SAN FRANCISCO – Let's make a deal! At the Allicense 2015 meeting that convenes tomorrow the present and future environment for dealmaking will be explored. Key business professionals will discuss the best practices for uncovering, negotiating and maximizing the right partnership opportunities to drive business growth. In addition, insight into the latest trends in dealmaking and the sought-after technologies that are driving those alliances will be presented.
"Bubbleology" theorists were out in force last week after biotech hit a few bumps in the road. The industry's stumble left analysts and investors alike wondering if the predicted major correction for the sector was about to start and put an end to biotech's excellent five-year bull run.
Not unexpectedly the FDA gave the green light to Kythera Biopharma Inc.'s fat reduction drug Kybella (deoxycholic acid), as a treatment for adults with moderate-to-severe fat below the chin, known as submental fat.
It was a mixed start for the year for Biogen Inc. While making good progress on the pipeline, according to CEO George Scangos the firm's commercial results were not as strong as execs would have hoped.
The general markets have not exactly been on a roll since the beginning of the year, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average recording just a 1.6 percent gain and the Nasdaq Composite index posting a 5.7 percent jump in value. Despite that lukewarm performance, it hasn't put a damper on the red hot biotech sector, which continues its steady upward climb.
With researchers and company executives flocking to Philadelphia for the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting this week, there is no doubt that immuno-oncology will be high on the list of hot topics all delegates will be focusing on during the event. Not surprisingly, it is also attracting the attention of major pharma companies who are lining up to access the innovative technologies being developed by biotech companies in that space.
As the curtain closed on the first quarter of the year, the report card performance numbers weren’t pretty, as ongoing energy price ebbs and flows coupled with mixed domestic economic data kept the general markets on edge. As a result, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat for the quarter and down 1.2 percent for the month of March.
According to the National Cancer Institute, more than 21,000 Americans are diagnosed with multiple myeloma and 10,710 die from the disease annually. It is the second most common hematologic cancer after non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, accounting for approximately 1 percent of all cancers in the U.S. Several new therapies have received FDA approval recently and they appear to work well in combination with existing treatments.
Despite prevailing financial market turbulence during the first quarter of 2015, it did not impede the ability of biotechs to raise capital. The period was characterized by a tsunami of cash flooding into their coffers. Both global public and private companies benefited from investors' seemingly insatiable appetite for their offerings.
Coming off a banner year for venture capital deals, the first quarter report card dispelled any notions that investor "fatigue" might set in. In fact, private companies set a torrid pace, raising more than $2 billion, double the amount generated in the same period last year.
