FDA Approval Process and the Venture Business Model in Pharmaceuticals

12min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

This chapter discusses the process of FDA approval for drugs, the high costs of bringing a drug to market, and the venture business model in the pharmaceutical industry. It highlights the need for successful drugs to subsidize failures and the challenges of recouping research and development costs.

Last year Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical company behind Ozempic and Wegovy, overtook LVMH to become Europe’s most valuable company. And the pull for Acquired to finally tackle healthcare (18% of US GDP!) became too strong for us to resist. While we didn’t know much about Novo Nordisk before diving in, our first thought was, “wow, seems like these new diabetes and obesity drugs mean serious trouble for big insulin companies.”

And then… we realized that Novo Nordisk IS the big insulin company. And in a story befitting of Steve Jobs and Apple, they’d just disrupted themselves with the drug equivalent of an iPhone moment. Once we dug further, we quickly realized this company has it all: an incredible 100+ year history filled with Nobel Prizes, bitter personal rivalries, board room dramas, a generation-defining silicon valley innovation, lone voices persevering against all odds — and oh yeah, the world’s largest charitable foundation at its helm. Tune in for one incredible story!

Sponsors:

Many thanks to our fantastic Season 14 partners:

More Acquired:

Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
Join the Slack
Subscribe to ACQ2
Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!

Links:

Carve Outs:

‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.