The Life Sciences in New York State

Failure is about to become an option in China

I find it quite interesting that Chinese legislators are now beginning to recognize the inherent value in failure. I've had more than one scientist tell me that there is no such thing as "failure" in the scientific method. Every experiment, whether successful or not, is an opportunity to learn something new.


Chinese scientists given freedom to fail

Research, especially within the pharmaceutical industry, is as dependent on failure as it is on success. Far more potential drugs fail than succeed and for each one that is left by the wayside, lessons can be learned to improve the chances of another molecule making it to market.

However, there is currently a great deal of pressure on Chinese scientists to only report successes and the science and technology minister, Wan Gang, is said to have told lawmakers that this is hampering innovation by preventing researchers taking risks.

"It's difficult to make achievements in independent innovation if the scientific research departments and scientists don't tolerate failure," Bai Chunli, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), was quoted as saying.

There have also been several cases where scientists have falsified or stolen results - something academics blame on the highly pressurised research environment.

Pfizer expands VC program

Interesting, and about time they do this...

Pfizer Expands Venture Capital Program

The buildup, which comes as New York-based Pfizer seeks to counter patent expirations and pipeline problems, means start-ups will have greater access to the pharmaceutical company's resources, and venture firms will increasingly be able to look to Pfizer as an investment partner.

Entrepreneurs struggling to raise capital

This is quite consistent with my experience here in New York...

Angels clip wings of entrepreneurs

As the market grows, angels -- especially angel investor groups -- are moving upstream, looking to dole out more money and take fewer risks. Meanwhile venture capital firms anchored by huge funds are increasingly looking to invest larger rounds of cash. Entrepreneurs say that combination has made tapping into angel capital, once fertile ground for early-stage funding, trickier in recent years.

Long Island-based AGI Dermatics raises Series A

AGI Dermatics Raises $5.5 Million in Series A Financing

AGI Dermatics, a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on skin cancer prevention drugs and anti-aging topical skincare products, today announced it has raised $5.5 million in a Series A private equity round.

Venture Capital program in NYC on Nov 4

On November 4th, a day-long session in New York City will be presented, entitled "Gap Analysis and Red-Teaming: How To Improve Your Chances of Getting Funded."

The program will have six speakers and focus on how to improve the chances of getting a venture funded.  Participants will get acquainted with two powerful tools that can significantly improve their chances of successfully getting funded. Gap Analysis will help identify the shortcomings of your vision, business plan and presentation. Red Teaming will show you how to subject your vision, business plan and presentation to a high-value review and come away with a clear idea of the improvements you need to make before your actually get in front of a venture capitalist.

I happen to know the two Principals involved in putting this together, and they are both quite knowledgeable on the complex issues surrounding venture fund raising.

For Registration info, click here.

For an agenda, click here (PDF). Download nov_4th_nyc_flyer.pdf

Las Vegas targeting NJ biotech firms

Interestingly strategy. Rather than growing their biotech industry organically, Nevada is looking to entice companies to move to Nevada. Sure, taxes in Nevada are minimal compared to New Jersey, but how many companies/ entrepreneurs and their families are going to want to make the move? Where is the safety net for failed entrepreneurs? Do they then become blackjack dealers?

Las Vegas Targets States' Biotech Firms

Competition among states for biotech companies with high-paying jobs appears to have reached a new level, with Las Vegas targeting other states _ first California and now New Jersey _ in the high-stakes battle for up-and-coming companies.

Biotech Conference at RPI

October 12th...very interesting agenda and set of speakers,

The Lally School of Management and Technology

Founding and growing a biotechnology venture is no more difficult than developing any other type of entrepreneurial high-technology venture. However, the challenges are different in the life sciences area.

$2 billion and rising

Borderline unreadable summary from a keynote presentation on drug discovery and development costs. Of interest:

1. High Phase II attrition rates implies that Preclinical models of human efficacy are still poor predictors of what should happen in Phase II and III. Technologies, whether in silico, in vivo, or in vitro, that can improve these attrition rates will become increasingly valued.
2. He says that finding targets is easy, but finding leads to hit those targets is difficult. True, but it depends on the aproach. Being excessively focused on hitting the target can lead you away from broader pharmacologic effects. The key in my mind is to bring animal models earlier into development. The challenge, however, is that this increases time and cost. It's a risk some companies may not be willing to take. Conversely, this is a great opportunity for early stage companies focused on discovering new candidates. Now if only the VC industry would take note.
   
3. In the article, he notes that 80 successful drugs will lose patent protection in the next five years. He suggests increasing exclusivity times for drugs, akin to what happens with copyrights. I've generally been against this idea due to the concern that it will increase overall costs. But with so many generics and therapeutics out there, I'm not so sure this is the case. It will dive up drug costs in some therapeutic areas, but not all. And, drug costs will continue to rise anyway. So why not extend exclusivity to, say, 10 years after patent expiry.
   

Drug Costs Nearing $2 Billion

Two of the major points Lilly is focusing on are the rate of attrition in Phase II trials (only one in five drugs passes along to Phase III) and reducing the cost of new medical entities from $1.2 billion to $800 million. “We have targets up the wazoo,” said Paul. “Finding leads, small molecules … that’s another order of magnitude [harder].” Biomarkers will be “useful all across the value chain,” aided by the Biomarker Consortium.

Microdosing start up in the news

I'm a big fan of microdosing. I think this will eventually become routine practice for promising candidates in late Preclinical testing.

Big hopes for small drug tests

Vitalea Science Inc., a three-person startup company in Woodland, is eager to help. The company hopes to capitalize on new FDA rules adopted in January that allow for a drug to be tested in humans at "microdose" levels -- generally a tenth of a milligram or less. Microdose tests are conducted after preliminary tests in rats or dogs, and are seen as a relatively cheap way to catch an unsuccessful drug before it goes into costly full-scale human clinical trials.

How to be Silicon Valley

Interesting essay from Paul Graham. I don't agree with everything he says, but a good read.

How to Be Silicon Valley

What it takes is the right people. If you could get the right ten thousand people to move from Silicon Valley to Buffalo, Buffalo would become Silicon Valley.