I think this is availability bias. Many large (> $100M) deals happen all the time in early stage life sciences but don't get picked up by the tech press or covered as "startups". A few high profile stories flame out spectacularly like this but they are typically already the outsiders to the industry.
To the specific scenario, when N is small all kinds of idiosyncratic bad decision making can happen.
To the specific scenario, when N is small all kinds of idiosyncratic bad decision making can happen.