Peter Kolchinsky of RA Capital on making drugs affordable, and keeping incentives for drug discovery.

Peter Kolchinsky, RA Capital's founder and managing partner, joins to talk about why so many of the policy ideas floated around drug-pricing are wrongheaded. Industry is going to have to give "a pound of flesh," Kolchinsky argued, and he's explicit on the business practices biopharma must abandon to get a fair system that still rewards innovation.

Imagine if John F. Kennedy had stepped to the podium at Rice University on Sept. 12, 1962 and said: “We choose to go to the moon. We don’t know how to do it, but we’ll pay what seems like a fair price for one rocket — something like what the Soviets are paying their people.” That wouldn’t inspire anyone. It certainly wouldn’t have motivated the NASA contractors charged with delivering on the audacious vision of putting a man on the moon and returning him home safely.

Aerovate Therapeutics Emerges From RA Capital Incubator With $72.6 Million Funding For Potential Disease-modifying Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Therapy. AV-101 is a Proprietary Inhaled Version of Imatinib, Which Has Proven Efficacy Treating PAH; Aerovate Was Founded and Seeded by RA Capital Management; Series A is Led by Sofinnova Investments; Includes New Investors Atlas Venture, Cormorant Asset Management, Surveyor Capital and Osage University Partners.

To help break down the complex biotechnological landscape surrounding Covid-19 and our maps, we offer periodic, interactive, webinar-style discussions led by members of our team. We welcome all those involved in biotechnology or public health, including scientific innovators, policymakers, members of the media, academics, medical professionals, and representatives of non-profits or NGOs.

Peter Kolchinsky is the author of The Great American Drug Deal: A New Prescription for Innovative and Affordable Medicines.

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) recently concluded that Trikafta, a new, groundbreaking cystic fibrosis drug developed by Vertex, isn't worth its price. But ICER's cost-effectiveness analyses routinely refuse to include variables that do not suit the organization's political agenda. Insisting on modeling a drug's launch price as its price forever without taking into account the fact that it will go generic is distinctly disingenuous.

Many leaders believe that pursuing novelty should be the biotech industry's sole purpose. Though "novelty at all costs" resonates with a public skeptical of incremental innovation, this principle can do more harm than good. A therapy or intervention that solves an unmet need is novel in every way that matters. Let's change the story and invest in drug development to address needs not yet met by the known uses of generic drugs.

Along with three detailed landscape maps, our team has published numerous articles, videos, and audio recordings to break down core principles related to the Covid-19 crisis. We encourage all to browse our collection and allow these materials to start conversations that will help improve public health systems worldwide.

If you are looking forward to a career in biotech, then you are an investor. Sound strange? Not at all--time is money, you are investing your time in a company, and they will pay you in both cash and equity. 10,000 shares of one company could be worth much more than 30,000 shares of another company, but to know when that’s true, you need to know what questions to ask.

The Great American Drug Deal examines the healthcare landscape through the lens of the Biotech Social Contract, including the government's role in inventing drugs, direct-to-consumer advertising, the opioid crisis, the price-jacking of old drugs, and the impact on America of lower drug costs in other countries.

Evercore ISI — We are continuing our series of discussions with leading healthcare and biopharma portfolio managers as we try to leverage the top minds in the investment industry to help inform our own views in this rapidly changing biopharma era. RA Capital is one of the leading dedicated healthcare investment funds and has been built over nearly two decades with a unique approach to analyzing therapeutic categories...

Investors that share your vision of your company should be willing to invest larger amounts (that are harder to sell), even at high valuations, than those who don’t appreciate its full potential but sense an opportunity for quick gains (and would only want smaller, flippable amounts).

The Biotech Social Contract series on Medium defines the biopharmaceutical industry’s social contract with America, examines practices that deviate from that contract, and proposes refinements to healthcare policy to ensure that our continued investment in scientific progress ultimately yields affordable, effective therapeutics for future generations.

BioCentury — After a decade of focusing on public investments and later adding private investments to its remit, RA Capital is getting into the business of starting companies from whole cloth. The firm thinks having a dedicated financier from start to acquisition or profitability ofers the continuity of support that many companies are seeking...

FINalternatives — The first word that comes to mind when chatting with the team at Boston-based RA Capital Management is intriguing. The company is basically a sophisticated life sciences think-tank wrapped in a fund that finances private, IPO and follow-on financings for a portfolio of early-stage biotech companies. The company’s crossover fund, offered to institutional investors, has more than $1 billion in AUM...

Partnering News — Flexibility is the watchword for investment at RA Capital Management. As Peter Kolchinsky, managing director, explained, “Investors should be as flexible as possible...

Xconomy National — Anyone either celebrating or fearing the start of a Hepatitis C drug price war should take a break from the excitement to consider that a far more nuanced and profound game is at hand...

Xconomy Boston — The Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Foundation’s big win in venture philanthropy can fuel constructive competition among companies developing innovative CF drugs, benefiting both patients and the healthcare system by increasing future treatment options and reducing their cost...

Xconomy Boston — Wall Street is buzzing with anticipation about the first new all-oral drugs for hepatitis C approaching the market. The high rate of HCV infection and dissatisfaction with current treatments have created a potential multi-billion dollar bonanza for drug companies...

IN VIVO — Industry must think differently about funding high-risk/reward development of drug candidates against novel targets. Multiplexed Phase II proof-of-concept trials can light a path toward lower-risk pivotal studies and provide a model for building biotechs to deliver what patients, providers, payors, and investors all want: solutions...

If you are considering starting your own biotech company, you will appreciate the wealth of practical information packed into The Entrepreneur’s Guide to a Biotech Startup. This free 100-page eBook is based on personal interviews with entrepreneurs, investors, attorneys, and other professionals who understand biotech venture creation and are eager to share their insights.

IN VIVO — Biotech executives make strategic decisions based on incentives that aren’t necessarily aligned to benefit either the company’s investors or employees. Three modifications to business as usual would help solve the problem and lead to improvements in the productivity of people and capital in the sector...