The North Carolina gene therapy company Asklepios BioPharmaceutical (named after the Greek god of medicine, and known as “AskBio” for short) announced Thursday that it had raised $235 milllion. That, even by the standards of the foamy, frothy market for closely held biotechnology startups, is a lot of money, especially in a field that, despite all the excitement, has yet to yield a commercial hit.
But the fundraising round is worth attention for other reasons — because it tells us something about where things may be headed for biotech companies, and for private biotechs, in particular, which stand to benefit if they can leverage certain advantages the way AskBio has.