The next generation of drugs to treat diabetes and obesity “may be the biggest opportunity ever” for biotech investors, according to Woody Stileman, who runs business development at RTW, a biotech investor with £4.8bn under management.
Advisers can access the RTW strategies through a London-listed investment trust which has a market cap of around £250mn.
Stileman said: "Biotech has evolved rapidly, for most of history pills were the only real way to treat something. Then in the 70s and 80s proteins and antibodies came in, and now we have a better understanding of genetic sequencing so the number of options that are approved by the regulator is three times higher than it was a decade ago.”
He adds that RTW focuses on those areas which are newer, and said: “An unusual feature of the recent advances in treatments of diabetes and obesity is that they have been developed by the very largest companies. And it’s unusual because most of the development in biotech in recent years has come from smaller companies. And that’s why I think there will be a lot more to come in those areas.
"A lot more treatments will be approved by regulators and it may be that this area is the biggest opportunity of all time in biotech.”
He said RTW only invests in companies where “proof of concept” has been established, rather than in what might be called science projects, where no one knows what will work.
david.thorpe@ft.com
