Reading through RayzeBio and Bristol Myers Squibb $4.1 billion acquisition again made me appreciate who brilliant their business model is. One word: simple. (Want to see evidence of this, just look at their very simple landing page).
The company was founded in 2020 and exited just 4 years later. That is $1bn of value added each year. Here are 7 pillars which I believe contributed to this:
1. Simple need identification: 5% of cancer patients die simply waiting to receive RLT and though Lutathera shows a remarkable 79% NET survival remission - still significant enough patients build resistance or relapse.
2. Not reinventing the wheel: Taking a proven target, modality and disease but changing the toxic payload (Ac225 -stronger alpha-emitter). Allowing streamlined clinical entry and reassurance to FDA (discovery to Phase III Primary read-out in July 2025).
3. Geographical Strategy: Indianapolis houses the second-largest FedEx hub in the world, which specialises in shipping radiopharmaceutical drugs. Further aligning to point 1.
4. Inspirational Leadership: Led/Co-founded by a mixture of scientists (Deborah Charych, Ph.D.), Medics (Ken Song) corporate leaders (Ken Song, Aron Knickerbocker). All have strong investor experiences/understanding and biotech track records.
5. Scientific curiosity: Created several novel approaches for further scientific intrigue (CA9, GPC3) creating a mixture of tried-and-test and never seen before.
6. Timing: Challenges in CART and a crowded IO field – toxic payload delivery systems are attractive (ADCs + RLT). NETTER II (Novartis) showing promise but Rayze still offering enough differentiation not to be a “like for like” competitor.
7. 10 Yard Touchdown: All of the above allowed for multiple new data to raise the new funding. Eventually leading to a clear exit strategy and “safe” buy from BMS who now get a Phase III, multiple PI/INDs and reduced risk on FDA, Supply and Commercial fit.
Huge congrats to the team and look forward to seeing how BMS approaches this new asset class.
