Seagen Cancer Therapy Draws Suitors --- Novel cancer agents could shore up aging portfolios of large pharmaceutical firms

"An unprofitable biotech that pioneered a relatively new kind of cancer therapy has caught the attention of the world's largest drugmakers on the hunt for the next big opportunity in one of the industry's most lucrative markets.

Seagen Inc. sells three of the novel cancer agents -- known as antibody drug conjugates, or ADCs -- that work like a guided missile attacking tumors with toxins. Although its products generate around $2 billion in yearly sales and the company operates at a loss, Seagen has a market valuation of roughly $30 billion.

Pfizer Inc. has had early-stage discussions about buying Seagen, The Wall Street Journal recently reported, after Merck & Co. got close to acquiring the biotech last year before failing to reach an agreement.

The talks inject a fresh round of uncertainty for Seagen, after co-founder Clay Siegall resigned as chief executive and chairman last year as the company was investigating an allegation of domestic violence. Seagen said he denied the allegations and told the company he was going through a divorce.

A takeout is far from certain. David Epstein, a former Novartis AG pharmaceuticals executive, took the helm of Seagen in November and has been taking an independent tack. In recent weeks, he outlined plans to build a leading global cancer company by expanding the reach of its products, bolstering its commercial work and doing deals.

"They're not dying to get taken out -- unless the price is very, very attractive" because they believe they are in a good position to grow, said Andy Hsieh, an analyst at William Blair & Co.

Seagen declined to comment and to make Mr. Epstein available for comment.

Driving the acquisition interest in the company, according to analysts, is the potential for ADCs to capture a chunk of the worldwide cancer market. ADCs will account for $31 billion of the $375 billion market in 2028, drug-market-research firm Evaluate estimates. The revenue could cushion big drugmakers who face patent expirations on key products.

ADCs have started to win approval for some common cancers. Researchers reported positive but preliminary findings in lung cancer, another common tumor type.

Meantime, drugmakers have considered combining the ADCs with widely used cancer agents like immunotherapies, which are among the biggest-selling cancer treatments.

"When you get it right and the planets align you get a really awesome product," said Asthika Goonewardene, an analyst at Truist Securities.

The alignment began to emerge several years ago, after Seagen and other ADC biotechs improved the technology. ADCs link an antibody that can home in on a tumor target with a toxic agent such as chemotherapy. After the antibody finds the targeted tumor, the toxic agent deploys against it.

The companies fine-tuned how the therapies link an antibody to a toxin and then release the toxic payload, Mr. Goonewardene said. Such technical advances made developing ADCs more effective and opened up exploring various potential applications.

Big drugmakers took notice. In 2019, AstraZeneca PLC agreed to pay Daiichi Sankyo Co. up to $6.9 billion for shared rights to an ADC drug called Enhertu. In 2020, Gilead Sciences Inc. paid $21 billion for an ADC company named Immunomedics.

There were 39 licensing deals involving ADCs last year, roughly twice as many as in the previous year, Mr. Goonewardene said.

Enhertu confirmed the potential of the drugs last June, when researchers reported it cut the rate of death in women with a type of advanced breast cancer known as HER2-low by one-third. Most significantly, the drug worked in subjects who hadn't responded well to older, effective treatments. The Food and Drug Administration approved Enhertu for the HER2-low breast cancer last August, four months ahead of schedule." [1]

1. Business News: Seagen Cancer Therapy Draws Suitors --- Novel cancer agents could shore up aging portfolios of large pharmaceutical firms
Hopkins, Jared S.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 07 Mar 2023: B.5.

„ChatGPT “ manija vilioja verslo startuolius

„Įmonių programinės įrangos startuoliai lenktyniauja, kad technologiją, kurią išpopuliarino OpenAI virusinis ChatGPT pokalbių robotas, būtų galima naudoti verslo programinės įrangos programose, tikėdamiesi padidinti rinkos šurmulį dėl įrankio žmogiškų kalbos gebėjimų, kad patrauktų įmonių technologijų lyderių ir investuotojų dėmesį.

 

     Rinkos analizės įmonės „PitchBook Data Inc.“ duomenimis, rizikos kapitalo investuotojai visame pasaulyje praėjusiais metais skyrė 1,3 milijardo dolerių daugiau, nei 78 sandoriuose pradedančiosioms įmonėms, kuriančioms generuojančią AI programinę įrangą, technologiją, kuria grindžiama ChatGPT, ir kitas kalbos atpažinimo programos. Tai yra beveik bendras investuoto kapitalo dydis panašių startuolių per pastaruosius penkerius metus kartu sudėjus – ir įvyko sulėtėjus sandorių sudarymui, nurodė įmonė.

