Welcome to Partnology’s Biotech Leader Spotlight Series, where we highlight the remarkable accomplishments and visionary leadership of biotech industry pioneers. This series is about showcasing the groundbreaking strides made by exceptional leaders who have transformed scientific possibilities into tangible realities. Through insightful interviews, we invite you to join us in following the inspiring journeys of these executives who continue to shape the landscape of the biotech industry. This week we are recognizing:
Alyssa Levin joined Nkarta as Chief Financial and Business Officer in 2023. Prior to Nkarta, she was Chief Financial Officer at ViaCyte, a biotechnology company developing stem cell therapy for diabetes, where she aided the company’s successful merger with Vertex Pharmaceuticals in 2022. Previously, she was Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Operations at Tentarix Biotherapeutics and Chief Financial Officer at Bird Rock Bio. Her experience also includes financial roles at PricewaterhouseCoopers and The Siegfried Group where she advised clients on IPO and M&A processes. She began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She is currently on the Board of Advisors and Grants Committee of Life Science Cares, San Diego. She also serves as an Advisor to the Termeer Foundation. Alyssa received a BA in Psychology and Economics from University of British Columbia, and a Masters in Professional Accounting from the Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan. She obtained her Chartered Professional Accountant (Canada) designation in 2011.
Walk me through your career, noting some of the most pivotal moments or decisions throughout:
I began my career at PwC in Vancouver, Canada, where I spent my first couple of years focusing on audit and later transitioned into a specialty advisory practice. After 4 years, I accepted a consulting role in New York City with The Siegfried Group. A few weeks in, Siegfried asked me to work on a project in San Diego and the work involved several Biotech transactions. I jumped at the opportunity— I had never been to San Diego and I was excited to work in the Biotech industry.
At the time, Vancouver wasn’t a Biotech hub, so my career had been focused on industries like forestry, mining, consumer products, and real estate. Biotech was completely new to me, and those initial experiences in San Diego biotech ended up shaping the rest of my career. Almost twelve years later I have worked in-house with 4 different Biotech companies in C-suite.
In January 2017 I joined Bird Rock Bio in San Diego. Paul Grayson was the CEO and he has been an amazing mentor. We worked together for three years as we navigated an agreement between Bird Rock Bio and Janssen (J&J). I was able to spend a lot of time learning the underlying biology and the overall process of antibody development. Having the time and opportunities for that learning allowed me to step beyond finance and add the operational aspects of running a Biotech company to my resume.
As we were wrapping up Bird Rock Bio, Paul was in the middle of forming a new company, Tentarix Biotherapeutics, which involved licensing an exciting technology from Vancouver, Canada. The timing felt right, and I was excited to work with Paul again, as well as the other co-founders. It was an opportunity to build out a Company from an idea, involving a fairly complex legal structure, into a successful operating company.
A couple of years in, another opportunity came up that felt like a lot of potential upside, ViaCyte, a company developing an encapsulated cell therapy for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes. I joined the company during a challenging time, there was limited cash runway, and it was clear that we would need to raise capital or find a transaction to secure the future of the technology. The management team worked together to extend the cash runway by cutting costs through pipeline prioritization, a reduction in workforce, in addition to securing venture debt and searching for financing or transaction opportunities. Ultimately, ViaCyte was sold to Vertex Pharmaceuticals in 2022 and it was a great career experience in helping to negotiate and execute an acquisition.
At the time of the acquisition, I was eight and a half months pregnant, so it was a whirlwind period. After the deal closed, I planned to take time off, but quickly found myself restless. A few months into my break, Paul Hastings, the CEO and President of Nkarta (and previously a member of ViaCyte’s Board of Directors), reached out and needed a CFO/ CBO. Initially, I was hesitant given Nkarta was based in the San Francisco area and I was rooted in San Diego. After some convincing, I consulted for Nkarta for several months and joined full-time in July of 2023.
Tell me more about Nkarta – what are you currently working on?
