NervGen Pharma — a clinical-stage biotech company dedicated to developing innovative treatments that enable the nervous system to repair itself following damage whether due to injury or disease — has accomplished quite a bit over the past year.
That includes advancing NVG-291, a therapeutic peptide targeting mechanisms that interfere with nervous system repair, into clinical trials and receiving Fast Track designation for NVG-291 in individuals with spinal cord injury from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The biotech sector can be turbulent from a financial standpoint, with fortunes rising and falling based on the success or failure of drug products. Overseeing finance at NervGen is CFO Bill Adams, who has over 25 years of strategic financial management experience including mergers and acquisitions, operations and capital markets in the United States and Canada.
Adams has held executive positions with high-growth technology and life sciences companies including CFO roles at Anandia Laboratories, Response Biomedical, CellFor and AnorMED. He has been responsible for completing more than $250 million in public and private equity financing and more than $750 million in mergers and acquisitions and technology licensing transactions.
Bill Adams
CFO, NervGen Pharma
First CFO Position: 1997
Notable Previous Employers:
- Anandia Laboratories
- Response Biomedical
- CellFor
- AnorMED
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
BOB VIOLINO: What key trends are you seeing with mergers and acquisitions in the biotech sector?
BILL ADAMS: M&A activity is increasing slowly from 2023 levels, as pharma is selective in buying high-quality assets with near-term revenue potential to fill their pipeline gaps. Gone for now are the days in 2021 when pharma was taking riskier bets and financing was readily available as an alternative to partnering, which supported higher valuations.
The plus side is that pharma has more capital available to deploy to buy specific assets that support their portfolio. There will likely still be some distress selling of technology, as some companies are finding it hard to refinance after the relatively easy money days during the start of the pandemic. Macro factors such as the IRA [Inflation Reduction Act of 2022] may push, and likely are pushing, pharma to look for drugs that are in the rare disease space to avoid HHS [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] price negotiation scrutiny.
What are some of the clinical trial challenges facing your company and others in the sector, and how are you addressing these?
ADAMS: Costs continue to rise because of inflation, so we look to leverage technology and, in the case of our Phase 1 trial, did the trial in a lower-cost jurisdiction — Australia.
How about supply chain issues; what are the biggest hurdles in that area?
ADAMS: Costs are a challenge, same as for clinical trials. We outsource our lab work, so we are [competing] with other companies for bench time. Although lately, this has been less of an issue perhaps because of some companies dropping out of the market due to funding issues.
How can some of the more promising emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, help companies in the sector to enhance their business?
ADAMS: As an R&D-based business we look at any technologies that speed up the collection and analysis of research data. AI is here to stay, and it still remains to be seen what AI-enhanced analysis technologies will rise to the top and help to make drug discovery and development more efficient. It only makes sense that AI will help, and it is definitely an area to keep on top of.
