NEUROTHERAPY VENTURES The pipeline reinforces the lack of any real competition in the epilepsy drug market. About 43% of drugs in the pipeline are in pre-clinical stage or earlier. Around 46% in the first two stages of the clinical trial and a meager 11% at phase 3 or closest to market (See exhibit 1). The failure rates of the various phases of drug development are shown in exhibit 2 & exhibit 3. Given these failure rates it becomes clear that not many epilepsy drugs would be entering the market in the near future. A very strong scientific advisory board in the form of Dr. Devinsky and his highly knowledgeable colleagues will help NTV zero in on the promising technology and the right company for the new drug. Further, the presence of experienced and talented fund managers in the form of Trautman Wasserman will make fund rising easier for NTV. TW’s successful investment record at biotechnology portfolios will further add to NTV’s credibility and investors may even expect a high IRR just by investing in them. Furthermore, a small startup company will virtually face no competition from big pharmaceutical firms which are busy chasing blockbuster drugs and are unwilling to deal with small therapeutic areas like epilepsy. In fact, the willingness of the many big pharmaceuticals to out-license their own epilepsy candidates definitely increases the chances of start-ups making better drugs, if companies like NTV can help finance such a purchase. Although NTV looks a promising venture, it can come across some obstacles: To conclude, the lack of curative epilepsy drugs should be strong reason for NTV to look at a new research to find epilepsy drugs. Abandoned candidates of large pharmaceutical companies may suffer from the same defect of being palliative, and not curative. Certainly, the most effective way of encouraging new companies to find epilepsy drugs would be support their development process, and even identify possible candidates for them. The semi-dry pipeline...