The Poster Child of Prasad's War on Rare Disease

Atara Biotherapeutics: What Happens When the Enemy of Rare Disease Walks Out the Door

This will be a “best ideas only” bio substack providing actionable, highly digestible and high conviction value to investors focused on quality not quantity. Disclaimer: Nothing in this article (or substack) is considered investment advice and is solely the opinion of the author.

Last Friday, the rare disease biotech world caught a breath of fresh air.

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary sent a note to staff confirming that Vinay Prasad — the controversial CBER director whose tenure became synonymous with goalpost-moving, surprise reversals, and a overt hostility towards rare disease programs — would be departing the agency at the end of April. By Monday morning, ATRA was up roughly 29%, QURE surged 26%, RGNX climbed nearly 20%. The market was voting, loudly, on what it thought Prasad’s presence had been worth to this space.