In my opinion, in addition to the success we have achieved in launching new Vants and in pursuing development of a variety of drugs, one of our most important achievements has been the growth of Roivant itself as a platform to support the efficient identification and advancement of medicines across all of the companies in the Roivant family.
Vivek Ramaswamy
The problem we are trying to solve is that of drugs that would have never seen the light of day for reasons that have nothing to do with the inherent properties of drug candidates themselves and more to do with bureaucratic institutions within which they often sit.
In contrast to how tech firms want to disrupt and break things - developing drugs must be incremental and step-by-step. This is the kind of work that involves people putting their lives on the line every day with clinical trials.
I really was inspired by the possibility of more directly being involved in the development of drugs myself.
I've said all along that we're building Axovant as a lasting company for the long run, not to hand over that upside to a pharma company in the future.
I can't comment on the internal decision-making at other companies, but RVT-101 has the potential to be a very valuable product in the treatment of Alzheimer's, which is a huge unmet medical need.
From a personal standpoint, I consider myself much more of an accidental entrepreneur. I was involved in the entrepreneurship club at Harvard, but I heard of it only because it was new on campus.
This may sound trite, but I believe it to be true: Entrepreneurship is the fabric of what America is all about.
Our goal is to continue to build the pipeline to fight all aspects of disease for all forms of dementia.
Roivant does not view - and has never viewed - Axovant as simply a 'vehicle' for developing intepirdine, but instead as a platform for the development of high-impact drugs in dementia and the neuroscience field more generally.
There is probably a promising drug candidate that has already been discovered for the treatment of Down syndrome that is sitting on the shelf of some drug company.
I think dementia is the major healthcare threat to our economy and our security. It's a ticking time bomb - we have a whole generation of baby boomers that are going to age, many progressing to get Alzheimer's - which disproportionately affects women and minorities.
It's a great disappointment as a leader in the biotech industry that with all the amazing things the drug industry has done in the last couple of decades, we have not made a single major advance, have not not developed a single new chemical entity approved for the treatment for Alzheimer's disease.
I take a lot of personal pride and motivation to be able to make a difference in areas that may fall through the cracks in R&D across the industry.
The more general skepticism about another millennial that likes to claim they're disrupting another industry - that doesn't serve me well.
I'd encourage more young people to apply their talents beyond finance and consulting and to think about reshaping how medicines are brought to market and how the business is run.
I would think the correlation between an era of increased globalization and an increased desire to participate in an entrepreneurial endeavor is not a coincidence. When interconnectedness is at a peak due to technological advances, the ability to spawn something new is slightly easier.
For some companies, going public makes the most sense. For others, remaining private is preferable.
If we can validate our scientific bets in the clinic, if we can bring valuable new treatments to patients that need them, that will be our ultimate measure of success.
I believe the pharma company of the future isn't going to be old-school.
I would not have had the same personal commitment to Alzheimer's disease if it had not been for my mother and my upbringing.
The thing in Alzheimer's disease to remember, and we remember this all the time at Axovant, is we don't fully understand the way the actual underlying disease works.
Our philosophy is to attract top talent and incentivise them to succeed. We have some of the top talent in the entire industry.
There is no doubt that the Mindset failure is a major setback for Axovant, but it is not the end of the road.
The most important ingredient for the success of any company is the quality of its people, starting with its leadership team.
The 'Living-Wage Campaign' at Harvard is like a Boston winter: you know it's going to strike, but wonder only when and how hard.
