27
Mar
2021
Digital Health: From Pharma To…Fitness?
Astute TR readers might have noticed that I’ve been writing a lot about digital fitness lately, in contrast to digital pharma. This is deliberate, and represents an evolution of my thinking. I was first drawn to digital health over a decade ago, in the context of a translational medicine training program for medical scientists that I developed with Dr. Denny... Read More
25
Mar
2021
Can Digital Fitness Extend Beyond Hardy Base To Reach Those Who May Benefit Most?
Whether you are an “exercist,” who relentlessly talks up the benefits of regular exercise to anyone who will listen, or instead are like the vast majority of people and conscientiously avoid exercise, you will find something appealing in the recently published Exercised, by Harvard anthropologist Daniel Lieberman. Those who assiduously avoid unnecessary exertion – pretty much the definition of exercise... Read More
25
Mar
2021
A Glimpse Into a Price-Controlled Future
Imagine if H.R. 3 — the drug price-control bill that has significant support in the House of Representatives — were to become law. What would it look like if some of the bill’s provisions, like indexing US prices to 120 percent of prices in Europe, were enacted? How would entrepreneurs adapt? What types of drug discovery programs might be prioritized,... Read More
25
Mar
2021
Eliem Therapeutics Debuts with $80M to Tackle Chronic Pain, Depression
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24
Mar
2021
Crossing the Blood-Brain Barrier: Interview With Denali’s Ryan Watts
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22
Mar
2021
AZ Tells Us Its Vaccine is OK. Rebuilding Trust Will Take a While
Credibility can be lost in a heartbeat. It can take years to rebuild. That maxim kept running through the back of my mind when reading the press release on the AstraZeneca Phase III clinical trial conducted with 32,449 participants in the US, Peru and Chile, in partnership with the NIH’s COVID-19 Prevention Network. The top line was encouraging — 79... Read More
20
Mar
2021
Enticing Some With Social Cues, Others With Health, Exercise Rewards Body And Mind
I recently discussed the rise of digital fitness, and specifically how companies like Peloton are succeeding by delivering an engaging experience. The new crop of digital fitness companies have figured out how to make health-promoting activities that are intrinsically tedious – like riding a stationary bike – into something compelling and sustaining. A New York Times writer, Amanda Hess, captures... Read More
18
Mar
2021
Burnout Risk Is High. People Need a Break
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16
Mar
2021
AZ’s Vaccine Mess, Rubius Infiltrates Solid Tumors, & Insitro’s $400M Haul
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16
Mar
2021
Why Digital Fitness Companies Like Peloton and Tonal Are Exciting For Healthcare
A truism in healthcare is that a medicine only works if it’s taken. Unfortunately, many people don’t take the medicines they are prescribed. Adherence rates for many drugs – especially for preventive medicines like statins – tends to be remarkably low, as I’ve discussed in the New York Times. About half of patients who start taking statins to reduce their... Read More
15
Mar
2021
Software for the Cell & Gene Therapy Wave: Vineti’s Amy DuRoss on The Long Run
Today’s guest on The Long Run is Amy DuRoss. Amy is the co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Vineti. The company provides software to manage the delicate logistical dance for cell and gene therapies. Vineti has raised about $115 million in three venture rounds of financing. Its backers include Cardinal Health, the big medical distributor, as well as traditional venture... Read More
14
Mar
2021
One Vaccine Dose or Two? We Need Our Best Defenses Against the Variants
When there aren’t enough doses of vaccine to go around against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and you’re trying to protect as many people as possible as fast as possible, what’s the right thing to do? Does it make sense to take the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and give them as single shots, in order to stretch out our existing supplies and... Read More
11
Mar
2021
Novavax Shines, VIR Antibody Stays in the Game, and CDC Lightens Up
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10
Mar
2021
Once Vaccinated, What To Do With Masks?
Contributing editor: Chris Beyrer, MD Once I’m fully vaccinated, should I still wear a mask? This is probably the biggest public health policy question facing us today. It’s an issue each one of us will have to ask ourselves as the U.S. mass vaccination campaign continues to roll out, especially when many people around us aren’t yet fully vaccinated. ... Read More
9
Mar
2021
The Rise in Asian American Hate Crimes: A Biopharma Perspective and Call For Action
I have been a biopharma executive for 30 years. For the last 12 years, I’ve been living with Young-Onset Parkinson’s Disease. I have been an Asian American even longer…all my life. The biopharma industry has been very good to me, offering constant growth and opportunity for advancement and reinvention. My most recent job was in patient engagement. It suited me... Read More
8
Mar
2021
Signs of Life: Merck-Ridgeback COVID-19 Antiviral and Sanofi Universal Flu Vaccine
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more. Subscribe Now Sign in to your account.
8
Mar
2021
Science Policy Chat: Join Rep. Auchincloss and Me on Clubhouse Mar. 10
Science is poised for a comeback in the public mind. Most can agree that science, after years of getting beaten up, is leading us out of the crisis. It’s a source of national competitive advantage. This creates an opportunity to double down on investments, to test new ways of working, to shake some things up that need shaking. Mark your... Read More
4
Mar
2021
Mental Health: A New Frontier for Biotech
Mental health problems were mounting heading into this pandemic. Now, the challenges are bigger and coming in waves. There’s the grief. Think about all the family and friends of the more than 520,000 people who have died. There’s anxiety about getting infected. There’s depression, and loneliness, that stems from social distancing. Addictions to alcohol and drugs are on the rise... Read More
4
Mar
2021
What Pharma Data Scientists Can Learn from SpaceX, Health System Barriers, & the FDA
Three quick data science items: 1) How pharma companies could engage more constructively with data scientists. 2) How health system barriers to data sharing inhibit robust evaluation of the underlying science. 3) The savvy way the FDA is thinking about data science. Learning From SpaceX On Wednesday, Elon Musk’s SpaceX landed a prototype spacecraft vertically on the ground — a... Read More
3
Mar
2021
J&J Vaccine: One Dose Delivers Strong Immune Response and Protection
The mRNA vaccines from Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna have understandably dominated the news, but this past week was Johnson & Johnson’s turn in the spotlight with another important contribution to the COVID-19 vaccination effort. The FDA’s vaccine advisory committee recommended, and the FDA authorized the vaccine, based on results from the 44,000-person Operation Warp Speed–sponsored ENSEMBLE clinical trial evaluating... Read More