Are we sure Vinay Prasad’s ouster is positive for biotech?
Some musings in this week's newsletter.
A commonly held view of his three-month tenure running the FDA’s biologics division was that he was more obstructionist and inflexible toward cell and gene therapies than one might have predicted, even accounting for his reputation as a conservative data nitpicker.
The FDA rejected $REPL $RARE and $CAPR. Prasad went to war against $SRPT
His departure means the FDA will revert to its more permissive, flexible ways, the thinking goes, and that’s good for developers of cell and gene therapies, good for makers of drugs for rare diseases, and a tailwind for biotech overall.
I’m not so sure. You know me by now. I have a hard time fully buying into the rosy story.
What if Prasad’s replacement as CBER chief is worse? By that, I mean a person who is more politically motivated and more in the MAHA, anti-pharma and anti-vaccine orbit of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Read more at link below, plus some thoughts on the road ahead for $SRPT
