RARECast

Ilan Ganot is not your typical biotech entrepreneur. When his son Eytani was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, he quit his job as a hedge fund manager with JPMorgan in London, relocated his family to Boston, and launched a company focused exclusively on finding treatments for Duchenne. We spoke to Ganot, CEO and founder of Solid Ventures, about his company, the thinking behind his busine...

Prosensa, a biotechnology company developing a breakthrough therapy for the rare, fatal, genetic disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy suffered a big setback when disappointing, late-stage trial results of its lead therapeutic led its partner, GlaxoSmithKline, to return rights to the experimental drug in January 2014. Prosensa’s stock plummeted and the future of the company was uncertain. CureDuchen...

News last month of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s $3.3 billion sale of royalty rights to Kalydeco and other Vertex Pharmaceuticals drugs it helped fund served as a bold statement to the growing prominence and power of venture philanthropy. We spoke to Margaret Anderson, executive director of FasterCures, about the transaction, the role new funding and collaboration models are playing in accelera...