The biotech playbook written for 2021 no longer works. Capital is more expensive, the FDA bar has moved, the Inflation Reduction Act has rewritten the economics of a drug before it is ever approved, and the investors who once funded a slide deck and a dream now want capital efficiency and a clear line to value. The New Rules of Biotech is the operating manual for building a company under these conditions. Drawing on his experience founding and running a preclinical biotech, David Craig lays out how modern biotech companies actually get built: how to choose between a platform and an asset, how to select a modality you can afford, how to raise a seed round against milestones instead of hope, how to use non-dilutive capital as a strategy rather than a backup, and how to run the IND-enabling, CMC, and clinical work that decides whether a program lives or dies. It carries the reader through term sheets, boards, business development, and the exits that matter, acquisition and the IPO window, without sentimentality about either. Written for founders, institutional investors, board members, and operators, the book pairs a plain-spoken, analytical voice with the specifics that decide outcomes. Each chapter closes with takeaways for operators and a separate read for investors and advisors, so the same material serves both sides of the table. This is not a book about what biotech used to be. It is a guide to building a company in the environment that exists now.