June 22-26

Hi Gang,

I’ve been in discussions with a few VCs on a topic and would love to know what you think. In recent years, we’ve seen tremendous advances in engineering (synthetic, computational, AI) and its potential impact on drug discovery and development. A few JPMs ago, we chuckled about how many companies dropped “AI” and “machine learning” onto their slides (most of us – and probably most of them – didn’t understand how it worked). Today, companies like Recursion, Insitro, Novome and BlackThorn Therapeutics are leveraging game-changing engineering to improve how we develop medicine. Investors like DCVC, Lux Capital and a16z have been particularly active in the space, and it’s been fun to watch the biotech/tech universes mix and mingle – but not without some significant language barriers.

The always-insightful thought leader, David Shaywitz, sums it up well in his piece in the Timmerman Report: “The challenge is that many of these companies, while adept at AI, often have far less experience in making drugs, which requires an enormous amount of tacit knowledge and on-the-job experience.” (Also worth reading is the rebuttal from Recursion CEO Chris Gibson.) As Recursion has done, one obvious solution is to recruit experienced drug makers into these companies to help chart the course forward. But drug makers like data. Proof of concept. They want to know the thing works. And they want to hang out with molecule people, not these alien techie types.

“Oh my. Space travel sound rather perilous. I can assure you they will never get me onto one of those dreadful Star Ships!” -3CPO, droid

How do we solve for this? Why does it feel more comfortable to bet on science than engineering, when one could argue it’s far more difficult and expensive to tinker with science? Is this an Old School vs. New School mentality? Maybe there’s a next-generation of drug makers and biotech leaders who can get excited about the potential of these new technologies as they do about platforms based on biology and chemistry? Who wouldn’t want to hang out at the Star Wars Cantina? Let’s mix it up!

“There are likely to be a few breakout companies aiming not for a quick flip to big-pharma or to create an incrementally impactful company aimed at a single step in the drug discovery process, but instead dedicated to building the next great biopharma company from scratch, alongside revolutionary advances in technology and hundreds of amazing colleagues similarly dedicated and passionate towards that mission and the impact they can have on the world through their success.” – Chris Gibson, CEO of Recursion

News & Resources

Business, Leadership & Self

• How to Keep Your Team Motivated, Remotely— “If you want your teams to be engaged in their work, you have to make their work engaging.”

• GLG Signature Series: An Interview with Bill Dudley, Former President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York

News of Interest

• An Etiquette Guide to Dining During a Pandemic (how to not be jerk)

• An Open Letter from Daniel O’Day, Chairman & CEO, Gilead Sciences

Diversity & Inclusion

• Culture Shift Labs Presents: Think Tank: Precision Medicine for the People – Precision Medicine for the People will showcase Black and Latinx healthcare disruptors/founders. The agenda includes structured networking, a conversation with Ted Love, MD, CEO & President, Global Blood Therapeutics and Robin Washington, Member BOD Alphabet, Inc., Honeywell International, Inc., and Salesforce.com, and an opportunity for entrepreneurs to pitch

• Kiese Laymon, an American writer, editor, and a professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi, organized some of his writer friends to create this beautiful and striking piece, Literary Quilt: A Covering for George Floyd

From the Community

• Gilead pens $1.5B buyout option deal for Pionyr

• Giving highly funded but secretive Moderna a run for its money, Juno-lite Sana raises $700M

• Reneo Readies for Global Test of Drug for Rare Mitochondrial Disease

• BrightInsight raises $40M in Series B funding to cement our position as the leading global regulated digital health platform for biopharma and medtech

• Sana Biotechnology unveils $700M in financing

• Awaiting IPO, Poseida Therapeutics nips in a quick $110M series D

Food Fight – send me yours!

This week’s winner is Elizabeth Jeffords (and her helper!). Elizabeth is Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer at Alkahest.

Chef’s comments: “Keeping up our monthaversary date night, with a bit of help from my 13-year-old sous chef, red curry in puff pastry, with a garlic butter mushroom and asparagus sautée over herbed rice with rosemary, followed by molten chocolate lava cake with dulce de leche ice cream. The kids know to scamper off for monthaversary date night, but in this case, I got some help preparing and serving!”

Cuteness Contest

This week’s winner comes from Linda Grais, former President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Ocera Therapeutics.

Mom’s comments: “Introducing Augie Grais-Freund, age 3 months. He’s not so good at social distancing, but excels at entertaining the human puppies in the household.”

A Little Levity

• Barcelona opera house reopens with performance to 2,292 plants – sorta weird but sorta lovely

• Based on conversations after last week’s Vital Signs, it sounds like a massive number of you are planning road trips in the coming weeks. There’s a serious run on RVs and camper vans, and check out the badass digs my colleague Marissa Neary will be driving from Boston to Vancouver!

May the Force be with you,

Jackie