10
Apr
2023
In Support of FDA’s Authority to Regulate Medicines
On Friday, April 7, a federal judge with no scientific training fundamentally undermined the bipartisan authority granted by Congress to the Food and Drug Administration to approve and regulate safe, effective medicines for every American. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a decision that overturns the FDA’s 23-year-old approval of mifepristone, the primary medicine used in abortion and miscarriage care, and... Read More
8
Apr
2023
Tech, Pharma, and the Uneven Distribution of the AI-Enabled Future
The worlds of technology and entrepreneurship are captivated by recent advances in generative AI and large language models (LLMs). The arrival of ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI (a startup partnered with Microsoft), caused Google to declare a “Code Red,” akin to “pulling the fire alarm,” the New York Times explained. The latest class of startups at Y Combinator are reportedly flocking... Read More
6
Apr
2023
CRISPR, Vertex Seek FDA Milestone, Canaan Pulls in $850M, & Cutting Out the Middleman
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4
Apr
2023
Translating CRISPR Gene-Editing into a Groundbreaking Cell Therapy
A little more than 10 years have passed since the discovery of CRISPR gene editing. It’s been a whirlwind development for science and medicine. We are now on the cusp of seeing the first medicine based on this powerful technology win approval from regulators in the US and Europe. It’s exagamglogene autotemcel (exa-cel), a cell therapy developed by CRISPR Therapeutics... Read More
2
Apr
2023
New Book Contemplates How Generative AI Will Serve Man
In 1935, Astounding Science — the premier science fiction magazine of the day, and perhaps ever — published “Proxima Centauri.” It was a short story envisioning an encounter between a voyaging earth spacecraft and a ship from a nearby star system. Written by Murray Leinster (William Fitzgerald Jenkins), the tale features the original use of the phrase “first contact” in... Read More
30
Mar
2023
Jan Skvarka, former Trillium CEO, on Driving a Turnaround
Jan Skvarka isn’t a household name in biotech. Maybe he should be. Skvarka was previously the CEO of Trillium Therapeutics, where he led a remarkable turnaround of the Canadian small cap biotech into a leading immune oncology player. Trillium had a market capitalization of $16 million when he started. Over the next two years, he led it to a $2.26... Read More
29
Mar
2023
Timmerman Traverse for Life Science Cares is Back
The next biotech team adventure is here. I’m thrilled to announce the Timmerman Traverse for Life Science Cares 2023. We’re on a mission to raise $1 million. We’re giving it all back to the most vulnerable people in the communities where we live and work. This trip involves shared sacrifice. We will cover 20+ miles and gain 8,000 feet of... Read More
28
Mar
2023
Treating a Common, Underappreciated Disease: Eric Dobmeier on The Long Run
Today’s guest on The Long Run is Eric Dobmeier. Eric is the CEO of Seattle-based Chinook Therapeutics. Chinook is seeking to develop drugs for kidney diseases. About 10 percent of people on Earth are estimated to have some degree of chronic kidney disease. It ranges from mild forms all the way through end-stage renal disease that requires dialysis. America spends... Read More
23
Mar
2023
Welcome to the AI Irruption
Biopharma, like the rest of the world, appears to be on the threshold of profound, technology-induced change. Incredible advances in artificial intelligence, manifested most recently in GPT-4, are here. This technology, Ezra Klein explains in the New York Times, “changes everything.” Bill Gates describes it as “the most important advance in technology since the graphical user interface,” and declares, “the... Read More
22
Mar
2023
Flare Therapeutics Gets $123M to Make Drugs Against Elusive Transcription Factors
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18
Mar
2023
Takeda Oral Tyk2 Inhibitor, Acquired in Nimbus Deal, Raises the Bar on Psoriasis
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16
Mar
2023
Pfizer Acquires Seagen, Sanofi & Novo Cut Insulin Prices, & Illumina’s Proxy Fight
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16
Mar
2023
The Last Mile of Hepatitis C Treatment
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15
Mar
2023
Big Pharma, VCs Bet $105M on Mediar’s Antibodies for Fibrotic Diseases
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14
Mar
2023
The Future of Neuroscience Drug R&D: Ryan Watts on The Long Run
Today’s guest on The Long Run is Ryan Watts. Ryan is the co-founder and CEO of South San Francisco-based Denali Therapeutics. Denali is one of the prominent development-stage biotech companies working on treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. It has a pipeline with seven drug candidates in clinical development. It’s developing small molecules and large molecules against a range of neurodegenerative diseases... Read More
9
Mar
2023
SVB’s Dark Day, Biogen’s Leadership Change, and a Plan to Crush HepC
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7
Mar
2023
Third Rock, Arch, J&J Pump $100M into Rapport to Develop Precision Neuro Drugs
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6
Mar
2023
Remote/Hybrid Work is Here to Stay. Biotech Should Embrace It
There has been much debate about the biotech workplace in the aftermath of pandemic disruptions. Employers and employees are all thinking about how and to what extent companies should enable and support remote-based work. People are discussing the advantages and disadvantages of remote work, especially in terms of the effect on productivity and creativity. This matters in biotech. The goal... Read More
2
Mar
2023
Lilly Cuts Insulin Prices, Reata’s Dramatic FDA Approval, & Seagen M&A Rumors
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28
Feb
2023
A Life in Biotech & the Cell Therapy Wave: David Hallal on The Long Run
Today’s guest on The Long Run is David Hallal. David is the CEO of Waltham, Mass.-based ElevateBio. ElevateBio describes itself as a technology-driven company for cell therapies. It has pulled together gene editing tools, induced pluripotent stem cells, and various viral vectors necessary to modify cells to fight cancer or treat other diseases. David co-founded ElevateBio in 2017 with Mitchell... Read More