David Glazer - Biotech Deal Wiz

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Unlike software startups that can scale with minimal resources, biotech startups need frequently to rely on collaborations with big strategic players to get to scale. This is an interview with one of the top attorneys in arranging such deals, David Glazer of Morgan Lewis. I learned much from David; I hope you will too.

Highlights:

• Sal Daher Introduces David Glazer of Morgan Lewis, the Biotech Deal Wiz
• Why Collaborations with Strategic Partners Are So Necessary for Biotech Startups
• Sal Connected with David by Courtesy of Armon Sharei of SQZ Biotech; David Advised SQZ on the $1.3 Billion Roche Deal
• Collaborations May Last Ten or Twenty Year; Picking the Right Partner is Crucial
• A Strategic Partner Can Be Immensely Valuable with Dealing with the Complexities & Cost of Getting a Compound of Technology to Market
• Strategics Offer Clinical, Regulatory & Commercial Expertise Startups Lack
• “You got one partner signed up and then the dominoes start to fall, it provides a validation.”
• The Topics that Dominate the Discussions Between Biotech Startups and Strategic Partners
• The Tradeoffs Central to the Negotiations
• An Important Metric of Biotech Deals Is Elucidated
• Picking Mechanisms Determine Who Takes the Lead in Which Circumstance
• Reward Follows Risk in Biotech Deals
• “Careful what you ask for when you're the biotech company…” – The Law of Unintended Consequences
• Collaborations Can Give Startups the Capacity to Develop Their Own Internal Projects
• Resources from Collaborations Can Help Startups Mature Their Tech
• “I would say I spend about 50% of my time with the pharmaceutical, the strategic players, and about 50% with biotechs.”
• Since They Represent both Biotechs & Strategics, Morgan Lewis Has a Good Sense of What Motivates the Players and What Deals Can Get Done
• How Deals Go Awry
• Sal Daher Puts in a Plug for His Syndicate List
• How David Glazer Became a Biotech Deal Maker
• “…then in 2000, the [tech] bubble popped and I ended up spending almost all of my time working for the pharmaceutical and biotech companies back in the day.”
• How the Acquisition of One of His Clients Expanded David Glazer’s Network
• Morgan Lewis Has Afforded David Glazer the Opportunity to Do Interesting Pro Bono Work
• David Glazer’s Closing Advice to Biotechnology Companies Thinking About Collaborations
• “…I've always found it helpful to have a champion at the pharmaceutical company who is very interested in your deal.”