Re­mem­ber that record biotech IPO par­ty in 2018? There was no ‘hap­pi­ly ever af­ter’

Back in the sum­mer of 2018, Aptinyx $AP­TX was bud­ding with high hopes. Its pre­de­ces­sor com­pa­ny, Nau­rex, had sold to Al­ler­gan so Brent Saun­ders and his crew could ad­vance their “break­through” NM­DA drug to what looked like a promis­ing drug worth $560 mil­lion. Aptinyx would take the rest for­ward through the clin­ic.

But over the last five years, that drug and every­thing that went to Aptinyx went up in mul­ti­ple blasts of bad da­ta, de­stroyed by a litany of set­backs and fail­ures that would wipe out all ev­i­dence of its for­mer promise. Al­ler­gan lat­er would sell to Ab­b­Vie, pri­mar­i­ly for its Botox fran­chise, af­ter tak­ing some nasty pipeline hits.

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