Biotech Values

[GrthzGd]

[somewhat OT] Finished 'The Antidote,' and found it a disappointment. Would recommend anyone taking up the book to skip to the last third and begin with the Incivek launch, and continuing with that of Kalydeco, as what precedes mostly a record of corporate comings and goings without much insight, drama or analysis. The writing is not up to the standard of his earlier book, 'The Billion $ Molecule,' about Vertex's early years. Very little of the founding excitement and perspective recorded in the latter book survives into the former.

Takeaways:

* Dumb title, as it's never clear which of Vertex's two drugs is being referred to, nor can either one, strictly speaking be called an antidote: one kills viruses; the other administers therapy for a genetic flaw.
* The small (relative to the billions of $ poured into Vertex) contributions of money and enthusiasm made by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation beginning in the 1990s paid handsome dividends both for its disease sufferers and Vertex's stockholders.