The Life Sciences in New York State

More Mistakes

In November, I posted excerpts from an article I wrote describing the Top 5 Mistakes Made by Entrepreneurs. That article will be published very soon. In the meantime, I've started working on mistakes 6-10. If any one has any suggestions, send them my way. If it's original and makes sense to me, I'll add it and give you credit.

Hooray! It doesn't work!

AVANT Announces Preliminary Results of Its Phase IIb Study of TP10 in Women Undergoing Cardiac Surgery; AVANT Sets Path Forward for TP10 in Males-Only Indication

AVANT Immunotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAN) today announced that TP10, its lead complement inhibitor, did not meet the primary endpoint in a double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase IIb study in female subjects undergoing high risk cardiac surgery utilizing cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), thus confirming the results for female subjects in a previous TP10 trial.

Seeking book recommendation

Last year, I read Three Billion New Capitalists, an excellent treatment of the opportunities and challenges we're facing in a global environment. I recently started reading The World is Flat, which I think is an excellent primer on these issues.

So, I think Flat is the primer, and Three Billion is the in-depth analysis of the drivers of these challenges and opportunities. What I need is a book that looks forward and addresses how businesses (especially small businesses) can exploit these trends. It's very easy to say "outsource the grunt work to India," but actually executing is an entirely different matter. How does one select a vendor or partner? What are the risks, legal and otherwise? What are the implications, organizationally? Financially? Are there alternatives, such as the JetBlue "home sourcing" model described in Flat? What about other countries, e.g., Australia? What about Canada?

I don't think a book can answer these questions. Indeed, I don't think one should try. However, I think a good book that describes a framework to help business owners analyze these issues could be quite useful and valuable. 

Any suggestions?

Tough to compete with this...

Is India the future of pharma?

“From a US point of view, Indian chemists are seen as 30 per cent better educated and work nearly 50 per cent longer weeks for 20 times less,” said Tempest.

And with the world's fourth largest reservoir of scientific manpower and 150,000 MSc Chemistry graduates per year, India is filling a gaping hole being left in the EU and US, where graduates are abandoning science for more lucrative careers in business.

Taking offshoring a step further

Banks send investment banking offshore - Feb. 22, 2006

Some experts expect that as banks become more comfortable with their offshore operations and foreign talent becomes more attuned to the companies' way of doing business, financial institutions may even shift some deal-making responsibility onto its foreign employees.

Help Wanted

I have an idea for a web-based business. It's a combination of ideas stemming from businesses such as www.istockphoto.com, www.ebay.com, www.indeed.com, www.amazon.com, and a few others. If you're reading this and are interested in getting in on the ground floor, email me with your qualifications and references.


Technorati Tags: entrepreneurship, Internet

Resume? What resume?

I've blogged about this before, that is, setting up web sites with rich content instead of a boring resume. Resumes re-imagined! I quote, with a hat tip to Seth Godin:

This is my not-so-subtle attempt to get the best advertising gig out there. You probably get thousands of boring resumes and cover letters every year... but it takes passion + know-how (and a free weekend) to do a website.

I graduate college in May 2006 with a Marketing degree, sixteen awards for my work + three years of real-world experience, including managing my own regional marketing plan. I'm ready to something remarkable with you. Read the testimonials from people I've worked with (and even lived with) over to the right. Then take a look at my accomplishments. While you're at it, how about a sneak peak at the resume?

Thought of the week

"Do something every day that scares you."

This quote is supposedly from Eleanor Roosevelt.

It's interesting how so many of us pause when the situation becomes scary, uncomfortable...when the sense of "I'm in over my head" or a lack of confidence begins to manifest itself. Or, when we are so comfortable that change is abhorrent.

One of the lessons I've learned from intereacting with entrepreneurs is that this is a normal feeling. If you want comfort, get a secure job...if there are any left. 

Too many of us want to maintain the status quo, even when innumerable forces are changing the status quo before our very eyes. Tom Friedman's The World is Flat starts off with that very point...that he was "distracted" by other global events while the world was flattening right before his eyes.

Maybe you can be comfortable, but then how can you be remarkable and interesting and revolutionary and entrepreneurial?

Can you be comfortable and entrepreneurial? I'm not so sure...

Matchmaking

Something I don't quite understand yet...

A company is going to implant tissue derived from embryonic stem cells. Even under best conditions, that tissue will be foreign to the host, just like a kidney or liver transplant. So,

a) How much immunosuppression would be needed? A little? A lot?

b) What kinds of immunosuppressants would be used? Cyclosporin? Tacrolimus? Others?

c) Has anyone explored whether immunosuppressants are toxic to the implants? Some immunosuppressants used in kidney transplants are nephrotoxic. This may be a kidney-specific issue, but I think it's a question worth asking.

d) Would you just accept the fact that the tissue will be rejected, and re-transplant later?

Comments welcome...

Companies & Industry

Reliance Life Sciences (RLS), the pioneer of embryonic stem cell research in the country, is likely to launch its first stem cell-based therapies for neuro-degenerated diseases, including Parkinson’s and ocular diseases and spinal cord injury soon. Considering the successful completion of the pre-clinical and clinical studies with due regulatory approval in another six months to one year period, these novel therapies are likely to be launched in the country by the end of next year, sources from the company said.

Cool stuff

Small Times

With CardioMEMS' sensor, however, a doctor merely has to move a handheld antenna over the patient's abdomen to determine whether there is any pressure on the sensor, which has been implanted into the aneurysm sac during the same procedure in which the stent was placed in the body.