The IN VIVO Blog Podcast: An Inside View of Biotech Deals

Another week, another podcast full of interesting commentary. This week IN VIVO Blog had a chance to visit with Barbara Kosacz, national head of the law firm Cooley Godward Kronish's Life Sciences Practice, at her sunny Palo Alto, CA office.

Kosacz is one of those lawyers you want to know. She's funny, down-to-earth, and incredibly smart. (And that's not pandering designed to get her to call us back when we have to report on tricky change-of-control clauses and other legal mumbo jumbo.) Indeed, Kosacz has spent the last several decades counseling a range of biotech clients and has had a birds' eye view on a number of interesting transactions, from Medivation's tie-up with Pfizer for the worldwide development and collaboration of the Alzheimer's drug dimebon to Amgen's acquisition of Ilypsa and the subsequent spin-out of Ilypsa 2.0, Relypsa. You get the picture.When it comes to deal-making, what Kosacz doesn't already know probably isn't worth knowing.

So take a few minutes and glean some wisdom from a master. You think deal prices are falling? Not true, says Kosacz, who is of the opinion that top-quality assets are still capturing top quality deal prices.

That's not to say Big Pharma wants to do M&A (unless its with other Big Pharma) says Kosacz. In fact Big Pharma/Big Biotech's love affair with partnerships is causing some consternation in the VC community, where a licensing deal could scupper future M&A at a time when there is no IPO market in sight.

Want even more dealmaking insights? (You should have been at EuroBiotech.) Then keep an eye out for our next edition of deals of the week. We know, it ain't Barbara. And don't forget, you can access the podcast via iTunes also.