Today's Top Stories Also Noted: Spotlight On... Vaccine sales up 16% in 2009 More Fierce Life Sciences News
Today's Top News1. PacBio files for $200 million IPO
Just last month, PacBio closed a $109 million Series F, bringing its total haul to $370 million, and in June landed a PacBio gets $50 million investment from Gen-Probe. In addition to R&D expenses, PacBio will boost its sales and marketing in advance of commercial launch, increase its manufacturing operations, and for general corporate purposes. PacBio added in its filing that it may be in the market to acquire complementary technology or businesses that would boost its own operations, but that no acquisitions were planned at this time. In the short term, PacBio will focus its technology on clinical, basic and agricultural research. It hopes to expand into molecular diagnostics, drug discovery and development, food safety, forensics, biosecurity and bio-fuels. "We believe that our SMRT platform represents a new paradigm in biological science...that has the potential to significantly impact a number of areas critical to humankind, including the diagnosis and treatment of disease as well as efforts to improve the world's food and energy supply," the company boasts in its SEC filing. - find PacBio's SEC filing Related Articles: Read more about: Pacific Biosciences, Biotech IPO
2. The virtual model works for biotech, Big Pharma
The virtual model of drug development features a core management group that coordinates R&D activities, which are largely outsourced to other parties. The benefits include less overhead and faster clinical progress. But when the idea first surfaced in the 1990s, venture capital funding was plentiful and biotech wasn't under as much pressure to keep its operations lean and mean. Funding has become less readily available in the last few years. Biotechs that were once encouraged to build fully-integrated companies are now doing what they can to keep costs down and make their dollars last as long as possible. That's led to wider adoption of the virtual model. And biotechs aren't facing those development pressures alone; Big Pharma is trying to get a handle on the ever-rising cost of developing new drugs. That's led companies like Eli Lilly to take a closer look at biotech's stripped-down model as a tool to cut their research budgets. Lilly founded its Chorus division in 2002. The group, which includes 22 employees, moved deprioritized compounds from the preclinical through proof-of-concept trials. Of the 19 compounds the group has handled in the last five years, Seeking Alpha notes that nine of them have reached the proof-of-concept stage. Chorus has moved these drugs through development 1.5 years faster than industry average at just 10 percent of the cost. For Big Pharma and small biotechs alike, keeping fixed costs down while quickly moving potential drugs through development is one of the biggest challenges. And according to Seeking Alpha, that means the virtual model is here to stay. - check out the Seeking Alpha story Related Articles: Read more about: Virtual model, Eli Lilly, Chorus 3. Former Solvay CEO moves to Selecta
Former Solvay CEO Werner Cautreels has taken the reins at Selecta Biosciences, a Watertown, MA-based developer of synthetic nanoparticle vaccines and immunotherapies. Cautreels was CEO at Solvay when the company was acquired by Abbott Labs for $6.6 billion earlier this year. Selecta is using self-assembled nanoparticles that can better resemble a virus, a process scientists believe can trigger a more potent immune response. The company announced earlier this year that it raised about $15 million--enough cash to see the company into 2012 and obtain proof-of-concept data on a lead program. "I envision Selecta's technology to unlock novel treatment approaches in high unmet medical need areas beginning with our synthetic vaccine product candidates using the tSVP nanoparticle technology and potentially expanding into other immunotherapies developed as proprietary compounds and in collaboration with partners," Cautreels explains in a statement. Selecta also announced that it has garnered a $3 million grant from the NIH's National Institute of Drug Abuse to develop a nicotine vaccine for cigarette addiction, according to Xconomy. - see Selecta's release Related Articles: Read more about: Selecta Biosciences 4. ARYx stays afloat with $6.3M bridge loan
