From SPAC To De-SPAC, A Tutorial From A CFO

By Rob Wright, Chief Editor, Life Science Leader
Follow Me On Twitter @RfwrightLSL

With biopharmas seeing an explosion of activity around special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), one has to wonder if 2021 could be the year of the life sciences SPAC. After all, in 2020 some 237 SPACs raised roughly $83 billion. But in just the first two months of this year we saw SPACs raise nearly $70 billion, and as of this writing we still have half a year to go. It seemed that speaking with a biopharma CFO on the topic would be time well spent, as SPACs weren’t always in favor when it came to life sciences. The following is part one of a Q&A with Michael Byrnes, CFO at eFFECTOR Therapeutics, a company (as of this writing) currently in the process of de-SPAC-ing a May 2021 announced SPAC with Locust Walk Acquisition Corp. (LWAC).