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Peter Kolchinsky

@peterkolchinsky.bsky.social
783 followers 27 following 64 posts

Biotech investor. Virologist. Author: The Great American Drug Deal. Founder: No Patient Left Behind. Healthcare reform advocate. Daughter says I’m cool 75% of the time; son says 100%.

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Reposted by Peter Kolchinsky
Holly Fernandez Lynch @hollylynchez.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
Here, here. "Congress must now also exercise its oversight responsibilities to ensure repairs to FDAs current and future capabilities, infrastructure, human resources, and reputation begin as soon as possible." Big deal coming from investors/companies. www.nopatientleftbehind.org/evidence-bas...
nopatientleftbehind.org
Supporting the Call for Evidence-Based Policy and Public Health Security — No Patient Left Behind
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Reposted by Peter Kolchinsky
No Patient Left Behind @nplb.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Autoimmune diseases afflict 45 million Americans—and it requires a collective community effort to change that. Our new Community Quest video shows how investors, innovators, regulators, patients, insurers—and you—make new treatments possible, accessible, and affordable.
nopatientleftbehind.org
Our Quest to Beat Autoimmune Disorders — No Patient Left Behind
Biomedical innovators are developing new autoimmune therapeutics - insurance reform will ensure new treatments and cures are accessible and affordable.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Anyone with questions about drug pricing, investment in innovation, insurance… There is now an AI you can speak with: www.nopatientleftbehind.org/chat-nplb Give it a spin. Call out what you think it gets wrong. (That’s one of the exercises in the NPLB fellowship, actually).
nopatientleftbehind.org
chat-NPLB — No Patient Left Behind
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
No Patient Left Behind steps up again @nplb.bsky.social Video from many #biotech leaders to #Trump on addressing international freeriding (others paying less than US for meds). Learn why “Most Favored Nation” policy backfires… and a better approach. www.nopatientleftbehind.org/protect-amer...
nopatientleftbehind.org
Protect American Innovation — No Patient Left Behind
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Do you serve on a biotech board? Wish meetings were clearer, shorter, focused on strategy? You’ll love RA Capital’s Gateway (gateway.racap.com), a resource for execs/directors. Insights from peers. Used by thousands. Eg. Core value propositions & elephant slides. Role of chair. Price discovery
gateway.racap.com
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Rfk Jr & vaccine “skeptics” mislead when they say vaccines haven’t been tested vs placebo. The first vaccine of every kind is absolutely tested vs placebo. When it works, it’s unethical to test future versions vs placebo. Those are tested vs prior version. If better, then also better than placebo.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Reposting for the Harvard Biotech Club members who are joining now for the podcast recording.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
Flying back from JPM? Watch this. Congressman Jake Auchincloss knows more about what’s wrong with healthcare, PBMs, drug value assessment, & pricing policy than most executives. Biocentury’s @steveusdin.bsky.social interview surfaces issues all execs need to know. www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-Ji...
youtube.com
Ep. 75 - PBMs, IRA, RFK Jr: A Conversation With Rep. Jake Auchincloss
YouTube video by BioCentury Video
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
That’s where I think it helps to have choices and to work on what you are more certain has a higher expected return. Question isn’t whether to work on something but what to work on of all the things that could be worth doing.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Ahh… that’s fair. I think of it this way. Someone decides it’s worth stepping up to the plate. They believe they can connect with the ball. Double would be great. Sometimes they hit a homerun or grand slam. They didn’t not predict it, but didn’t expect it. No harm being realistic in one’s optimism.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Arguably the people who invest successfully in these trends predicted these things, even if they didn’t write about it (but they do; gotta look). Some of us bet plenty of money on obesity b/f glp1s… wrongly. Novo and Lilly predicted glp1s could be big… rightly. Someone’s always getting it right. ;)
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
Biotech on Bluesky get a look first. RA Capital’s annual thoughts on how biotech can better (Semper Maior; always better). This one explore how we can elicit more candor. Some stories, too. And tons of top-down data analyzing 2024 performance & setup for 2025. rapport.bio/all-stories/...
rapport.bio
Semper Maior: Pumping up the candor — RApport
Wouldn’t it be better if everyone in our ecosystem were candid with one another? After all, within companies it’s common to encourage everyone to speak their minds. If you see a problem, call it out;...
