Due Diligence on a bioinformatics platform to repurpose clinical-stage drugs

Challenge:

Our client, a VC firm based in Dubai, was planning to invest in a US-based therapeutics company and asked Alacrita to perform a technical DD. The target company was using a proprietary bioinformatics platform to identify clinical candidates for repurposing. 

The VC firm asked Alacrita to focus on four assets in the company's pipeline which were being developed across eight indications. We were asked to perform technical due diligence on each asset, analyzing both the current data in each repurposed indication as well as prior clinical data in previously studied indications.

Solution:

Our technical due diligence covered several key areas:

1. Clinical and preclinical data generated for each asset by the target company in the repurposed indications.
2. Clinical development/licensing plans for each asset moving forward.
3. Clinical data generated on each asset by other companies in previously studied indications. Our key question here was whether any previous failures in the clinic could impact future success.
4. Regulatory opinions on each program as a result of discussions with the FDA.
5. The market situation for each asset, including its competitive landscape and market opportunity in selected indications.
6. The target company’s management team and its ability to position and develop each asset.

Our assessments and final conclusions were summarised in a PowerPoint slide deck; where we identified all key risks and labelled them by severity and impact. These were discussed with the target company.

As a result of our report, the VC firm decided not to invest in the target company.

Due Diligence Services

Alacrita's due diligence experts have conducted over 200 major assignments for large pharma, biotech, universities and investors, underpinned by our ability to ensure each due diligence exercise is supported by individuals with the precise expertise required for a complete, thorough and accurate assessment.