Biotech Strategy Blog

Commentary on Science, Innovation & New Products

Posts tagged ‘Biotechnology’

NYC Medical Technology Life Sciences Networking Event

By on February 10, 2011

NYC skyline picture by Pieter Droppert 300x225 NYC Medical Technology Life Sciences Networking EventAfter I wrote my previous blog post about the emerging biotechnology region around Austin, TX, one of the comments I received was about the importance of networking opportunities within a cluster or region.

So I am pleased to have been invited to a medical technology-life science networking event in New York City (NYC) organized six times a year by Ted King of Saddlerock Advisors, Wendy Brown of Merrill Lynch and John Lieberman of Perelson Weiner.

The event, later today, has a format of a featured speaker and presentations by three emerging companies that provides them with the opportunity to network and showcase their technology, new drugs or medical devices to investors, industry partners, academics and researchers.

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Austin’s growing and emerging biotechnology cluster

By on February 7, 2011

Texas State Capitol Austin Feb 2011 300x225 Austin’s growing and emerging biotechnology cluster I was in Austin last week for a business meeting (spot the snow around the State Capitol) and was interested to learn that Austin, TX is an emerging and growing biotechnology cluster.

Michael Porter in the Harvard Business Review has written about the importance of clusters of interconnected companies, universities, suppliers and service providers and how these drive increased productivity, innovation and stimulate further new businesses.  An important contributor of growth and economic development is the pool of talented workers that develops and is attracted to the local area around the cluster.

This is a preview of Austin’s growing and emerging biotechnology cluster. Read the full post

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10 warning signs of Alzheimer’s Disease

By on January 26, 2011

My theme for blog posts this week has been the diagnosis and detection of Alzheimer’s Disease, a therapeutic area I was first introduced to while working as a Global Project Director at the Canadian CRO, CroMedica before it was acquired by PRA. The then CEO of CroMedica, Erich Mohr Ph.D is now Chairman and CEO of MedGenesis Therapeutix Inc. in Victoria, BC.

This privately held biopharmaceutical company is working on developing new products for neurological diseases and the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease, Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) and Intractable Epilepsy. I have added MedGenesis to my list of emerging biotechnology companies to watch, and look forward to writing further as their pipeline develops.

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US Supreme Court to decide whether Vermont can control the use of prescribing data by IMS health and Pharma companies

By on January 17, 2011

In a case of national significance to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, the United States Supreme Court on January 7 decided to hear the case of Sorrell (Attorney General of Vermont) v. IMS Health Inc & Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

This case is about whether States have the right to regulate how physician prescriber data is sold and used, and whether physicians have a right to privacy in the use of their personal information. In Vermont, the legislature enacted a law that allowed prescribers on their annual licensing renewal to opt-out of allowing the use of information that would identify them in any data used for marketing or promotion of prescription drugs.

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Innovation in Healthcare Symposium

By on January 12, 2011

A conference on Innovation in Healthcare is being held in Cambridge, MA on Tuesday, February 1, 2011.

The speaker list is impressive and includes Michael Porter (Porter’s 5 forces model is well known to all MBA students), John Mendelsohn (President of MD Anderson), Janet Woodcock (Director of Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at FDA) and Peter Senge (author of the Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization).

The symposium, whose lead sponsor is Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, will discuss how to to improve the system for delivering healthcare services, and how to increase the productivity of translating biomedical research into medical innovation.  The conference certainly has ambitious goals in the topics it plans to cover!

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Vertex plans NDA for VX-770 in Cystic Fibrosis for Second Half of 2011

By on January 10, 2011

As an update to this morning’s blog post that mentioned Vertex’s VX-770, the company have just announced their key business objectives for 2011.  Further information will be included in the presentation by Vertex at the JP Morgan Healthcare conference scheduled for later today.

The news in Cystic Fibrosis is that if the phase 3 clinical trial data is positive the NDA for VX-770 is expected in the second half of 2011.  The following are the relevant sections from the press release:

Cystic Fibrosis: Phase 3 Registration Program for VX-770 Nears Completion

VX-770 NDA Submission Planned for Second Half of 2011

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New research points to role of Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator Signaling in Emphysema

By on January 10, 2011

One of the exciting things about the biotechnology industry is its ability to innovate and translate developments in basic science into potential new drugs.

I previously wrote about denufosol in cystic fibrosis (CF), a disease that affects about 30,000 people in the United States and 70,000 worldwide.  The disease is characterized by the accumulation of mucus that leads to bacterial overgrowth and chronic lung infections. Mucus cannot be removed from the lung in CF due to abnormal mucociliary transport resulting from impaired epithelial chloride secretion and sodium hyperabsorption.  This is now known to be due to defective cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) protein. A good overview of this can be found in the 2006 New England Journal of Medicine Editorial by Felix Ratjen, “Restoring Airway Surface Liquid in Cystic Fibrosis.”

This is a preview of New research points to role of Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator Signaling in Emphysema. Read the full post

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Inspire Pharmaceuticals Shares Plunge on Negative Data

By on January 3, 2011

Thanks to Adam Feuerstein of TheStreet for breaking the news this morning, that shares in Inspire Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ISPH) have plunged following the announcement of negative data from the phase 3, TIGER-2 clinical trial for denufosol in cystic fibrosis.

According to the Chief Medical Officer at Inspire Pharma: ”The analysis of the primary endpoint, key secondary endpoints and select subgroup populations in TIGER-2 indicates an absence of meaningful treatment benefit in this patient population.”

I wrote a blog post last week about denufosol and the hope that this drug offered to cystic fibrosis patients despite the uncertainty about its clinical effectiveness.

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Insights of the Decade

By on January 3, 2011

6011.cover Insights of the DecadeThe December 17, 2010 issue of “Science” has the catchy of title of “Insights of the Decade”, one of which is an article by Jennifer Couzin-Frankel, ”Inflammation Bares a Dark Side”, that describes the ubiquitous role of inflammation. She concludes that:

“Mediating inflammation in chronic diseases is a new frontier, its success is still uncertain.”

Inflammation has been shown to play an important role in multiple chronic illnesses such as cancer, and in type 2 diabetes it promotes insulin resistance and the death of pancreatic beta cells.  In 2007, Marc Donath and colleagues published a landmark study in the New England Journal of Medicine where he used the drug anakinra, in patients with type 2 diabetes, to block interleukin-1 (IL-1), a cytokine that mediates the inflammatory response. The conclusion of the paper was that:

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WIPO Intellectual Property Courses

By on December 31, 2010

logo 2010 WIPO Intellectual Property CoursesIntellectual property (IP) rights are important in the biotechnology industry; one only has to look at a licensing, consulting or service agreement to appreciate this.

If you are a non-lawyer new to the area, and wish to gain a basic understanding of the different types of intellectual property protection such as copyright, trademarks, industrial design, patents and unfair competition, then the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Academy offers a free general course (DL-101).

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