 

     Du didžiausi rizikos kapitalo sandoriai visuose sektoriuose ketvirtąjį ketvirtį buvo skirti generatyviam AI startuoliui. Jasper, Ostine, Teksase įsikūrusi rinkodaros ir reklamos turinio generavimo platforma, spalį paskelbė apie 125 mln. dolerių A serijos finansavimo etapą, vertinant įmonę už 1,5 mlrd. Tą patį mėnesį, Stabilumas AI, generatyvus dirbtinio intelekto startuolis, turintis biurus Londone ir San Franciske, paskelbė apie 101 mln. pradinį roundą.

 

     Generacinė dirbtinio intelekto programinė įranga sukurta taip, kad iš kelių paprastų raginimų būtų sukuriamas visiškai naujas tekstas, vaizdai ir kompiuterio kodas, apdorojant didžiules duomenų saugyklas, naudojant DI įgalintą kalbos modelį arba generatyvų, iš anksto paruoštą transformatorių, sutrumpintai angliškai – GPT žodyje ChatGPT.

 

     „UBS Group AG“ skaičiavimais, „ChatGPT“, nemokamas generatyvus AI pokalbių robotas, kurį lapkritį pristatė San Francisko programinės įrangos startuolis „OpenAI“, sausio mėnesį pritraukė daugiau, nei 100 mln. naudotojų. 

 

Nuo to laiko, analitikai teigia, kad daugiau naujų įmonių stengėsi perkelti šį postūmį į komercinę rinką su verslo programėlėmis, sukurtomis, remiantis ChatGPT kalbų modeliais arba išnaudojant panašias generuojančias AI galimybes. „Didžioji dalis diskusijų buvo apie tai, kaip generatyvus DI veikia „nepaprastai“, nes kiekvienas gali pasiekti viešam naudojimui sukurtą sistemą tiesiogiai internete“, – sakė Bretas Greensteinas, konsultacinės įmonės „PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP“ partneris duomenų analizei ir dirbtiniam intelektui.

 

     Tačiau be dabartinio interneto pamišimo, pasak jo, galima sukurti daugybę įmonės programinės įrangos programų, tiksliai suderinant įrankių pagrindinius kalbos atpažinimo modelius su pačios įmonės duomenimis.

 

     „Generatyvusis dirbtinis intelektas per pastaruosius metus peržengė svarbią ribą“, – sakė ponas Greensteinas. „Jis labai gerai atliko daugelį užduočių, kurias žinių darbuotojai atlieka kiekvienoje pramonės šakoje."

 

     Remiantis rinkos tyrimų bendrovės „Grand View Research Inc.“ duomenimis, pasaulinė generacinio dirbtinio intelekto rinka iki 2030 m. turėtų pasiekti 109,37 mlrd. dolerių ir per ateinančius septynerius metus išaugs 34,6 proc.

 

     Nors daugelis įmonių pačios imasi veiksmų, siekdamos integruoti ChatGPT į esamus technologijų paketus, startuoliai taip pat tikisi juos parduoti, naudodami įvairius pritaikytus įrankius.

 

     „Dirbame su klientais visame pasaulyje – nuo pavėžėjimo įmonių iki sporto franšizių, nuo vertintojų iki technologijų įmonių ir, tiesą sakant, su bankininkystės, finansų ir draudimo prekių ženklais“, – sakė  programinės įrangos produktų viceprezidentas PD Singhas iš įmonės „SambaNova Systems“, kuri yra generatyvus AI startuolis, įsikūręs Palo Alto mieste, Kalifornijoje.

 

     SambaNova, ankstyvas iš anksto parengtų pagrindų modelių, kuriais grindžiama kalbos atpažinimo technologija, kūrėja, neseniai pristatė „įmonei paruoštų“ generuojamųjų AI sistemų rinkinį, apimantį „ChatGPT“ pokalbių robotus, specialiai parengtus bankams, advokatų kontoroms, sveikatos priežiūros paslaugų teikėjams ir kitiems sektoriams, sakė p. Singhas.

 

     Šešerius metus gyvuojančio startuolio paskutinis lėšų rinkimo etapas buvo 676 mln. dolerių.Tarp naujų ir grįžtančių investuotojų buvo „Temasek“, GIC, „Intel Capital“, GV ir „BlackRock“ valdomi fondai bei sąskaitos.

 

     Atsižvelgdamas į skundus, kad „ChatGPT“ gali sukurti klaidingą ar nesuprantamą išvestį, ponas Singhas sakė, kad rekomenduoja įmonėms išbandyti naujus generuojančius DI įrankius etapais, iš pradžių juos pristatyti nedidelei vartotojų grupei, o ne visiškai įdiegti visoje įmonėje.

 

     „Typeface“, San Francisko generatyvus DI startuolis, gaminantis programinę įrangą, skirtą individualiai reklaminei rinkodarai ir kitai reklaminei medžiagai kurti, neseniai pristatė 65 mln. dolerių permokėtą pradinį etapą, įskaitant Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV, „Microsoft Corp.“ rizikos fondo M12 ir Menlo finansavimą.

