What a difference a year makes. When biotechnology execs and investors converged on the Palace Hotel in San Francisco last year for the two-day annual BIO Investor Forum, the biotech sector had just come through a tough third quarter in terms of fundraising, with public and private financings for the industry down 48 percent compared to 2010.
It is that time of year again when we take the pulse of the industry at the close of the third quarter. Overall we find that it is performing well, more so for public biotechs than private ones. Despite the continuing turbulence in the global capital markets investors have had no qualms about backing the biotech sector. The average increase in the stock values of the 231 public biotech companies tracked by the BioWorld Stock Report is up 38 percent year-to-date. The third quarter was particularly hot for biotechs with their collective stock values soaring by an average of over...
Monmouth Junction, N.J.-based Insmed Inc. has priced a $26 million direct public offering of approximately 6.3 million shares of its common stock at a price of $4.07 per share to certain affiliates of Ayer Capital, RA Capital and Quaker Partners.
A good measuring stick for the likely acceptance and use of the two recently FDA-approved obesity drugs Qsymia (phentermine/topiramate) and Belviq (lorcaserin hydrochloride) came at Obesity 2012, the annual Obesity Society conference held in San Antonio recently. Although only Qsymia is on the market, so far the consensus among the delegates at the conference appeared to be generally positive.
There is no shortage of companies targeting the cholesterol-lowering universe with drug candidates and several novel approaches are being tested in the clinic designed to lower the levels of LDL cholesterol in patients. In less than a month the FDA's Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee (EMDAC) will meet over the course of two days to render an opinion on two of these drugs. Both target the same indication – homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH), a rare and generally fatal disease, but each has a different mechanism of action.
Most American consumers are optimistic about the potential benefits from advances in genetic testing, according to a national survey of U.S. adults conducted by UnitedHealth Group and Harris Interactive, the results of which are included in a report published by UnitedHealth Group's Center for Health Reform & Modernization. About three-quarters of survey respondents agree that genetic tests help doctors diagnose preventable conditions and offer more personalized treatment options. Most consumers expect that five years from now the use of testing will have increased.
MacroGenics' DART technology for generating bi‐specific antibodies has attracted a great deal of interest from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. In the past couple of years the company has forged alliances with Boehringer Ingelheim, Green Cross (Korea), Pfizer Inc. and Servier. The latest deal brings Servier back to the table.
Brian Culley, CEO of Adventrx Pharmaceuticals Inc., is a busy man these days. Not only is his company readying itself for an important Phase III trial, but he also is in the midst of organizing the first Sickle Cell Disease Therapeutics Conference that will be held this week, Sept. 19, in New York City.
The growth of antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" is leading to the fear that it is only a matter of time before the world is faced with an infectious disease of pandemic proportions. Despite this situation, research and development for new antibiotics has languished. Indeed, it has been an uncomfortable subject to raise in industry circles but the plain fact is that the emergence of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria are outpacing our ability to bring novel medicines to market.
