A well-placed biotech investor says U.S. policies are straining life sciences startups

Allison DeAngelis is the East Coast biotech and venture capital reporter at STAT, reporting where scientific ideas and money meet. She is also co-host of the weekly biotech podcast, The Readout Loud. You can reach Allison on Signal at AllisonDeAngelis.01.

Johannes Fruehauf left Germany for the United States more than 20 years ago to propel his scientific career. But amid the Trump administration’s blows to science, he’s sensing more opportunity in his home country.

“Unfortunately, it seems that we, in the U.S., are questioning our desire to lead a sector that we have traditionally led since the ’70s and ’80s,” he said. Many European nations, meanwhile, are seizing on the opportunity. “There’s sort of a boom type feeling at the moment. … Certainly in Germany, they have a new government, and the new government is spending like drunken sailors,” he remarked.

Fruehauf has a unique perspective on the biotech industry: The physician and entrepreneur is a general partner at the life sciences venture capital firm Mission BioCapital. On top of that, he co-founded the shared laboratory real estate businesses LabCentral and BioLabs.