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Sure, interesting hypothesis, among others (e.g. tau). Meanwhile, when a drug specifically lowers X and improves Y, that's pretty strong evidence that X is "involved" in Y. Doesn't mean X is everything. But it's probably something. And maybe microglia and tau are good drug targets, too.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
We’ll soon open up application for the next No Patient Left Behind fellowship. Completing the “Biotech Unveiled” course & earning a certificate (gotta score well) qualifies one to apply for the fellowship. Will likely also be part of applying to our TechAltas division.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Biotech on Bluesky, I’m sharing with you first. RA Capital just launched Biotech Unveiled, a free online course our team created. Learn at own pace. Covers fundamentals of how insurance + investment direct R&D. Essential knowledge for leaders. racap.thinkific.com/courses/biot...
racap.thinkific.com
Biotech Unveiled: How the Biotech Industry Works
Designed to empower biotech professionals early in their career and set them up to succeed in the broader context in which they operate, this free mini-course is full of everything you've wanted to know about biotech but didn't know who to ask.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
And then there’s the question of algos. But so far, the fact that @erictopol.bsky.social has the most followers and highest follower/post ratio I’ve seen here is heartening. Good to see a bent. Maybe just my algo, though :) Good luck Bluesky.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
I’m guessing that as the platform matures and people saturate their target market, the ratios won’t be as useful. But for now, Bluesky and many people are it offer a dynamic range in which to appreciate what diffuses through its thick liquid (twitter is more a gas).
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
…interesting someone might be. Some people have a <1 ratio, many are around 10, and some standouts are at 100. I would say this is like a virus’s r (which indicates how infectious it is) except that followers effectively never decline (everyone stays infected :)
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
The interesting thing about Bluesky is watching something like the Wild West open up. Who knows if it ever becomes as populated as Twitter, but in these early days, you see how a platform takes shape. For example, notice the ratio of followers to posts… it seems a sign of how… 1/4
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
It’s a start. That’s how progress works. It compounds. I choose to see the possibilities and look forward to hearing from others who do.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
lowering it is relevant to disease improvement. That’s what matters.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
amyoid isn't "the" issue but it is part of the issue, which is why the current drugs work at all. That's ok. Some diseases are complex and solving them requires developing a whole toolkit. Cancers can require dozens of drugs. heart disease, dozens.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
As a virologist, I encourage everyone to listen to @scottgottliebmd.bsky.social’s advice on preparing for possible flu pandemic. As an investor, I hope US makes appropriate investments. We have better tools now than we did for COVID. Diff virus, diff tools. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
washingtonpost.com
Opinion | Biden faltered on bird flu. Here’s how Trump can course-correct.
The Biden administration’s bird flu response has been too slow. Now comes a test for Trump’s White House.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
Ain’t that the truth. My daughter is eleven and has food allergies. She feared her EpiPen. asked me regularly how intranasal epinephrine was coming along. Took years… but was just approved and transformed her life. My son has celiac. No cracks yet.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
Yes, that’s indeed the pickle. Pace of progress suggests we’ll learn a lot in next few years, which is a blink.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
Sure, when problems have one right answer, then crack can only mean to solve. In medicine, we take joy in progress. Eg I’m not saying Alz is cracked… I thought it might never be, yet now we’re making progress (it’s cracking :). Gives hope that last years of life won’t be stolen by dementia.
progress.it
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GRUPPO PROGRESS Da 30 anni mettiamo a tua disposizione l'eccellenza dei software gestionali italiani, accompagnati dall'expertise e dalla competenza dei nostri specialisti certificati. Con la nost...
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
Wonderful example of scientific spillover, long ignored by health economists who use simplistic formulas to tell us how little a novel drug is worth. They don’t consider what more we may learn to do with it before it eventually goes generic as a medical Swiss Army knife.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
Indeed… long been tough and now we see a way forward. What approach are you most inspired by? (immune reset? Cell therapy? Other?)
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
By crack, I don’t mean solve… just means that the problem no longer feels impenetrable. The slowing of progression by anti-abeta antibodies (two now approved) has spurred further work on newer antibodies that should have more efficacy and fewer side-effects. That’s how progress builds.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
My whole career (scientist/VC) there were diseases that I thought I might never be cracked. Alzheimer’s was one. Now seeing signs of progress. Lupus was another, now cracking. I think it’s curable. What diseases would you want to see cured? Scientists here can add if they feel optimistic.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
Even they could benefit from candor. I would argue that most investors see no upside in potentially causing offense and not getting a callback. So management needs to signal that it considers all feedback to be a favor they will repay by staying in touch about any thesis changing news.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
But why don’t firms compete on this metric now?
