STAT+: Roivant’s CEO is a star, but even a blockbuster deal can’t escape biotech’s black hole

Roivant Sciences’ Matt Gline might be this year’s best biopharma CEO, and other thoughts about Monday’s blockbuster deal with Roche — like, why the heck did Roivant’s stock trade down?

Gline created $5 billion from $50 million — in less than one year. Regular readers know that every December, I choose a best biopharma CEO. It’s a subjective award, but deal-making acumen, management skills, and delivering shareholder value are important measuring sticks. It’s still too early to call this year’s contest, but Gline is a front-runner.

Last December, Roivant essentially acquired an experimental treatment for inflammatory bowel disease called RVT-3101 from Pfizer for $45 million and then spent another $5 million to position the drug for future Phase 3 studies. Less than a year later, Roivant flipped the drug to Roche for at least $7.1 billion.

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