Vlad Coric, CEO of Biohaven, discussed the company’s strategy following a challenging year that included setbacks such as a failed mid-stage trial in major depressive disorder and an FDA rejection for a rare neurodegenerative disease in November 2025. The regulatory decision also led to the loss of a $150 million capital opportunity.
Despite these difficulties, Coric outlined plans to repurpose Biohaven’s spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) drug taldefgrobep alfa, which did not meet its endpoints in a Phase III trial in late 2024. The company aims to develop it as a muscle-sparing agent for patients using GLP-1 drugs like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy or Eli Lilly’s Zepbound. Coric contrasted Biohaven’s approach with Eli Lilly’s bimagrumab, noting differences in side effect profiles.
“A lot of folks who don’t want to take GLP-1s are concerned about the muscle loss and the bone density effects,” Coric told BioSpace during the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. “The only thing that I think limited Lilly’s bimagrumab was the side effects. They had very high rates of side effects. We’re not seeing the side effects that Lilly ran into.” He added, “So we think we could deliver bimagrumab-like efficacy without the side effects. That’s a winning profile for a monotherapy.”
Biohaven discovered that participants taking taldefgrobep alfa experienced reduced weight and preservation of lean muscle and bone density. The company is now enrolling patients with obesity or overweight for a Phase II study expected to conclude in September 2026.
Biohaven has faced challenges from recent changes in FDA policy affecting multiple biotechs, requiring them to adapt their development strategies as previous agreements on evidence needed for approval were reversed by regulators.
After its spinocerebellar ataxia treatment troriluzole was rejected by the FDA last November—resulting in another missed $150 million payment from Oberland Capital—Biohaven sought additional funding through Wall Street, raising $200 million despite an initial target of $150 million.
On January 7, investment firm Janus Henderson acquired $125 million worth of Biohaven shares, representing about 10% ownership in the company. “That’s 10% of the company,” Coric said. “We’re well capitalized.”
Coric emphasized Biohaven’s pipeline diversity, particularly BHV-1300, a protein degrader therapy for autoimmune diseases that demonstrated significant reduction in IgG proteins after four weeks in a Phase I trial completed in March 2025.
“I think coming into [JPM26], we wanted to make sure we were well-funded, we could show people our exciting data and focus on the degrader platform as the future,” Coric said.
Regarding potential acquisition offers, Coric stated: “I’m a firm believer you should run your company like you’re going to own it forever,” he said, “but if somebody comes in and gives you a good offer, you’ll always consider that, as we did for [Pfizer].”