Nkarta is an NK cell therapy Company focused on treatments for autoimmune disease (and previously heme malignancies). Shortly after I joined, there was a ground-breaking academic study published showing the use of CD-19-CAR-T cells in lupus patients leading to sustained, drug-free remissions. On the heels of that, Nkarta who has a CD-19 directed CAR-NK cell therapy expanded into autoimmune diseases including lupus nephritis, scleroderma, myositis and vasculitis. This is widely seen as an exciting opportunity for Nkarta and many other cell therapy companies who followed. In March 2024, we did a follow-on financing of $240 million, extending our cash runway into late 2027, which has set us up to execute on our strategic plans for clinical trials in autoimmune disease. The financial stability has allowed me to spend more time on assisting our team on execution, especially as it pertains to the start-up of our clinical trials in autoimmune disease
How does the biotech industry differ from other industries you’ve worked in?
The major concepts in finance are largely universal across industries; however, the investment premise for biotech is unique. When pitching to investors, we aren’t presenting a revenue-generating company and talking valuations based on multiples. Instead, investors are looking at the potential of a successful revenue-generating drug, in a space where only a fraction ever make it all of the way to commercialization. Most investors in biotech are specialist funds— led by PhDs, experts in fields like protein design, advanced chemistry, physicians — and they carefully analyze their investment opportunities. They bring their unique knowledge and talents to assessing the probability of success for each drug/ pipeline they are looking at investing in.
Biotech relies heavily on fundraising. Can you describe a fundraising effort you’re most proud of and what made it successful?
One thing I’m most proud of in my career is working on the acquisition of ViaCyte by Vertex. It was a challenging situation at ViaCyte, as we had limited strategic alternatives. Anytime you’re negotiating a deal without alternatives, the lack of leverage can be a challenge. Despite that, I believe we achieved a fair acquisition agreement, which can be attributed to building good relationships and how we were able to present the value proposition. I’m really proud of how the negotiation played out, it was efficient and effective for both sides.
The process moved quickly, and thanks to existing relationships with the Vertex team, we were able to keep the lawyers on both sides focused on a quick completion of the deal. We focused on direct business discussions up front, keeping the deal streamlined. This was critical for our shareholders because, had the transaction not gone through, the cash runway was limited.
I took a huge risk by joining ViaCyte, but ultimately, the hard work of the management team paid off. It was a true team effort that came together at the last minute to deliver the best possible outcome—for the patients, for ViaCyte’s shareholders, and for Vertex’s shareholders. It was a genuine win-win, and you don’t always get that in transactions.
What trends are you seeing in biotech financing that other CFOs should be paying attention to?
It’s been a challenging couple of years for biotech – it’s often felt like no data goes unpunished, whether positive or negative. Companies have had to lean on specialty investors who hold the expertise to interpret the data and invest accordingly. It’s created certain trends that aren’t particularly healthy on a macro level – we see a lot of “groupthink” and quick swings on what therapeutic areas are hot or not at any given time.
It’s an exciting time to be in the industry, though. With advancements in precision medicine, machine learning, and AI, we’re better able to predict outcomes and identify trends. I believe we’ll start seeing a higher percentage of drugs succeed from concept to commercialization.
With the experience and insights you’ve gained, what advice would you give to aspiring biotech CFOs or those looking to transition into the industry?
In any industry, I believe getting into the C-suite requires taking risks, being opportunistic, and, most importantly, working really hard. I’ve always approached my career as a major part of my life and I never think of my job as starting or ending at a certain time. In some ways, it feels like I’m always working but in other ways it feels like I’m never working because it’s so integrated into my overall life. I truly love what I do and wake up excited to meet with the team and take on whatever challenges come up.
For anyone aspiring to reach the C-suite in biotech, I would ensure you’re intellectually curious about everything surrounding drug development; otherwise, there are much simpler industries to understand and work in. Without that genuine curiosity, it can feel like a real slog to keep up with an ever-changing landscape and new data. For those who have that passion, there is no industry more interesting and with the most intelligent, wonderful people to work with.
