One Small Startup's Quest For Funding Gets Creative

By Camille Mojica Rey, Contributing Writer
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It’s no wonder small biopharma companies are acquired by their larger counterparts only after clinical trials show a novel drug’s potential for success. R&D costs are expensive, accounting for about half of the average cost to develop and gain marketing approval for a new drug. That leaves those small startups with the job of raising massive amounts of money just to stay afloat during the clinical trials process — and hoping for an acquisition exit.

As CEO of Ensysce Biosciences, a semi-virtual company with three employees, Lynn Kirkpatrick, Ph.D., knows all about the funding struggles of a small company. “Every small biotech understands that it costs so much and takes so much infrastructure to commercialize your own product that M&A is inevitably at the top of the list of options for getting a product to market,” she says. “Seeking funding is a 24/7 job. As soon as we get money, I’m out looking for more.”