The life sciences landscape is shifting quickly, and biopharma companies are being forced to operate differently than they did a few years ago. Eric Blanchard, a partner at Cooley, said today’s environment requires greater flexibility as companies navigate regulatory uncertainty, financing challenges and rising global competition. In this conversation with Rebecca Willumson, he explains why looking beyond internal drug development and moving faster on external opportunities has become essential.
As companies consider going public, timing has emerged as one of the biggest challenges. Blanchard highlights the importance of aligning strong data, future inflection points, team readiness and enough capital to withstand the IPO process. With IPO markets opening and closing quickly, companies must continually assess where their assets stand relative to global competition and investor expectations.
Blanchard also discusses alternative financing structures, including reverse mergers and special purpose acquisition company transactions, and stresses the value of engaging outside advisers early. Looking ahead, his message is clear: flexibility, and the capital to sustain it, are key. Companies that are well financed, and ready to act quickly will be best positioned to remain competitive in an increasingly unpredictable market.
Rebecca Willumson:
Hi there, my name's Rebecca Willumson. I'm the publisher of FierceBiotech, and I'm here today with Eric Blanchard, partner at Cooley.
Eric, thank you so much for joining me today.
Eric Blanchard:
Great to be here. Thank you so much.
Rebecca Willumson:
So Eric, tell me, as we look at today's life sciences landscape, from your vantage point, what is the single biggest shift in how biopharma companies need to operate today compared to just a few years ago?
Eric Blanchard:
I think that they have to really be more nimble today. The landscape is changing rapidly as we speak. I mean, you look at all the changes even this week in the FDA. We don't really know what the regulatory landscape will be tomorrow. The financing challenges that companies have seen over the course of the last year or so. I think in addition, there's been a great amount of global interest in biopharma now and I think that biopharma companies need to not just think about developing drugs internally, but they need to look externally even with greater velocity to get those drugs to market to address competition.
Rebecca Willumson:
So tell me, what are some of the challenges that biopharma companies are experiencing as they look to go public?
Eric Blanchard:
Some of the biggest questions is timing, when to go public. To go public, you really need to have a great mix of data, news flow from future data inflection points as well as just a good fee for whether or not you're ready, whether you have the team, whether you don't have enough money to get even through the IPO process. So I think that the challenges that biotech companies are facing today is really just assessing the global landscape, where they are with their drug versus what's being developed and timing their data such that this IPO can be a real inflection point for their company and will attract a lot of high quality investors.
Rebecca Willumson:
So with that in mind, tell me what are some financing structures that might help overcome some of those challenges?
Eric Blanchard:
Well, one of the things that we've really seen with the IPO market is that it can open and close really at the drop of a hat. So really being able to assess a number of different structures is what we're advising clients now. So your traditional IPO is obviously the structure that people are most comfortable with, but if you are not able to access the IPO markets either because of the nature of your drug that you're developing or the market interest at the time, or maybe the IPO window might not be open, you might look at things like a reverse merger or doing a SPAC transaction to go public. Those are the structures that we're seeing be used with even more frequency now.
Rebecca Willumson:
So tell me, how can companies best leverage outside advisors to make the going public process easier?
Eric Blanchard:
Well, I'd say get involved early, get the advisors running a year or two years before you think that you're going to go public. Start thinking about IPO readiness even earlier than you would have traditionally. Because of the variability of those financing windows, we've seen there really is a priority about being ready and being able to hit those windows and do it very quickly, whether you're doing an IPO, reverse merger or other transaction. So your outside counsel specially can help you either line up other advisors, can help you think strategically about the overall process, develop your timelines, make introductions, and really be your copilot throughout that whole process.
Rebecca Willumson:
So looking more broadly for my closing question for you, tell me, looking ahead, what is one strategic move or investment that life science organizations need to make today to ensure that they remain competitive tomorrow?
Eric Blanchard:
Well, look, I think you could talk about AI and all sorts of stuff that is certainly top of mind, but I think that overall what is true today is what's been true in the past. Cash is king and I think that companies really need to be well financed and they need to think about the capital that they need to reach those inflection points and make sure that they're mindful that there could be closed windows in the future. So if there is capital available, it's a good idea to try to tap it.
Rebecca Willumson:
That's all the questions that I have. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Eric Blanchard:
It's been a pleasure.