WASHINGTON – A finance panel Tuesday afternoon on the evolution of the venture capital model in biotech turned briefly toward the rise of corporate venturing, a trend that has helped keep money flowing into private firms even in the economic downturn, though traditional VCs warn that those investments might come with a different set of strings attached.
WASHINGTON – As the financing track kicked off with its first BIO2011 session in a crowded room at the Walter E. Washington conference center, the focus was on how to access National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants and other funding sources to get early stage research across the so-called Valley of Death.
WASHINGTON – For drug development firms trying to save money or playing catch-up in a highly competitive field, it might seem a good idea to skimp on Phase II testing by enrolling fewer patients, conducting only one midstage study or even leapfrogging straight to Phase III and hoping that the efficacy signal observed in Phase I wasn't just a fluke.
WASHINGTON – Amid the usual sessions on finance, business development and biomarkers, a fledgling emerging leaders workshop met Monday at BIO 2011 International Convention to discuss commercialization, an activity that has become a bigger focus for biotech, as the industry matures and as policy makers put increasing pressure on reimbursement and differentiation.
On a call with investors earlier this month, Aegerion Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s CEO, Marc Beer, said the firm was "in filing mode now," with plans to submit a new drug application for lomitapide in homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) by the end of this year.
Reverse mergers, which had dropped in status as the initial public offering (IPO) window creaked open for biotechs in the past year, look to be making a comeback, if the recent spate of deals is any indication. The latest deal has private firm Allozyne Inc. merging with struggling public biotech Poniard Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a stock-for-stock transaction.
The challenge in treating cancer has been delivering cell-killing agents to tumors while sparing normal tissue, and Cyterix Pharmaceuticals Inc., an April 2010 start-up, is moving toward the clinic with a new targeted approach by taking advantage of extra-hepatic cytochrome P450.
The injectable aesthetics market has a new player following the FDA's late Tuesday approval of laViv (azficel-T) from Exton, Pa.-based Fibrocell Science Inc., but don't expect the autologous cell therapy to go head-to-head – or face-to-face – with the market-leading injectable Botox (onabotulinumtoxin A).
German firm Biotest AG is getting $85 million up front in an autoimmune disease deal, with new partner Abbott hoping that the mechanism for midstage candidate BT-061 will be enough to differentiate it in crowded markets such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriasis.
Proving that big pharma firms aren't the only ones interested in the orphan disease space, venture investors are getting behind 2010 start-up Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. to the tune of $45 million.