 

     Abhay Parasnis, „Typeface“ vadovas, teigė, kad startuolis naudoja kelias generuojančias DI platformas, įskaitant GPT ir Stable Diffusion, kad sukurtų individualius DI modelius kiekvienam verslo klientui.

 

     „Nuo pat pirmos dienos sukūrėme įmonės lygio programą“, – sakė jis ir pridūrė, kad dabartiniai vartotojai yra rinkodaros, reklamos, pardavimo, žmogiškųjų išteklių ir klientų aptarnavimo skyriaiuose, įmonėse įvairiose pramonės šakose." [1]

 

1. ChatGPT Mania Lures Enterprise Startups
Loten, Angus.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 07 Mar 2023: B.6.

ChatGPT Mania Lures Enterprise Startups

"Enterprise software startups are racing to put the technology popularized by OpenAI's viral ChatGPT chatbot to use in business software applications, hoping to leverage market buzz over the tool's humanlike language abilities to grab the attention of corporate technology leaders and investors.

Venture-capital investors worldwide last year put $1.3 billion over 78 deals into startups developing generative AI software, the technology underlying ChatGPT and other language-recognition applications, according to market analytics firm PitchBook Data Inc. That is close to the total amount of capital invested in similar startups over the previous five years combined -- and came amid a broader slowdown in deal making, the firm said.

Two of the largest venture-capital deals across all sectors in the fourth quarter were for generative AI startups. Jasper, an Austin, Texas-based marketing and promotions content-generation platform, in October announced a $125 million Series A funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation, led by Insight Partners with participation by Coatue and Bessemer Venture Partners. That same month, Stability. AI, a generative AI startup with offices in London and San Francisco, announced a $101 million seed round led by Coatue, Lightspeed Venture Partners and O'Shaughnessy Ventures LLC.

Generative AI software is designed to produce wholly new text, images and computer code from a few simple prompts by processing vast stores of data through an AI-enabled language model or generative pre-trained transformer -- the GPT in ChatGPT.

ChatGPT, a free generative AI chatbot launched in November by San Francisco software startup OpenAI, attracted more than 100 million monthly users in January, according to estimates by UBS Group AG. Since then, analysts say, more startups have sought to carry that momentum into the commercial market with enterprise apps built on top of ChatGPT's language models or leveraging similar generative AI capabilities. "Most of the discussion has been around how generative AI works 'out of the box' since anyone can access a system set up for public use, directly on the internet," said Bret Greenstein, a partner at consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, who covers data, analytics and AI.

But beyond the current online craze, he said, countless enterprise software apps can be built by fine-tuning the tools' underlying language-recognition models with a company's own data. 

"Generative AI has crossed an important threshold in the last year," Mr. Greenstein said. "It has gotten very good at many of the tasks that knowledge workers perform in every industry."

All told, the global generative AI market is expected to reach $109.37 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual rate of 34.6% over the next seven years, according to market research firm Grand View Research Inc. 

While many companies are taking steps on their own to integrate ChatGPT into existing tech stacks, startups are hoping to also sell them on a range of customized tools.

"We are working with customers across the board, from ride-hailing companies to sports franchises, from appraisers to technology companies, and indeed, the banking, finance, and insurance brands," said PD Singh, vice president of software products at SambaNova Systems Inc., a generative AI startup based in Palo Alto, Calif. 

SambaNova, an early developer of the pre-trained foundation models that underpin language-recognition technology, recently launched a suite of "enterprise-ready" generative AI systems that includes ChatGPT chatbots trained specifically for banks, law firms, healthcare providers and other sectors, Mr. Singh said.

The six-year-old startup's last fundraising round was a $676 million Series D round in April 2021, which lifted its private-market valuation above $5 billion. New and returning investors included Temasek, GIC, Intel Capital, GV, and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock.

Given complaints that ChatGPT can produce false or unintelligible output, Mr. Singh said he recommends companies test new generative AI tools in a staged manner, introducing them initially to a small set of users, rather than a full rollout across the enterprise.

Typeface, a San Francisco generative AI startup that makes software designed to generate customized marketing and other promotional materials, recently unveiled a $65 million oversubscribed seed round, including funding by Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV, Microsoft Corp.'s venture fund M12, and Menlo Ventures.

Abhay Parasnis, Typeface's chief executive, said the startup uses multiple generative AI platforms, including GPT and Stable Diffusion, to build custom AI models for each corporate customer. 

"We built an enterprise-grade application from day one," he said, adding that current users include marketing, advertising, sales, human resources and customer support departments at businesses across industries." [1]

1. ChatGPT Mania Lures Enterprise Startups
Loten, Angus.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 07 Mar 2023: B.6.