Terns Pharma successfully shifted its focus after its GLP-1 obesity drug showed underwhelming results. By pivoting to its promising oncology asset for chronic myeloid leukemia, the company dramatically increased its value, culminating in a nearly $7 billion acquisition by Merck. This demonstrates the value of decisively abandoning struggling programs for high-potential ones.

The blockbuster drug cabozantinib was dropped by both GSK and BMS. Exelixis persisted because they saw compelling data in niche indications that larger partners deemed too small or uninteresting. This demonstrates how a smaller biotech's focused conviction can triumph where big pharma loses interest.

K-36's lead drug was acquired from Novartis not because it was a failed asset, but because it became available during a strategic reorganization. This illustrates a key opportunity for biotech startups: licensing promising preclinical assets that no longer fit a large pharmaceutical company's immediate development focus.

Roivant's early success came from identifying and building companies around promising drug assets that were deemed non-strategic by large pharmaceutical firms. This approach capitalized on undervalued IP and focused execution, pre-dating the now-common trend of pharma spin-outs.

Millennium's transformation into a drug development company was driven by acquisitions. Their most successful drug, Velcade, was not the main reason for acquiring its parent company. This shows that the true value drivers in M&A can be secondary, unforeseen assets.

The highly successful company Assertifarma was developed entirely in "stealth mode." This strategy allowed them to advance their drug and generate compelling clinical data without alerting the competitive landscape, maximizing impact by revealing results and the company's existence during M&A talks.

The ultimate vision is a dynamic marketplace where pharma companies routinely list their shelved assets. This "eBay for drug candidates" would allow interested parties—from biotechs to patient advocacy groups—to access information, assess opportunities, and bid on developing these assets, creating a systematic and efficient repurposing pipeline.

Dr. Saav Solanki observes that many breakthrough medicines don't follow a linear path within one organization. Instead, they are developed collaboratively, often starting in a university lab, moving to a small biotech for initial development, and finally being acquired or licensed by a large pharma company for commercialization.

Lyora Therapeutics' model is built on acquiring promising, pre-clinically validated programs that larger companies shelved due to strategic shifts. This "asset-driven" approach allows a new company to rapidly build a pipeline without the cost and time of early-stage discovery, capitalizing on the sunk R&D costs of former owners.