Rare disease and neural will have a big year in pharma, says Portal Innovations' John Flavin
December 24, 2025 • 4m 11s
Melissa Lee (Host)
00:00.190
joining
us
now
is
john
flavin
founder
and
CEO
of
life
sciences
venture
capital
firm
portal
innovations
john
great
to
see
you
John Flavin (Founder & CEO)
00:06.830
likewise
hi
melissa
happy
holidays
Melissa Lee (Host)
00:08.790
hi
there
we
certainly
have
seen
a
lot
of
capital
markets
activity
in
the
pharma
space
whether
it
be
deals
or
partnerships
or
IPO
's
in
the
smaller
biotech
side
john
and
i'm
wondering
if
there
are
a
couple
themes
that
will
stand
out
in
twenty
twenty
six
whether
it
be
weight
loss
Melissa Lee (Host)
00:22.390
or
cancer
or
there
are
certain
areas
of
focus
for
you
John Flavin (Founder & CEO)
00:27.030
yeah
one
area
that
we
really
like
to
look
closely
at
is
neuro
and
you
know
as
you
mentioned
it's
been
a
really
robust
year
for
M
and
A
in
twenty
twenty
five
neuro
was
a
big
piece
of
those
M
and
A
activities
well
over
a
hundred
billion
dollars
and
activities
still
trending
in
John Flavin (Founder & CEO)
00:42.950
through
today
as
you
pointed
out
with
the
sanofi
dynavax
deal
so
neuro
is
an
important
area
and
you
know
some
of
the
companies
that
have
made
moves
in
that
direction
have
been
avi
J
and
J
earlier
this
year
and
i
think
you'll
see
a
lot
more
activity
so
our
pipeline
which
is
John Flavin (Founder & CEO)
00:56.830
earlier
stage
is
really
focused
around
neuro
rare
disease
we
think
will
have
a
big
year
next
year
FDA
has
shown
favorable
movements
toward
protocol
adjustments
to
accelerate
developments
in
this
area
we
like
stocks
and
companies
that
are
focused
and
taking
advantage
of
those
John Flavin (Founder & CEO)
01:15.550
activities
we
saw
for
the
first
time
a
not
for
profit
get
approval
for
our
rare
disease
drug
here
recently
and
i
think
that's
going
to
open
up
the
the
the
opportunity
for
new
kinds
of
ways
to
get
drugs
approved
in
this
very
important
rare
disease
space
Melissa Lee (Host)
01:31.430
the
more
favorable
backdrop
in
general
for
the
industry
does
that
give
you
more
time
for
your
portfolio
companies
to
develop
their
assets
or
does
it
compress
the
time
with
with
an
eye
to
sort
of
rushing
the
exit
so
to
speak
John Flavin (Founder & CEO)
01:44.750
well
the
effect
it
has
is
you
know
as
VC
's
invest
in
companies
that
have
gone
on
to
get
acquired
they're
able
to
take
the
windfalls
from
those
transactions
and
recycle
the
capital
back
into
earlier
stage
innovation
we
saw
that
here
at
the
end
of
the
year
with
a
few
weeks
ago
John Flavin (Founder & CEO)
02:01.150
over
six
billion
dollars
in
follow
on
deals
that
were
done
that
activity
was
certainly
made
possible
through
the
acceleration
of
profit
taking
from
the
M
and
A
activities
that
fueled
those
investments
if
we
look
at
twenty
twenty
six
for
earlier
stage
companies
they
have
not
yet
John Flavin (Founder & CEO)
02:16.790
benefited
from
that
windfall
but
as
the
IPO
market
is
expected
to
open
up
in
the
coming
year
you'll
see
dollars
start
to
move
upstream
with
a
risk
profile
looking
for
earlier
opportunities
in
next
generation
drugs
you
mentioned
obesity
that
continues
to
be
a
very
important
area
John Flavin (Founder & CEO)
02:33.630
with
the
news
around
novo
getting
approval
for
the
oral
obviously
that's
going
to
open
up
new
access
to
patients
that
don't
like
to
do
the
injections
but
you
know
right
on
their
heels
will
be
lily
with
an
expected
approval
of
their
oral
drug
early
next
year
as
well
so
it'll
be
John Flavin (Founder & CEO)
02:47.550
an
exciting
year
for
obesity
as
well
? (?)
02:49.830
john
is
there
consensus
right
now
on
the
street
about
which
which
of
innovation
are
poised
to
break
out
in
twenty
six
whether
that's
in
cancers
or
cardio
or
MS
alzheimer's
we
mentioned
weight
loss
John Flavin (Founder & CEO)
03:03.760
yeah
i
well
i
think
you
mentioned
the
big
ones
there's
definitely
a
bent
by
the
industry
toward
large
unmet
needs
so
cardiometabolic
space
writ
large
not
just
obesity
by
diabetes
areas
you
know
around
heart
health
are
are
really
going
to
be
you
know
areas
of
a
lot
of
activity
John Flavin (Founder & CEO)
03:23.080
for
deal
making
as
well
as
big
breakthroughs
and
innovation
new
technologies
like
crispr
are
making
more
of
these
cures
available
cell
therapy
gene
therapy
a
lot
that
early
scientific
work
is
finally
coming
to
the
fore
if
you
look
at
you
know
the
big
AI
trade
and
the
rotation
John Flavin (Founder & CEO)
03:41.430
out
of
the
tech
stocks
into
biotech
and
life
sciences
certainly
AI
enabled
life
sciences
companies
like
tempus
focused
on
diagnostic
tools
for
precision
medicine
i
think
we'll
continue
to
get
a
lot
of
attention
as
well
so
across
the
board
i
mean
oncology
it's
always
a
very
John Flavin (Founder & CEO)
03:57.910
important
area
looking
for
new
modalities
there
across
a
range
of
different
types
of
drugs
that
promise
to
be
quite
helpful
for
cancer
patients
particularly
for
those
with
incurable
disease
today
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