an internet advertising firm. Jason earned a Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Yale University where his research focused on the use of nanotechnology for immunomodulatory purposes and culminated in the invention of and clinical use of a nanoparticle drug delivery platform. He is the author of multiple patents, book chapters, and over a dozen peer-reviewed papers in journals like Nature and Cell.
Community Feedback
We encourage you to explore our Discord server and learn more about our mission to accelerate the development of new treatments and cures through inflection point financing. You can also follow us on social media to stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates from our community.
Tell us what else you’d like to see in future editions of the newsletter. We’d love to hear from you!
Sincerely,
The Vibe Bio Community Team
#EveryCureforEveryCommunity