BOSTON – To explain best practice in making cross-border investments, especially those in China, Biopharm America panelists quickly seized upon the metaphor of groping to form a romantic relationship.
BOSTON – During a panel talk at Biopharm America on how collaborations between pharmaceutical firms and venture capital (VC) are changing the industry, New York-based Pfizer Inc.'s Anthony Berry said that "oftentimes we might look to join [as a limited partner (LP)] in a fund that might have a specific niche or opportunity" representing "a complement to what we're doing, not necessarily in direct competition with something we might be doing on our own." Such moves "certainly help us get a firsthand look at those companies from a different perspective than just being shopped around from the outside."
BOSTON – The intersection of gene therapy with rare disease drug development was one topic explored by panelists at Biopharm America, who surveyed new business models, fretted over reimbursement, and took stock of the favorable (so far) regulatory climate.
BOSTON – To explain best practice in making cross-border investments, especially those in China, Biopharm America panelists quickly seized upon the metaphor of groping to form a romantic relationship.
CSL Ltd.'s vaccine business Seqirus expects to roll out real-world findings "in the next few months" that will help show whether and to what degree the cell-based approach to making influenza vaccines is better than the egg-based, said Gordon Naylor, Seqirus' president.
With new approaches coming down the pike and Hemlibra (emicizumab, Roche Holdings AG) due for a potentially wider label in a month or so, Bayer AG's win with longer half-life Jivi (antihemophilic factor [recombinant] pegylated-aucl) makes for an even more competitive hemophilia A space.
Back on track with topsalysin in prostate cancer (PC) after a patient died in the phase IIb trial, Sophiris Bio Inc. is taking aim at a pivotal push to verify encouraging data that have turned up so far. CEO Randall Woods told BioWorld that "most people didn't believe the drug was related to the death of the patient, but unlike in the legal system, where you're innocent until proven guilty, in this case you're guilty until you can prove otherwise."
CSL Ltd.'s vaccine business Seqirus expects to roll out real-world findings "in the next few months" that will help show whether and to what degree the cell-based approach to making influenza vaccines is better than the egg-based, said Gordon Naylor, Seqirus' president.
The long quest for a universal influenza vaccine may soon bear fruit, David Greenberg, associate vice president and regional medical head in North America for Sanofi Pasteur, told BioWorld. "We're moving in the right direction," he said, adding that "it's been tough from a research perspective," though his group – the vaccine division of Paris-based Sanofi SA – has been working internally and with collaborators that include the University of Georgia and others. "Progress is definitely being made toward a vaccine that would provide broader protection. I think it's likely that a candidate vaccine would be going into clinical trials in the next year or two. The testing at least is not a decade away, the way we used to talk about it some years ago."
