The Bio Report

A Strategic Investor’s View of the Biotech Investment Landscape

When the BIO Investor Forum convenes in San Francisco October 17 and 18, a key point of discussion will be the availability of funding for emerging life sciences companies. One of the panelist addressing that issue this year will be Asish Xavier, vice president of venture investments for Johnson & Johnson Innovation’s venture arm JJDC. We spoke to Xavier about JJDC’s approach to investing as a strategic investor, the changing landscape for venture capital, and how competitive the environment is for access to compelling technologies today.

Bringing Gender Diversity into Biotech Boardrooms

In April 2016, the consulting firm LifeSci Advisors adopted a comprehensive action plan to advance gender diversity in the life sciences industry. It has partnered with Women in Bio and Girls Inc. of New York City to provide mentorship and advancement programs for women and girls in the STEM fields, started its own board diversity initiative, and created the LifeSci Advisory Board on Gender Diversity. We spoke to Michael Rice, LifeSci Advisors founding partner, about the state of gender diversity in biotech boardrooms, what the firm has been doing, and why it decided to focus its efforts there.

Why the FDA May Need to Rethink Its Approach to Gene and Cell Therapy

Regenerative medicine is rapidly moving from the lab to the clinic, but as life-saving therapies advance to the marketplace, there are questions about whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration needs to modernize its regulatory approach to gene and cell therapies. We spoke to Michael Werner, executive director of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, about the state of the industry, the regulatory environment today, and whether it will ultimately be payers who are more demanding of data to convince them of the worth of a therapy.

VBL Targets Brain and other Cancers with Novel Immunotherapy

Glioblastoma is a devastating and fatal brain cancer that progresses rapidly. Median time from diagnosis to death is 12 to 15 months. In recurrent cases, treatment consists of both symptomatic and palliative therapies, but the disease remains fatal. VBL Therapeutics is developing a targeted anti-cancer gene-based therapy that is in late-stage testing for recurrent glioblastoma. We spoke to Dror Harats, CEO of VBL, about the therapy, how it works, and why it might be useful in treating a variety of cancers.

What Will It Take to Transform Healthcare to a System Focused on Prediction and Prevention

The promise of precision health is to transform a healthcare system that is today based on treating sickness to harnessing a range of technologies to predict and prevent illness. Health 2.0’s Technology for Precision Health Summit in San Francisco October 24 will explore the state of precision health and what’s needed to make it a reality. We spoke to Linda Molnar, chair of the summit, about precision health, what gaps in the healthcare continuum need to be addressed to create a healthcare system geared toward prediction and prevention, and how companies will make a business out of this.

Can a Direct Pitch to Patients Drive a Home Run for Obesity Drug

Winning regulatory approval for a drug to treat obesity would seem like a great accomplishment, but for Orexigen Therapeutics, that’s when the hard work began. After its marketing partner Takeda ended their agreement because of disappointing sales, the company found itself in the position of having to market a drug to doctors who often don’t consider obesity an illness and believe willpower and discipline, not a pill, is what’s needed. Orexigen’s solution centered on a novel approach. The company decided to make a pitch directly to patients and connect them to telehealth-based doctors, who could ensure use of the drug is appropriate and help them avoid the embarrassment they may feel when speaking to their own doctors. We spoke to Thomas Cannell, Chief Operating Officer and President of Global Commercial Products for Orexigen, about its obesity drug Contrave, its marketing strategy, and whether it represents a marketing model that others may follow.

Why Companies Across Industries Need to Develop a Bio Strategy

Though breakthroughs in the ability to read, write, and edit DNA have broad implications for healthcare, they are also fueling a far-reaching transformation of industries and laying the foundation for a new bioeconomy. The SynBioBeta conference, which has developed into a critical annual event for innovators and investors within the synthetic biology sector, will be held in San Francisco October 3 through October 5. We spoke to John Cumbers, founder of SynBioBeta, about trends within synthetic biology, key drivers and challenges for the sector, and why companies in all industries today need to begin crafting their own bio strategies.

Economist Argues Maximizing Shareholder Value Hurts Drug Innovation

The pharmaceutical industry has long argued that high drug prices are necessary to incentivize investment in and fund high-risk research and development of innovative new therapies. In a working paper published by the Institute for New Economic Thinking, William Lazonick, professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and his colleagues challenge the industry’s premise. They argue that top pharmaceutical companies, spend more of their profits on buying back their shares to boost their stock prices than they do on R&D, a move that enriches senior executives. We spoke to Lazonick about the paper, why he believes this so-called financialized business model is counterproductive to innovation, and what steps he thinks are necessary to change the landscape.