The Life Sciences in New York State

Massive gift for Cornell

A significant chunk of this will go to Ithaca. Great!!

Unprecedented $450 million gift

The largest portion of the gifts to Weill Cornell is $250 million from Joan and Sanford I. Weill, chairman of WCMC's Board of Overseers. Of that amount, $25 million will fund the Ithaca-based Joan and Sanford I. Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology and its interdisciplinary research collaborations between WCMC and Cornell in Ithaca. The Weills also are giving an additional $50 million to help fund the Life Sciences Technology Building, currently under construction on the Ithaca campus. In recognition of their generosity, the building will be named Weill Hall. Taken together, the $300 million from the Weills is the largest gift Cornell University has ever received.

More biotech partnerships expected

This has certainly been the case over the past 4-5 years. But with patents expiring and late-stage pipelines being what they are, the trend should continue.

More biotech partnerships expected

"We expect this trend to continue, as big pharma and established biotechs seek to add new technology platforms and supplement their clinical pipelines,"

The most recent announcement coming out of Merck supports this.

PowerPoint + Bad Slides = Comedy

Quite possibly the funniest PowerPoint presentation you'll ever see.

Hat tip to Adam Rubenstein for posting this on his blog.

Generic biosimilars about to be approved in the EU

It's only a matter of time before we see these in the US...

EU experts recommend biosimilar anaemia drugs

The arrival of biosimilars marks a watershed for the biotechnology industry, which until now has almost never faced generic competition for its products, even after patents expire. Their entry is being fiercely resisted by some biotech firms. With prices expected to be 25 to 40 percent below those of original brands, biosimilar drugs could save governments billions of euros a year, according to European Generic Medicines Association.

NYBA opens office in Albany

Good. We need NYBA to have more of a local presence, in my view. An office in Albany will strengthen ties with both the local biotech community and state government. I'd like to see NYBA take it a step further and establish an office in the Western part of the state.

New York Biotechnology Association Opens Capital Area Office at University at Albany Center for Functional Genomics

New York Biotechnology Association Opens Capital Area Office

PE in Biotech: If it were only this simple

Nice idea, but it's challenging to find the right opportunity for this model. Once you start risk-adjusting developmental projects, the value that you obtain for them may not provide much cash in order to service the debt in the short term.

Where I do see opportunities to execute LBOs in biotech are with CROs and other service companies who have a blend of service revenue and a pipeline with substantial upside. If you sell the pipeline, the cash can be used to build the service side by acquiring low-cost infrastructure in India, Asia, Russia, and Eastern Europe. Once the new assets are in place, cash flow will increase in order to service the debt over the long term.

Private-equity firms not making splash in biotech

Seasoned biotech companies should be prime candidates for private-equity firms, which could strip out less profitable projects and sell them to drug giants or through initial public offerings.