STAT+: How to eliminate biotech zombies: Buy them
Why one health care investor buys “zombie” biotechs to shut them down.
This story first appeared in Adam’s Biotech Scorecard, a subscriber-only newsletter. STAT+ subscribers can sign up here to get it delivered to their inbox.
Health care investor Kevin Tang buys “zombie” biotechs to shut them down. It’s a counterintuitive, but ingenious solution to the sector’s intractable problem covered in last week’s newsletter. Tang’s disposal service is not a fix suited for all moribund biotechs valued at less than their cash, but it should — and hopefully will — be used more frequently.
Presently, Tang, via his hedge fund Tang Capital Partners and his privately held shell company, Concentra Biosciences, has a $3-per-share cash offer on the table to acquire and shut down Acelyrin, the distressed, cash-rich biotech that is seeking a second life as a merger partner with another troubled biotech.
