Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY 24, 2025 11 Kat Kayser-Bricker is the chief science officer of New Haven-based Halda Therapeutics, which is developing a novel class of therapies for prostate and breast cancer and recently completed a $126 million funding round. HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER Under The Microscope Despite setbacks, investors remain bullish on CT's bioscience sector, but changes in Washington raise uncertainty latory oversight. There are just a lot of things that can happen along the way." So, how do you judge the success of the bioscience industry in Connecticut? Hartford Business Journal spoke with several experts who invest in, work in or support the sector to try to under- stand how it's performing and what the outlook is for the future. More efficient If you gauge the state's bioscience industry strictly by how many people it employs, you might think things aren't so great. According to the state Department of Labor (DOL), bioscience firms in 2001 employed 29,407 people in Connecticut. However, as of the third quarter of 2024, that was down to 25,477, a 13.4% decrease. Comparing that most recent figure, though, with 2017 — when the sector hit a low of 21,689 jobs — shows that employment has risen 17% over the past seven years. Paul Pescatello, senior counsel and executive director of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association's Connecticut Biosci- ence Growth Council, says the job numbers are misleading. "There's a really positive thing in that number," Pescatello said, "in that companies have become so much more productive and efficient at what they do, it takes a lot fewer people now." By David Krechevsky davidk@hartfordbusiness.com T he state's bioscience sector is a lot like that box of chocolates in the film "Forrest Gump" — you never know what you're going to get. Several state-based companies have recently suffered significant financial woes: • At least four — BioSig Technolo- gies, BioXcel Therapeutics, Portage Biotech and Quantum-Si — have faced delisting by the Nasdaq stock exchange in the past year. • Stamford-based Cara Therapeu- tics announced in August that, due to serious financial issues, it may consider dissolving. It also reduced its workforce by 91%. In December, Cara announced plans to merge with Houston-based Tvardi Therapeutics. • In addition, four Connecticut-based bioscience companies that went public through special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) IPOs in 2020-21 — including Quantum-Si; Sema4, which later renamed itself GeneDx; Butterfly Network; and Hyperfine — have all seen their stock prices plummet at least 80% since then. Other state companies, though, are much better off: • In August, New Haven's Halda Therapeutics secured $126 million in a series B financing round. • In October, New Haven-based Modifi Biosciences, which is developing cancer therapies, was acquired by Merck & Co. in a $1.3 billion deal. • In November, Branford-based EvolveImmune Therapeutics Inc. signed a collaboration and option- to-license agreement with Illi- nois-based Abbvie that will provide it with $65 million up front, and the potential for up to $1.4 billion in additional funding. • In December, Nuritas, an Ireland- based biotechnology firm with its U.S. headquarters in New Haven, announced a $42 million series C funding round. • In January, Normunity Inc. closed a $75 million series B financing round, while Nema Health announced a $14.5 million series A funding round. Both are located in New Haven. "Taking this all in context, it's the nature of the beast in drug devel- opment that only one out of 10 will make it," said Jodie Gillon, presi- dent and CEO of BioCT, a nonprofit that advocates for the state's bioscience industry. Gillon said companies developing therapies know from the start that "it's going to take 12 years and over a billion dollars to bring a drug to market." In fact, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the mean cost for drug development is between $314 million and $2.8 billion. Dr. Stephen Bloch — founder and CEO of EvolveImmune, which is devel- oping cancer biotherapeutics — said bioscience is a "very volatile" industry. "It's up and down. It's a high-risk proposition, very capital-intensive, science and biology driven," Bloch said. "We're trying to create new therapies for patients. It requires very skilled people over a long period of time, a lot of capital and a lot of regu- Jodie Gillon Continued on next page Paul Pescatello

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