How biotech deal-making really works behind the scenes, according to founders

What does it feel like to run a biotech startup and then get “the call” — the one from the big pharma CEO who wants to acquire your company for billions of dollars?

At the 2023 STAT Summit on Wednesday, senior biotech writer Adam Feuerstein posed this question to three people very qualified to answer it: Vlad Coric, chairman and CEO of Biohaven, which was acquired by Pfizer in 2022 for $11.6 billion; Jacob Van Naarden, former COO of Loxo Oncology, which was acquired by Eli Lilly (where Van Naarden is now executive vice president) for $8 billion in 2019; and Athena Countouriotis, whose company Turning Point Therapeutics was acquired by BMS for $4 billion in 2022.

“Imagine you’re going through your typical day, and you get a message: Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, wants to talk at six o’clock tonight,” said Coric, whose company had a successful migraine drug on the market and had just completed an IPO at the time.

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