Biotech advice?

Hey all, I have an interview coming up with a biotech-focused bank. I'm a run-of-the-mill finance student with no scientific background. I found an RBC biotech primer and read that. If you were in my shoes and had a week to prepare, what would you do to learn about the biotech space really well? I understand that reviewing recent news, real company filings, and building a model is the best teacher. To that point, what are some news sources that you all recommend, companies that you recommend looking at for filings/potentially building a model to gain a lot of insight, or other primers/resources that are helpful? Thanks!

8 Comments
 

Best thing out there would be to know the major therapeutic areas, blockbuster drugs, large cap pharma /portfolio (R&D days or investor days are great), recent data catalysts and upcoming ones, up and coming mid-cap players, etc. 

Cowen has a therapeutics report they publish on every therapeutic area. It is a great way to learn the history and promising drugs in the pipelines of biotechs. 

 

Skim The Pharmagellan Guide to Analyzing Biotech Clinical Trials (or ask ChatGPT to summarize) to learn more about biotech valuation. You can find a PDF online. Beyond that, know the basic clinical and commercial drivers, such as small molecules vs biologics, generics, and biosimilars, along with the clinical trial process and how exclusivity through patents and orphan drug designation works.  

The main thing is to know the valuation and be able to speak on a therapeutic area or company well.

 

Depends on the firm, but I interviewed at a biotech EB SA position and would not have been able to pass the tech rounds without knowing how to build a revenue build for a clinical-stage biotech. Maybe for less-competitive firms you can skip, but it's worth the 2 hours it takes to read the first half if you're serious

 

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