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
What would you propose?
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
Sure. Let’s say that’s true. Wouldn’t it be valuable for management teams to learn when this is the case? How might that come about?
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
Think of all the knowledge locked away in people’s heads that isn’t being shared because of the perception that there’s no upside for the giving party or clear downside. This is game theory. A tweak of the rules could lead to a very different outcome. What tweaks could work?
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
And same question for eliciting candid feedback from board members. Little sense in experienced people passively having slides read to them thinking “this isn’t compelling” and not getting to the heart of the problem. How to spark constructor candor? How to remove downsides of being candid?
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
What was an investor’s real reason for passing? What do they know? Might that info help a company? Yet, there’s a downside to candor. Feelings may get hurt. Investors get ghosted on deal. How might we flip it so there’s upside? Insights from #biotech & any sector welcome.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Every Xmas, those of us who are w/ our families appreciate all who work to keep the world running. Store clerks, nurses, police, public utility workers… …and, did you know, in the drug industry, many scientists & technicians keep experiments running & medicines in production. Thank you all :)
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
And stay tuned for a great biotech online course we’ll be launching via “RA University” (I know… boring. I wanted to call it RArvard by my General Counsel said it’s was too close to something else). Sign up on RApport.bio to follow all such developments.
rapport.bio
RApport
Your home for biotech and planetary health insight and opinion.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
It comes with a great epilogue that addresses common “but what about!?” questions whenever you suggest that maybe drug companies don’t price gouge. (Eg but Canada pays less!). We also discuss all this in the fellowship. rapport.bio/supplemental...
rapport.bio
But what about … — RApport
You’ve read one of our articles about why the amount we pay for branded drugs while they’re on patent is worth it, or our calls for insurance reform. But you still have some questions. We hope this an...
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
If you’ve made it this far and are really into biotech, here’s an intellectual vaccine against a lot of anti-pharma stuff you’ll have thrown at you during your career that you’ll want to learn to address. rapport.bio/all-stories/...
rapport.bio
A lot for a little: The best 8% slice of our healthcare dollar — RApport
Unlike our healthcare spending that goes to services and should be considered an expense, the mere 8% we spend on novel medicines doesn’t just pay for the same things year over year – it’s an investme...
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
What I’m really saying is that it’s not enough to be good… you have to either know how to convey convincingly to others that you are good or else have others who are convincing be able and willing to vouch for you that you are good. Otherwise, it’s hard to break through the noise.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
Be super useful to them. Impress them with your work. If you fail to impress someone, then move on to impressing someone else. Eventually you have to get good enough at something to impress people with what you can do so they can vouch for you.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
…so I could then apply for a job in business development. Eventually he did, though by then I had other offers. I created that optionality for myself intentionally. Be similarly rational and intentional about cultivating mentors and references.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
He kindly said yes and I then used that opportunity to impress him with how hard I was willing to work to build the club, rally people, and create opportunities for others to learn about biotech. My hope was that he would give me a chance to intern in his tech transfer office…
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
If they are not well connected, then it’s like being useful to a fellow stranded person… now you are both stranded together. When I was starting the Harvard Biotech Club, I recruited the head of Beth Israel’s tech transfer office to be our student group advisor.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
6. If you can’t present yourself as a standout, be sure to really make a strong positive impression on someone who can send a personal and specific reference for you. That person needs to be connected to the people you want to meet.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
If you don’t get good at capturing someone’s interest with a note about yourself, your accompaniments, and how you could be relevant to them, you may struggle to stand out from the masses of other vague people and will likely need others to vouch for you as being special/good at something specific.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
5. Present yourself well. Use all the above to present an interesting and detailed story that shows who you are by what you have done and do. Don’t just tell people about your attributes (hard worker, creative, problem solver, etc)… that’s typically generic and boring. Never be boring.
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Peter Kolchinsky @peterkolchinsky.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
…but as a calling card when you want to get someone’s attention to maybe work with them. They will see from your map or article that you aren’t just a passive job seeker… you stand out as having done the extra work and might be worth their time.
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