Fremont, CA-based ARYx Therapeutics has secured a $6.3 million loan from several existing investors. The first loan gives the company up to $4 million, while an amended agreement with Lighthouse Capital Partners allows approximately $2.3 million of required payments to Lighthouse to be deferred and extended as a new loan commitment to ARYx. The company says that the proceeds from the financing should allow it to perate through the end of 2010. Back in February, ARYx saw licensing discussions for its antiarrythmia drug budiodarone collapse. That caused the developer to cut its staff to a bare minimum. It also brought in Cowen and Company to explore strategic options. The developer hopes that the loan will give it time to execute a transaction for the drug. "The securing of this bridge financing is significant to ARYx since it now gives us the time to complete a strategic transaction that, if finalized, could realize real value from our product portfolio. The participation of our existing investors in the bridge loan financing follows their conducting significant due diligence on the company and our progress to date towards a potential transaction. Therefore, we believe this financing is a vote of confidence by important current investors," says ARYx CEO Paul Goddard in a statement. - here's Aryx's release Related Articles: Read more about: Aryx Therapeutics 5. ISCT works with industry to launch cell therapy partnership
Biotech firms Roche, Genzyme, Athersys, Miltenyi Biotec, Hospira, Lonza and Life Technologies are joining the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) to launch a series of initiatives to create greater strategic alignment within the industry and drive late stage clinical development. Established in 1992, ISCT works to foster international translational research; inform national and global regulatory framework development and harmonization; drive commercialization strategies; and educate principal investigators, lab directors, technologists, regulators and commercial stakeholders, according to the society's website. The society's industry task force, which includes these biotechs, has unveiled a series of recommendations to re-charter the ISCT Commercialization Committee to drive the creation of forums for discussion of shared concerns on process and product development, business models, and clinical development, and to catalyze the development of consensus standards. "Working in partnership to develop standards around cell characterization and potency as well as treatment approaches and trial endpoint design we aim to facilitate entry into the cell therapy space for large healthcare and pharmaceutical companies, those members of the industry most reliably able to initiate and maintain advanced phase clinical trials. Ultimately, this will expedite the maturation of the field and bring cell therapy treatments to patients faster," says Ed Horwitz, president of ISCT, in a statement. - check out ISCT's release Related Article: Read more about: translational research Also NotedSPOTLIGHT ON... Vaccine sales up 16% in 2009 Vaccine sales hit $22.1 billion in 2009, up a healthy 16 percent from 2008. And forecasts predict that sales will continue to rise annually at a rate of 9.7 percent for the next five years. Wider adoption of currently available vaccines and the introduction of new products could push annual sales as high as $35 billion by 2015. Report
> Novartis AG CEO Joe Jimenez left open the possibility the Swiss drugmaker may raise its $9.8 billion offer to buy out eye-care company Alcon's minority shareholders. Report > The Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) today became the first product development partnership to contribute intellectual property to the Pool for Open Innovation against Neglected Tropical Diseases. MMV joins GlaxoSmithKline, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in contributing to the Pool, which is administered by BIO Ventures for Global Health. MMV release > Chongqing Lummy Pharmaceutical and Jiangsu Lianhuan Pharmaceutical led gains among Chinese drugmakers in Shanghai and Shenzhen trading after a news website reported the companies make medicines that can combat a drug-resistant bacteria. Article > Morphotek, a subsidiary of Eisai, announced today that the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, California has opened enrollment in a Phase I clinical study with MORAb-028 in patients with advanced melanoma. Morphotek release > KemPharm announced today that it has received a Notice of Issuance from the USPTO for its patent application titled "Polar Hydrophilic Prodrugs of Amphetamine and Other Stimulants and Processes for Making and Using the Same," U.S. Patent No. 7,772,222. KemPharm release And Finally... When the North Carolina Biotechnology Center awarded Thrombotargets a loan to further its research on ways to stop bleeding, the company was riding high on promising news from regulators and touting its lead candidate as a potential blockbuster. Today, there is no sign of progress on the company's bleeding treatment. In fact, there's very few signs of the company at all: Phones at Thrombotargets' Durham offices go unanswered, and the company has cut communication with its scientific advisers. Story
> FDA faces outcry with Avastin breast-cancer choice. News > Genzyme, Sanofi negotiations remain in low gear. Story > Alcon minorities may get higher Novartis bid. Article > Will new PhRMA chief turn right? Article > Aspen nabs Sigma's drug biz for $804M. News
> Database breaches remain healthcare vulnerability. Report > Lit search used to personalize cancer cures. Story > Segregating trial data may ease EMR concerns. News
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