What you were reading — Rapport’s top stories of 2024
As we break for the holidays and begin to look forward to 2025, we’re also taking a beat to look back on what most drew our readers’ attention in 2024.
The calendar suggests 2024 was the same length as any other year — but sometimes it certainly felt longer (particularly if you live in a swing state). So although when we ran this same exercise last year we limited it to our “Top 5” stories, much like the expanded college football playoff this year, we’re giving you MORE.
And readers, you deserve it. Thanks for taking the time to read, share, and argue about our articles. As always, feel free to reach out to us directly to suggest ideas or share feedback.
Before we get to the year’s highlights we’d be remiss if we didn’t shout out our former colleague Jessica Sagers, who moved on to a new gig this year. Jess built Rapport with us and we miss having her around.
Happy holidays and happy new year!
Chris Morrison and Tom Culman
Rapport readers love Raven
In 2024 we ran quite a few pieces written by our colleagues at RA Capital’s venture team and RA Capital’s healthcare incubator, Raven. They were among our most popular pieces, showcasing the teams, the development candidates, the dealmaking, and the hard work that goes into company building.
In May, Josh Resnick and Laura Tadvalkar told the story of Mariana Oncology and its acquisition by Novartis. Raven, radiopharma, and reflections on company building.
In August, Joel Barrish and Jacyln Henderson wrote about Jnana Therapeutics’ PKU program, which showcased the company’s technology platform and caught the eye of Otsuka. Unlocking platform value meant finding its first killer app.
In April, Laura Tadvalkar discussed Raven’s systematic process for out-licensing assets from large pharma companies. Raven’s Project Condor fights flu with Cidara deal.
In October, Laura Tadvalkar, Josh Resnick, and Emily Minkow wrote about the all-hands-on-deck creation of Aliada Therapeutics and its eventual acquisition. Aliada shuttles its potential best-in-class Alzheimer’s treatment to AbbVie.
Digging deep on finance
Rapport’s pieces about trends in fundraising, valuations, and dealmaking are widely shared and discussed. These three from 2024 were among our most-read articles.
In August, Peter Kolchinsky argued that in an industry that’s only becoming more scientifically and financially complex as it matures, having common definitions matters. What’s a crossover round? The answer might surprise you.
In April, Sarah Reed joined Peter Kolchinsky to write about why sharing confidential information in the context of a financing such as a PIPE is legal, logical and often a company’s best strategy. On financings, pricing uncertainty, and early access to data.
Back in January, Tess Cameron and Peter Kolchinsky kicked off the year with RA Capital’s core biotech trends report, Semper Maior. Their “Spirits Rising” edition of the bi-yearly report was our most popular piece this year. And you won’t have to wait long for the next edition — coming your way before the JP Morgan conference in January 2025.
Rapport’s new beat: Planetary Health
We’ve been thrilled to have our colleagues on RA Capital’s Planetary Health team writing at Rapport this year. One piece stood above the others in this new space:
In July, Kathryn Meng explored the need to improve lithium-ion battery manufacturing in order to meet the needs of our world’s increased electrification. How will we manufacture tomorrow’s batteries?
Policy deep dives
Defending our market-based innovation ecosystem while advocating for making that innovation affordable through insurance reform has always been a necessarily common topic here at Rapport. 2024 was no exception. Two pieces in particular resonated with our readers.
Just a couple weeks ago in early December, Peter Kolchinsky’s data-spelunking through CMS’s national health expenditure data and other gold standard sources showed that we only spend 8% of our healthcare spending on branded prescription drugs — and that it’s the best slice of our healthcare dollar.
In April, Peter Kolchinsky wrote about the risks of eroding the tolerance society has for the economic framework that makes innovation possible, and the importance of defending it through education and reform.