Corvus Pharmaceuticals Inc (CRVS)

[PatBoone]

Yes, I’ve read that book. And having worked in the Bay Area biotech industry for over 20 years, you can’t help but know many of the players. Duggan got into Pharmacyclic by dumb luck, driven by the death of his son from glioblastoma. Duggan was attracted to Pharmacyclic by the failed drug motexafin gadolinium, but he was smart enough (viciously) to pivot to supporting ibrutinib. Miller lost credibility with Wall Street and control of the company due to his decade long fixation on that failed drug, culminating with his writing of that nasty opinion piece of the FDA for The Wall Street Journal. Persistence can be a double-edged sword sometimes. Miller is academically brilliant, but he was too stubborn to adapt to changing conditions. So he missed out on the windfall for both rituximab and ibrutinib. Roche ate his lunch on the former, Duggan on the latter. Let’s hope he has learned his lessons and adapt to reap the windfall of CPI-818. Two strikes, and this point in his career, he’s at bat with full count. Let’s see if he can get a hit, or if someone needs to step in to make the first ITKi successful.