Roivant’s Chief Development Officer William Symonds is too busy to attend the actual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference at the Westin.
Instead, he’s off meeting with companies and people that could lead Roivant to its next overlooked and underpriced compound. With that approach, the holding company has founded four subsidiaries; Axovant, Myovant, Enzyvant and Dermavant.
“If a new therapeutic area comes along, which it will, then a new business unit will be formed,” Symonds said in an interview with MedCity News on Monday.
The premise is fairly simple: Many promising therapeutic compounds never make it to clinical trials. The company in charge may switch focus, it might stumble in the development phase or simply run out of cash.
“The vision was really to go out and find these drugs that were sitting on the shelves,” Symonds said.
In practice, the business development team finds themselves going in the opposite direction to most Big Pharma players. Many companies are chasing the potential blockbuster field of NASH, for example, which means the opportunity isn’t there for Roivant.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“NASH is something that has gotten incredibly competitive,” Symonds said. “People are paying large amounts for assets in this area. The development path is long and expensive and it remains to be proven.”
In other words, it’s a ‘no.’
The idea is to take on neglected drugs and fields, resurrecting forgotten compounds and booking them in at a bargain price. Its most established company, Axovant, famously purchased its lead compound from GlaxoSmithKilne for $5 million and a 12.5 percent cut on future sales.
The following year, Axovant executed the largest ever biotech IPO, raising $360 million. Another one of its subsidiaries, Myovant, went public last year and raised $218 million for its endocrinology pipeline.
It’s about efficiency and speed. When a new subsidiary is formed it gets an injection of cash from the parent company and access to all the accounting, legal, clinical, and any other expertise it might need, Symonds explained.
Of note, the core scientific team stays the same throughout. In many other companies, the group evaluating the drug and doing the due diligence step out of the picture once the compound is bought. That causes development delays, Symonds said.
“You have this long hand-off and this long transition period where nothing seems to happen for 4-6 months.”
The expedited R&D process is beginning to pay off. Axovant’s Alzheimer’s drug has just finished enrollment for its Phase 3 trial, MINDSET. It was one of the first things the newly-founded business did, Symonds recalled.
“We basically received a big 55-gallon drum full of drug powder and had to make the tablets and get everything set up,” he said. “So we went from that, to now a fully recruited Phase 3 trial, in two years.”
One drawback with the model is that it’s unlikely to produce a game-changing medicine anytime soon. On a good day, Axovant’s lead Alzheimer’s drug will help control the disease symptoms. It doesn’t halt the disease. It’s not a functional cure. Wonder drugs don’t get left on the shelves.
But incremental benefits over time definitely add up. And after two blockbuster IPOs, many investors are eager to see if Roivant’s subsidiaries can deliver on the science.
Photo: Martin Barraud, Getty Images
