Dr. David Rabuka is a serial biotech entrepreneur and investor based in Berkeley California. His expertise is concentrated on translating new technologies into clinical therapies. David previously co-founded Redwood Biosciences with Carolyn Bertozzi, which was acquired by Catalent Pharma Solutions in 2014.

Since 2012, we at LDV Capital have been the only venture fund with the thesis of investing in people building businesses powered by visual technology and artificial intelligence (AI). We define visual technology as any technology that captures, analyzes, filters, displays, or distributes visual data across the light and electromagnetic spectrums.

In 2018, David was one of the experts who contributed his insights to our ten-year market analysis of visual technologies in healthcare, titled “Nine Sectors Where Visual Technologies Will Improve Healthcare by 2028.”

In 2023, we expanded our team's expertise in life sciences & biotech with the addition of brilliant domain experts, Dr. Laura Smoliar & Dr. David Rabuka.

In 2024, Dr. Rabuka spoke about investment trends & opportunities in ​​life sciences and biotech at our Annual General Meeting. Check out our shortened & lightly edited transcript below.

I'm a drug developer and discoverer, and I’ll mostly focus on therapeutics and how AI ties into this.

Trends in Life Sciences & Biotech

The last three years have been rough in the biotech world. At one point, about 70% of publicly traded biotech companies were trading for less than their cash value. This pain has trickled down into the startup world, and it’s having an impact on our ability to raise capital for early stage projects.

One of the bigger trends is the shift toward personalized medicine. This is causing the biotech industry to fragment, with more focus on rare diseases and much smaller markets. What’s happening is that you'll no longer have one pill that works for all patients for a particular indication, which translates to fewer blockbuster drugs and, therefore, fewer dollars to be made. Patients will be given treatments tailored specifically to their genetic makeup. That's exciting, but it’s causing a lot of consternation within the larger community.

Another major issue, exacerbated by COVID, is the supply chain crunch. The CDMO space is going through turbulent times, and this will impact the market and companies. You are seeing attempted consolidation and stretched resources. I do think this is going to work itself out this year but it's something to be aware of when looking at the path forward for companies moving compounds into the clinic and the timing of trials.

Biotech will remain suppressed through 2024, but begin to bounce back in 2025. The IPO window is opening up in 2024 and will continue to be favorable in 2025. One of the big successes in pharma this year is the GLP-1 analogs, the weight loss drugs. I don't think anyone anticipated how many people would prefer to take an injection to lose weight rather than go to the gym, but it’s true, and these companies are making enormous amounts of money. The demand for these drugs has been incredible (and again led to supply issues).

The war on cancer continues to evolve. If you look at the wave of anti-cancer drugs that have recently entered clinical trials or received approval, it’s truly amazing! Over the last 20 years, we've seen tons of interesting modalities emerge. One of my first companies was an ADC company—these are antibody-drug conjugates and targeted chemotherapy agents. They're all the rage now, with 14 approved and around 60 in clinical trials for various cancers, including those we've struggled to treat in the past.

Then you've got radioisotope therapies. There are now a large number of different groups working on radioisotope therapies that target radioactive materials to tumors, like Zevalin and Bexxar. These molecules are some of the best anti-cancer drugs we've seen, but supply chain issues slowed progress. Now, we’re starting to get through that, and that’s where the next wave is headed. 

I'm also excited about the reemergence of small-molecule therapies. Unlike biologics like antibodies, small molecules are cheaper and faster to develop. I really like what I call barbell drugs, synthetic macromolecules that have dual functionality, PROTACs being one great example.

Big problems that need solving

• The way capital markets are funding biotech has led venture firms to invest in fewer companies with larger rounds, meaning fewer shots on goal.

• There’s also the challenge of delivering new therapeutic modalities, like mRNA. 

• Another issue is the high cost of goods for these therapies, which is why some drugs are priced at $3 million. They’re expensive to make.

• Large datasets are becoming more fragmented, even though they keep growing. They haven’t been fully integrated yet, which is another big problem that AI might help solve. 

The future of life sciences & biotech married with visualization technologies holds the promise of unlocking promising therapies and medical advancements at a scale and with a depth never before imagined, illuminating the path to breakthroughs that will revolutionize medicine and our understanding of human biology.

Check out our article on visual tech advancing accelerations in life sciences and biotech.

If you missed our 10th Annual LDV Vision Summit, you might also want to watch the fireside chat between LDV Capital's Founder & General Partner Evan Nisselson & Dr. Molly Gibson, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at Generate:Biomedicines, Origination Partner at Flagship Pioneering. They discussed how AI and machine learning empower and disrupt the scientific process across life sciences, biotech, advanced materials and more.

We also had a fantastic panel of experts discussing visual tech advancements in life sciences and biotech, paving the way for longer and healthier lives, moderated by Dr. Laura Smoliar, the Executive Director of the Taiwan Science and Technology Hub at Stanford. She is one of our LDV Capital Experts. In 2005, Laura founded Mobius Photonics, which developed high-power, fiber-based UV and green lasers before being acquired by IPG Photonics. In 2016, Smoliar co-founded the Berkeley Catalyst Fund, where she made several early-stage biotech investments.