During his campaign, Vivek Ramaswamy presents himself as a Harvard-trained “scientist” with expertise in the field of biotechnology. He emphasizes his contributions to the development of life-saving medicines, particularly a therapy for children suffering from a genetic condition. However, a deeper look into Mr. Ramaswamy’s business career reveals a more complex story. He is more of a financier than a scientist, known for his ability to seek out bargains, generate hype, and cash out on successful ventures, amassing a fortune of over $200 million before the age of 35.
One notable failure in Mr. Ramaswamy’s career was the Alzheimer’s drug that was at the center of what was once the largest initial public offering in the biotechnology industry. Despite the drug’s failure and the subsequent decline in the company’s value, Mr. Ramaswamy still profited through strategic business moves. He sold off the most promising components of his enterprise, resulting in the development of five successful drugs for conditions such as uterine fibroids, prostate cancer, and the rare genetic condition he mentioned during his campaign. The company boasts an impressive track record of successful drug trials, a rarity in the industry where failure is common.
Mr. Ramaswamy’s success can be attributed to his astute business structuring and his ability to generate excitement, hope, and risky speculation within an industry that thrives on these elements. Critics, like Kathleen Sebelius, former health secretary during the Obama administration, describe him as a “Music Man,” someone who combines substance with hype. However, Mr. Ramaswamy counters this criticism by asserting that he was actually selling investors on a long-term business model rather than solely promoting the potential of the failed Alzheimer’s drug.
Using his amassed wealth, Mr. Ramaswamy is now funding a long-shot campaign for the Republican nomination, which includes luxurious travel accommodations and significant personal investments. On the campaign trail, he promotes “anti-woke” capitalism, challenging environmental, social, and corporate governance programs, and dismissing discussions about racial privilege. As the child of Indian immigrants, he attributes his success to the values instilled in him by his parents and his educational background at institutions like Harvard and Yale.
Although Mr. Ramaswamy’s undergraduate degree is in biology from Harvard, he is not a scientist by profession. Rather, he made a name for himself in the world of hedge funds and earned a law degree from Yale. Along his career path, he became interested in biotechnology and developed a unique strategy for bringing high-risk prescription drugs to market. This involved scouring pharmaceutical giants’ abandoned patents, purchasing them at low prices, and delivering them to the market.
In 2014, Mr. Ramaswamy founded Roivant Sciences, incorporated in Bermuda, with substantial funding from investors including QVT, the hedge fund that employed him after college. With his connections and self-assurance, he assembled an influential, bipartisan advisory board, including prominent figures from both major parties. They were attracted to his entrepreneurial vision of providing affordable critical drugs to the market.
However, Mr. Ramaswamy’s ultimate goal was to maximize returns on investment, as indicated by the “Roi” in Roivant’s name. To achieve this, he acquired an Alzheimer’s drug that had been abandoned by GlaxoSmithKline for a relatively small upfront cost. He then took Axovant, the subsidiary responsible for the drug, public, resulting in a market value of nearly $3 billion. Despite having only a few employees and limited clinical trial progress, Mr. Ramaswamy effectively sold the potential of the drug to investors.
In 2015, he sold a portion of his shares in Roivant to an institutional investor, Viking Global Investors, for a significant profit. The sale was not driven by a lack of faith in the drug’s success but rather as a means of accommodating Viking’s interest. Unfortunately, the clinical trial for the Alzheimer’s drug failed shortly after SoftBank invested $1.1 billion in Roivant. SoftBank’s interest was not solely in the drug but in Mr. Ramaswamy’s wider drug portfolio. The subsequent decline in the drug’s stock price led to the dissolution of the company.
Mr. Ramaswamy was insulated from the financial impact of the drug’s failure due to the way he structured his biotechnology empire. While some investors lost money, he personally managed to weather the storm. Despite this setback, he remains determined to pursue his political ambitions, using his wealth to support his campaign for the Republican nomination.
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