Posted on 07/23/2023 1:21:42 PM PDT by JayGalt
Ramaswamy's Bermuda-based company, Axovant Sciences, had been formed only eight months earlier, but here it was raising $360 million to develop an Alzheimer's drug that had been all but abandoned by giant pharma GlaxoSmithKline.
On the first day of trading the stock almost doubled, giving Axovant a market capitalization of nearly $3 billion. Considering that Ramaswamy had persuaded Glaxo to part with the unproven remedy for a mere $5 million up front, the newlyweds were ecstatic, as was a veritable wedding party of hedge fund pals who had followed Ramaswamy into the stock.
Yet as quickly as it started, the honeymoon was over. Why would Glaxo sell off a promising drug for so little? critics asked. And how could a company with ten employees, two of whom were Ramaswamy's mother and brother, be worth so much? Experts, analysts and the collective blogosphere quickly piled on, and Axovant's shares went into free fall. By early September they were trading 12% below the IPO price.
Using a pharmaceutical holding company he formed last year, Roivant Sciences, Ramaswamy hopes to spin out dozens of companies, much as he did with Axovant. "This will be the highest return on investment endeavor ever taken up in the pharmaceutical industry," he boasts. "It will be a pipeline every bit as deep and diverse as the most promising pharma company in the world but with a capital efficiency that is unprecedented."
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
The stint that never happened? Biotech vet David Hung wipes Axovant from his work history By Damian Garde April 10, 2018
Fast forward a few years: 2019 Axovant: An Interesting Turnaround Story With A Promising Pipeline Feb. 21, 2019 Sio Gene Therapies Inc. (SIOX) Axovant Sciences has transformed itself into a gene therapy company, now renamed as Axovant Gene Therapies, with at least six ongoing programs. Shares seem to have bottomed and have risen >20% in the last month. Key data readouts in 2019 include clinical readouts from gene therapy programs in severe refractory Parkinson's disease, GM1 gangliosidosis and GM2 gangliosdosis/Tay Sachs disease. The gene therapy programs are addressing target markets with revenue potential of billions of dollars. We estimate $500M peak risk-adjusted revenue in Parkinson's, with current market cap of just $187M.
Axovant Gene Therapies (AXGT) is the new name for former Axovant Sciences, which has now transformed itself into a pure-play gene therapy company focusing on neurological and neuromuscular diseases. As readers may be aware, Axovant failed the key phase 3 MINDSET trial for its lead drug intepirdine in treating Alzheimer's disease. Following this, a second trial failure for nelotanserin in treating dementia due to Lewy Body Disease resulted in the stock falling to below $1 and the CEO Hung (former CEO of Medivation) quitting.
Nov 10, 2020 'We're not a vant': Axovant seeks to forget the past as the company rebrands to Sio Gene Therapies Max Gelman Senior Editor Aiming to shed the legacy of an epic Alzheimer’s fail a few years ago, Axovant $AXGT is changing its name in a full corporate rebrand.
What happened to SIO gene therapies? Sio Gene Therapies - Wikipedia In November 2020, Axovant rebranded as Sio Gene Therapies. In April 2023 the shareholders of Sio Gene Therapies voted to liquidate and dissolve the company.
He rescues what is known as orphan drugs, not a bad thing
And some people, who ‘think’ they’re intelligent, want this guy as the next VP?
Vivek Ramaswamy has raised tremendous sums in the biotech field, starting companies then closing them after complete failures. He lost investors money but became rich, estimated wealth $500 million in one recent story.
All of the bets he made re Biotech failed and finally in 4/23 his latest company voted to liquidate.
His newest scheme is an attempt to force companies to use a middleman to guard against companies using Woke principles for investments. He has created a company that would act as a middle man for a 1.5% fee, earning his company up to $1 Billion/year according to Forbes.
The problematic point is that the companies he is targeting have consistently refused stockholder proposals to use Woke criterion. Basically he is using a book he purpose wrote and seminars on anti woke to create a ground swell to put money in his pocket to fix a non existent problem.
