They only come out towards the end of an IPO window. After investors have snapped up all the preclinical or Phase I-stage drug development companies and the venture capitalists are scratching around their portfolios to off-load risk and negative cash flows onto the public markets from investments that weren't formed five minutes ago, then we see the platform companies.

Zalicus' lead drug candidate Z160 has failed in two Phase II chronic pain trials, prompting the company to terminate its development. The news sent the company's share price into a nose dive. It closed 72% down at $1.30 on the news (11 November).

It's on to plan B for Zalicus, which saw its stock price drop 43.2% to $0.79 per share on 10 September after the company announced that it is dropping development of its lead drug candidate, Synavive, due to a lack of clinically meaningful benefit for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in a Phase IIb study.

"Our vision is to transform certain cancers into manageable conditions." So says, founding president and CEO of Blueprint Medicines, Chris Varma.