According to Wikipedia, "As of November 2020, Moderna was valued at $35 billion, and while none of its drugs had been approved" since its creation in 2010.
$38bn ain't bad for a company without a single product released for the past 10 years.
I work in biotech so I may be able to share some of my experience in the field. That said, I may also be sharing my mis-experience too ;)
Biotech startups are longer term things than software startups. Typically, your product doesn't get to the market until years 10/12 of the business. This is due to the regulatory issues like with the FDA or the EMA and other countries. Critically, that approval to be on the market or not is made near the end of those 10/12 years.
So, yes, you bust your butt to get the business going for a decade or more and then the regulatory agency decides if it can be sold[0]. Many other biotech people complain about this (and rightly so!), but I personally feel that this is the 'lesser evil'. We do not want pacemakers, knee joints, or pharmaceuticals to be developed like exercise equipment.
That said, the new product is likely to be a new market entirely, and one that you now have a near total monopoly on.
Like with any start-up, it's a risk/reward calculation. And biotech tends to be a high risk business, thus leading to high rewards that are economic, psychological, and spiritual.
[0] To be clear, this is a very complex process, and I have simplified it down. Each business and use case is very different.
Balgair|5 years ago
Biotech startups are longer term things than software startups. Typically, your product doesn't get to the market until years 10/12 of the business. This is due to the regulatory issues like with the FDA or the EMA and other countries. Critically, that approval to be on the market or not is made near the end of those 10/12 years.
So, yes, you bust your butt to get the business going for a decade or more and then the regulatory agency decides if it can be sold[0]. Many other biotech people complain about this (and rightly so!), but I personally feel that this is the 'lesser evil'. We do not want pacemakers, knee joints, or pharmaceuticals to be developed like exercise equipment.
That said, the new product is likely to be a new market entirely, and one that you now have a near total monopoly on.
Like with any start-up, it's a risk/reward calculation. And biotech tends to be a high risk business, thus leading to high rewards that are economic, psychological, and spiritual.
[0] To be clear, this is a very complex process, and I have simplified it down. Each business and use case is very different.
victor106|5 years ago
I am always confused how an investor should approach investing in the biotech space without any medical knowledge. Any thoughts you can share?