Aligos Therapeutics — The Next Step Of Lawrence Blatt's Entrepreneurial Expedition

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

Not long ago, someone asked Lawrence Blatt, Ph.D., the probability that one of his company’s drugs would be successful.

“I don’t want to think about that,” responded the CEO of Aligos Therapeutics. Blatt wasn’t trying to be coy; he knew the answer, and he knew it wouldn’t sound good. After all, average failure rates in drug development are high, prompting many outsiders to wonder about the prudence of investing in and pursuing such ventures. “In this industry, you must have some level of irrational exuberance coupled with some ‘real’ reality,” admits Blatt. Over the years, he’s learned to harness that dichotomy, and along the way, cofound two biopharmaceutical companies. What’s interesting is that he’s been able to achieve the latter along with a core group of colleagues who have stayed with him as he traversed from biotech startup to Big Pharma and back again.