The more I learn the more it is apparent that this cynical opportunist, with the charisma to sell biotech investors on multiple failed ventures, is making a calculated assault on Exxon, Black Rock, Vanguard and others to syphon off $ from American’s pensions. I posted this topic so that those who are interested can search deeper & form their own conclusions.
They all failed. It was a talking point to get investments.
“And some people, who ‘think’ they’re intelligent, want this guy as the next VP?”
that’s what happens when they take someone’s speeches as the only information they consider.
They don’t seem to understand that those speeches were written by a consultant to fool people just like them.
“They don’t seem to understand that those speeches were written by a consultant to fool people just like them.”
Tailor-made/written, in fact. They know their target audience by now. And they know what people need and want to hear.
“Bermuda-based” is all I needed to know.
Vivek’s history is a very complex narrative. It can be presented as a success since he certainly is rich but the devil is in the details.
Many people want to judge on a firm handshake, the right words, plausible patter and a good delivery. The belief that we can judge character by presentation is a human failing con men exploit.
I think the worst evil wears a pleasing face. Like a spider, those type of evil people beckon one in to be ensnared without warning bells sounding.
I tried in this post to provide the warning bell. Based on his past endeavors Vivek is untrustworthy.
He'd be "the VP from Big Pharma". what could possibly go wrong with that?
“He’d be “the VP from Big Pharma”. what could possibly go wrong with that?”
Exactly.
“I tried in this post to provide the warning bell. Based on his past endeavors Vivek is untrustworthy.”
Well you certainly succeeded with me. I totally agree.
How dare you. Saint Swammy is like the 2nd coming to some around here. Someday our side is going get suspicious when an unkown comes out of nowhere singing a siren’s song we find easy to fall for.
The self serving, foreign born Ramaswamy has a hidden agenda.
He is trying to ingratiate himself so as to gain cultural inroads .......and status.....in US politics.
Plus he is looking to co-opt Trump for a high govt job.....maybe VP.
Trump should beware.
Ramaswamy is image-obsessed......
Trump cant have a VP who loves to hear the sound of his own voice, who would be continually vying to grab the spotlight away from the president.
And would be looking to promote his own advantage not America’s.
Amen...... and amen....... to that.
Things and people too good to be true usually ARE NOT.
This has been my assessment of this young man, with pockets full and no product, since he came on the scene.
He is probably not much more than a glorified snake oil salesman. As beguiling as the snake.
Many many years ago my late Momma sang the virtues of another young man she thought was just great and told me he should be our next President. I was a very young man then and gave him a look and told her no. His name was Al Gore.
Momma had a very hard time getting over being a Roosevelt democrat. She sort of did before she passed but it never completely left her. I remember asking what the difference between democrats and repooblicans was and she said that one was for the poor and the other for the rich. Simple as that to so many of these people of the Depression. The idea lingers on today, an idea the democrats promote and the repooblicans do nothing to refute.
No matter the party, most politicians are not worth the dynamite it would take to blow them up. If you managed to get them all at one time you’d statistically be doing us all a favor.
And supposedly this crook is in a tie in polls with DeSantis. Shows how dumb Republican voters are. He deserves to be pushed off the stage asap. No doubt he’ll talk a good game in the debate—smooth, charming—everything people say DeSantis isn’t. The uninformed, unfortunately, will fall for it and he’ll rake in more campaign contributions and support as the answer to our prayers. Not!
One more link. Many many companies were created, merging, being acquired, much capital invested. It is clear that big pharmy consumes enormous $. The drugs developed will have high price tags for small improvements over existing drugs. The cost benefit ratio is unclear. Cynically I believe the people made rich along the way see that end as the main goal.
Two drugs have been approved thus far from outgrowths of the origanal company Rolvant:
A drug for end stage prostatic cancer, slight improvement over existing therapy. Relugolix
A second drug, Vibegron in the Treatment of Overactive Bladder
Interesting
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