What’s the difference between Congress and a Rube Goldberg contraption? They both use convoluted processes to accomplish a simple task, but the Goldberg invention still manages to keep the end result pretty simple. And while there may be some unintended consequences with both, they’re not unexpected with the absurd processes of a Goldberg machine. One look shows you what kind of mess you’re going to have if the cracker misses its mark, the parrot misses its perch, the seeds miss the bucket, the cigar lighter misses the fuse . . . Not so with Congress. By the time all 435...

Aug. 5 was International Forgiveness Day, and the founding organization of this annual effort, Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance (WFA), says in its mission statement that a goal is to promote and publicize the research findings that show forgiveness creates better health, abundance, greater optimism and lessens depression, stress, illness and disease. It also deems forgiveness as the greatest healer of all, able to impart more lasting, happy, supportive relationships. Well, that statement’s certainly applicable in biopharma – particularly in M&A transactions, inasmuch as the pardon-begets-profit model can be observed whenever a hostile takeover finally closes and the executive of a formerly...

If the big pharmas are indeed dinosaurs, they have learned to do what their predecessors could not: survive! Pharma may be prehistoric in terms of age compared to biotech, but it maneuvers more like a velociraptor than lumbering brontosaurus, as it commonly consumes everything in its path that can impend, contest or abet its dominance. Likely, 100 years from now, pharma will still be standing and bio-who? will be so assimilated into the DNA of pharma that its individuality is what will be extinct. Increasingly, pharma is obliging all of us to disregard the biotech industry as a standalone entity...

A hunter walks into a bar and says, “Did you hear the one about the FDA?” “You mean the time it shot itself in the foot?” the bartender responds. “The left foot or the right foot?” another hunter asks, wiping the beer froth from his mouth. “What difference does that make?” the first hunter asks. “I want to know if it’s the one I’ve heard before. Or if this is a new one.” The first rule of thumb for hunters is to know what they’re doing. Otherwise, they might shoot themselves in the foot – or worse. The second is...

DUBLIN ‑ Europe's biggest scientific carnival is pitching its tent beside the River Liffey this week. Dublin is playing host to the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) 2012 meeting and, thereby, assumes the mantle of Europe's City of Science for the year. Conceived as Europe's answer to the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, ESOF has become an increasingly visible element in Europe's efforts to foster a shared scientific identity. Although different European countries have vastly differing scientific heritages, their scientific futures are converging, thanks to an increasing level of recognition, both in Brussels and across...

There is no doubt that 2011 was a hot financing year for biotech and it was always going to be a tough act to follow. Well the industry followed the script to the letter. According to a BioWorld Insight analysis, the amount of capital generated by private and public biotech companies slowed dramatically in the first half of 2012, with $7.9 billion raised, down 40 percent from the same period in 2011. We found that it was a particularly tough second quarter with biotech companies collectively raising $2.76 billion, 46.4 percent less than the $5.15 billion raised in the first...

With the 2012 BIO International Convention behind us and the Fourth of July signaling summer vacation season in earnest, thoughts turn to visions of sun, sand and afternoons lounging in a deck chair. Again this year, BioWorld polled biotech execs, industry analysts and our own staff to construct a diverse list of titles for your reading pleasure. Whether your tastes run to historical intrigue or the classics, professional development or science fiction, you’ll find something of interest on our sixth annual list. Fiction: 16th Century England to 20th Century Los Angeles Diego Miralles, head of Janssen West Coast Research Center...

The FTC seems to have come down with a bad case of star envy. Not content with its supporting role as implementer of laws duly passed by Congress, the agency is intent on rewriting the script, casting itself as headliner hero, executive producer, star-making director and congratulatory movie critic. (Bring up music intro.) In its colorized remake of the budget-busting melodrama How Government Functions, the FTC plays the white-hatted good guy come to cut down the gang of biopharma villains while the local sheriff (Congress) sits idly by, his pockets stuffed with Big Pharma bribes. The action climaxes as the...

For BIO 2011, BioWorld published a list of overused BioCliches to shun, and I was pleased to observe that attendees and speakers must’ve taken notice and avoided using them at BIO 2012 this year. However, since the urge to use buzzwords will never die, we should at least regenerate the list every now and then before the catchwords become so stale they wind up in the dictionary and your parents are using them. Since we made a weekend beeline from BIO 2012 to return to all corners of the globe, I offer some new words to kick off the bio-summer...

Day One: The wait is over! I leap off the bus and race the other lively stepping attendees to the registration corridor, exchanging pleasantries with everyone I pass. My first-day euphoria high carries me though five sessions, over three miles into the evening, where I meet with equally giddy colleagues to network, wine and dine on my boss’s dime! One of my kids calls me in the middle of dinner, but I manage to resist the Super Dad habit to answer . . . “I’m in a free zone force field, unreachable to handle family stuff!” She must’ve forgotten that...