This Postpartum-Depression Drug Has Unusual Potential
“Sell the launch” may be a reliable biotech rule of thumb, but this may be an exception.
It’s a first of its kind.
Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images North AmericaYou’d think an approval from the Food and Drug Administration would be a high point for fledgling biotech firms. After all, it’s the moment where years of risk and research and development can finally turn into actual sales. But for companies that attempt to launch medicines without a big pharma partner, it can instead be a leading indicator of a share-price nadir, as hopes run into harsh commercial realities.
Sage Therapeutics Inc. — which had its first medicine, Zulresso, a treatment for postpartum depression, approved late Tuesday — hopes to break the solo launch curse and translate its approval into sustained share price gains. It just might have a chance.