Category Archives: Uncategorized

Science2Startup (S2S) is back!  In April 2020, we were planning the 3rd annual S2S conference for university-focused biotech entrepreneurship – but it was unfortunately scuttled by COVID. A subsequent event in 2021 was also precluded by the pandemic.  But as

Another quarter, another set of all-time highs for biotech funding – and this surfeit of capital continues raises possible concerns about its disciplined deployment. Back in January, when reflecting on the strange paradox of 2020, all-time-highs were across the board:

In the throes of a full COVID-19 pandemic, most business leaders’ top priority is rightfully the health and safety of their employees, families, and communities. Even though business disruptions are significant and overwhelming, the primary efforts focused on both safety

As 2018 begins, and we prepare for the biopharma sector’s annual kickoff in San Francisco next week, my thoughts are focused on the snow. I’m literally watching bombogenesis unleash a blizzard white-out in Boston right now. As a winter sports

2015 was the biggest year ever for venture capital funding into the biotech sector. According to the latest MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), with data from Thomson Reuters, over $7.4B was invested during the year.  Lots

It’s that time of the year again.  As part of the annual pilgrimage, acolytes of the healthcare investment community are about to descend upon the Union Square area of San Francisco. As part of the ritual of the 34th Annual

This blog was written by Kevin Pojasek, CEO at Quartet and Atlas EIR, as part of the “From the Trenches” feature of LifeSciVC. Therapeutic areas and modalities regularly fall in and out fashion usually when promising scientific approaches run aground in

It’s that time of year again: Santa is preparing his list of naughty and nice biotech management teams, and taking his recommendations to the Compensation Committee. As I’ve been sitting through several of these meetings already, I thought it would

Soccer is a fantastic sport – eleven players on a side, a hundred yards of pitch, one ball, and lots of emotion. Watching the World Cup this year has been fun; our children are just now old enough where they

Next week kicks off the biggest healthcare investor meeting of the year in San Francisco.  It’s a giant circus of activity revolving around the Westin St Francis in Union Square, with more than 10,000 people gathered from biotech, pharma, startups,

Seed-led venture creation is our focus at Atlas, and, with the closing of our new fund, 2013 has been a very active year for us.  As part of a year-end reflection, it’s a good opportunity to present a quick sketch

For the past 2.5 years I’ve been experimenting with this blog, covering topics about biotech startups, the pharma industry, and venture capital – so I thought it would be a good time for reflection. In my first blog post in

Pharma corporate venture was back in the biotech news today with the release of Burrill & Company’s June 2012 report.  An interesting article by Vinay Singh evaluated the impact of Pharma corporate venture capital (CVC) investing, and the key takeaway

Biogen just announced its acquisition of Stromedix for up to $562M. Another solid M&A exit in biotech emphasizing how innovation matters. With a very different model than Avila Therapeutics, an exit we announced in January, Stromedix is a biology-focused, asset-centric

Like many technologies that move from hot discoveries on the cover of Nature to the practical ugly sausage-making of drug development, RNA-based therapeutics have been widely derided of late.  It seems everyone from Wall Street to Pharma to venture capital

Amidst talk of the need for renewed economic stimulus and the desire for America to invest in innovative industries, I thought I’d highlight two practical tax policy ideas for how to accelerate biotech sector growth: enabling NOL tradability and creating

Most of Big Pharma have been trying to reinvent themselves as nimble Biotechs, at least in the eyes of Wall Street, in order to be perceived as being innovative R&D-driven companies.    Despite the restructurings, Big Pharma is struggling with that

Compensation in startups is a subject where vague notions of the right comparable benchmarks (“the market rate”) and organizational inertia (“that’s what we’ve done before…”) come together to prevent useful transparency. Mountains of data are thrown at comp committees to

Last week’s news about Orexigen’s Contrave obesity drug and its struggles with the FDA’s Division of Metabolic and Endocrinologic Products has left me puzzled.  Obesity is such an enormous epidemic, one has to wonder why the FDA is taking such

Lots of great advice exists for tech entrepreneurs trying to pitch to VCs, but very little for the aspiring life science entrepreneur, especially for therapeutics startups.  Since that’s the type of deal we invest a good portion of our fund

Two recent observations prompted me to think about a topic broader than just the life sciences: the information intensity of the world we live in and some of the unhealthy behaviors it has fostered. I met with a biotech entrepreneur

There’s been talk about a “bubble” in venture capital recently.   If there is one to debate, its not in the life sciences. While we’ve been relatively steady on an annualized pace in 2009 and 2010, we are down considerably

I just met with an entrepreneur who was the founding CEO of a company created around an academic lab’s discoveries. It was fascinating new approach to drugging hot receptor targets.  To protect the innocent I won’t mention the names, but

I’ve decided it’s time to experiment with blogging about the biotech venture ecosystem.  I’d like to call it a “pilot study”.  If it ends up being safe and effective over the next few months, I’ll continue.  If not, I’ll terminate