SVRN Overview and Strategic Vision

Over the course of this year, it has been my pleasure to discuss with many of you a project that I have been thinking about over the last year and sought with Hui to stand up by this summer. The effort to bring a more efficient and transparent system to biomedical development and protect returns associated with scientific investment.

I’ve always said that healthcare touches us all and was reminded of it this year, one that hasn’t always been what I expected but for which I am very grateful. As cooler air rolls in for autumn, I’m looking forward to enjoying the best of New York’s best season.

On the SVRN front, we will be building towards executing our first cohort of pilot royalty transactions. Looking forward to staying in touch.

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Updates at SVRN

• SVRN has engaged two pre-therapeutic biotech clients to facilitate investment and licensing transactions on their behalf
• Regulatory pathway to issue public assets identified, conversations ongoing with parties who could facilitate pilot transactions
• Development of SVRN marketplace prototype continues with virtual demo now available (https://svrn.bubbleapps.io/version-test/marketplace, username/password: nest)
• Website v2.0 coming in November

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October Community Meeting; Join us this Thursday, October 17 at 5:30 EST for our next Community Meeting, where Shannon Anderson will present primary research findings of an insider’s perspective on university tech transfer office transactions!

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SVRN Picks of the Month

Here’s some of the top content our team at SVRN has enjoyed reading or listening to over the past few weeks:

• This fascinating article from the New Yorker about the AI drug discovery process, including approachable explanations of high throughput screening and target-based rational drug design. Helpful context on what AI can and cannot do in the context of improving drug development efficiency!
• An argument in favor of the LLC-based corporate structure for biotech companies. Flexible corporate structures can be helpful to give investors exposure to specific intellectual property within a corporate portfolio, and also enable a biotech to efficiently sell assets within its portfolio while remaining intact to move other programs forward and protect their human capital.
• A comprehensive review of the inefficiencies in the current drug development system, including the challenges posed by lengthy development timelines running up against frequent changes to corporate leadership and portfolio prioritization strategy.
• Short opinion piece on the importance of maintaining IP protections despite challenges we currently face related to affordability. The Hatch-Waxman Act recently turned 40 years old, and has been instrumental in fostering biomedical innovation in the US over that period. It is essential to maintain IP protection while finding solutions to promote affordability in an age where many new technologies will not go “generic” in the same way as small molecules.
• This podcast about profitability crisis in crucial drug manufacturing facilities in the US tells the story of a small group of people fighting to keep America’s last domestic penicillin factory open, despite highly unfavorable unit economics. This is happening now 80 years since Pfizer revolutionized mass production of penicillin in Brooklyn in support of allied forces in WWII, catalyzing their evolution from a chemical company into a pharmaceutical company.

Make sure to join the SVRN Discord channel for more insightful reading/listening,

as well as updates!