The Bio Report

Battling Zika and Other Diseases Like It

Concern about the spread of the Zika virus has sparked efforts to develop therapies and vaccines to counter it. But the outbreak reflects a growing threat from zoonetic diseases, once thought of as being contained to tropical regions, that are making incursions into the developed world. We spoke to Jim Pannucci, director for infectious disease research at Southern Research, about Zika, the work his organization is doing around the virus, and whether we need to rethink investment in prevention and treatment of such diseases.

Chronicling a Trailblazer of the Genomics Age

Lee Hood was a visionary who helped enable the genomics age. Journalist Luke Timmerman, in his newly published biography of Hood, chronicles the scientist career and achievements, as well as the controversies that surrounded him. We spoke to Timmerman about Hood, the conflicts that shaped his career, and the significance of his contributions to the field of biology.

Great Progress, but Concerns Persist About Cancer Care in America

Despite continued scientific and medical progress, the American Society of Clinical Oncology offered a mixed picture in its annual report on The State of Cancer Care in America earlier this year. While advances have been made in combating some cancers, mortality rates for others remain unchanged or have increased. There’s disparity in care, concerns about the rising cost of therapy, and uncertainty about how new payment models will affect care. We spoke to Julie Vose, immediate past president of ASCO, about the report, where additional work is needed, and how to balance the need to make cancer care affordable while encouraging innovation.

Improving Healthcare by Addressing the Most Challenging Patients

People with multiple chronic conditions represent about 5 percent of the patient population in the United States, but account for half of the nation’s healthcare spending. In order to improve care and reduce costs overal there’s an urgent need to do a better job of treating these patients, according to a recent perspective in the New England Journal of Medicine from the heads of five leading healthcare foundations. We spoke to David Blumenthal, president of the Commonwealth Fund and one of the authors of the piece, about why improving care for this population is critical, why there’s not a single solution to treating what is actually a diverse population of patients, and what these foundations are doing to address the problem.

The Case for Chasing Unpopular Indications

Neglected diseases and drugs to counter addiction represent unmet medical needs, but they have been areas that pharmaceutical companies have been reluctant to pursue. Savant HWP is in clinical development on an experimental drug that targets both of these indications. We spoke to Stephen Hurst, CEO of Savant HWP about the company’s strategy, the unique compound that can address two seemingly unrealated indications, and the role priority review vouchers can play in providing drug developers with incentives to pursue indications that might otherwise be ignored.

Improving Drug Development through Better Use of Biomarkers

The use of biomarkers has long held the promise accelerating drug development and producing safer and more targeted drugs to meet the needs of patients. The explosion of genetic, proteomic, and metabolomic data, as well as the emergence of the human microbiome, is rapidly growing the world of biomarkers, but with that comes challenges for researchers and drug developers about knowing what’s available and how well validated these biomarkers may be. We spoke to John Audette, president and co-founder of Amplion, about the company’s database, which seeks to make biomarker information accessible to researchers, the role biomarkers can play in improving the drug development process, and how their increased use can bring about a long anticipated era of precision medicine.

Measuring the Value of Incubators and Accelerators

Incubators and accelerators have been proliferating in California, but little has been done to track their activities and analyze their performance. The California Business Incubation Alliance recently released a study of the performance of incubators and accelerators in California, the contribution they make to the state’s economy, and whether they deliver value to the entrepreneurs that use them. We spoke to Matt Gardner, CEO of the California Technology Council and lead author of the report, about its findings, why gathering data about incubators and accelerators is so challenging, and why the findings include a word of caution to entrepreneurs. As a matter of full disclosure, Matt is a friend, client, and partner and I served as an editor on this report.

Enlisting New and Old Tools to Combat Antibiotic Resistance

The growing problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the evolution of next-generation sequencing technology is giving rise to new approaches to combat what’s become a serious global health threat. Epibiome, which describes itself as a precision microbiome engineering company, is working to develop cocktails of bacteriophages to use in animal and human health. We spoke to Nick Conley, CEO of Epibiome, about the urgent need for new therapeutics, the renewed interest in phages, and Epibiome’s unique approach to address the problem.