12
Mar
2020
COVID-19: Collective Problem-Solving Time
The alarm bells have been ringing for weeks. Stunningly, millions of people in the US weren’t listening, or didn’t want to listen. We have wasted precious time in defending ourselves against the coronavirus pandemic. The horrible news from Italy is slowly starting to sink in for us in the US, and other parts of the world. Sports cancellations, a prime-time...Read More 
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10
Mar
2020
Lessons from Italy: How the US Can Respond to the Urgent Coronavirus Threat
As background: I am Italian-born, and was raised in Italy. My entire family works and lives there, mostly in Milan or nearby areas. I have been communicating with family members about the noval coronavirus for the last month. I have a PhD in Molecular Biology from Geneva, Switzerland, and I have been in biotechnology venture capital since the early 2000s....Read More
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9
Mar
2020
Our Tightly Networked World: Blessing and Curse
Technology has been hailed for its ability to connect us; we’ve tended to view this is a positive development, but as rare, high-impact events like the coronavirus epidemic reminds us, a densely-networked world may also be more fragile. The mixed blessing of interconnectivity was acknowledged back in 2005 by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who observed: “…we are now...Read More
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9
Mar
2020
Living Life Fully with Stage 4 Lung Cancer: Isabella de le Houssaye on The Long Run
Today’s guest on The Long Run is Isabella de la Houssaye. Isabella is a former attorney on Wall Street, a mother of five kids, and a terrific endurance athlete. She’s run marathons around the country, ultramarathons, and even completed an Ironman triathlon. She’s also a Stage 4 lung cancer patient. She owes her life, and her vitality, to some extraordinary...Read More
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5
Mar
2020
COVID-19 Spreads in Seattle, Gilead’s $4.9B Cancer Bet, & Thermo Grabs Qiagen
Everywhere I look — to the North, South, East and West of my home office in Seattle — there are confirmed cases of Covid-19. It’s one thing to read about a distant outbreak and intellectually understand the pandemic math, the morbidity and mortality rates, and responsible steps for containment and mitigation. It’s another thing to live in the middle of...Read More
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3
Mar
2020
AGBT 2020 Recap: Partying Like It’s 1999
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2
Mar
2020
Reconceiving the Value of Curative Therapies
I recently listened to Luke Timmerman’s excellent interview, Facing Up to a Political Crisis: BIO Chair Jeremy Levin on The Long Run. Levin spoke extensively about the existing crisis that the biotechnology industry is facing as a result of the public’s loss of trust in the industry. His solution: companies need to focus on two core principles: innovation and getting...Read More
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27
Feb
2020
Gilead, Moderna Rise to the Occasion, Esperion Goes Back-to-Back, & Sangamo’s Big Neurology Deal
This week’s Frontpoints is a compilation of two weeks of deals, financings, and personnel moves. To synthesize the main events of this eventful stretch, subscribers to Timmerman Report may read on. Coronavirus Thoughts If we learn one big lesson from this public health crisis, it should be that we need to continue to invest in our public agencies dedicated to...Read More
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24
Feb
2020
Facing Up to a Political Crisis: BIO Chairman Jeremy Levin on The Long Run
Today’s guest on The Long Run is Jeremy Levin. Jeremy is the chairman of the board at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. It’s his job to lead on advocating for the biotech industry in Washington DC. This is the most perilous time ever to be the chairman of BIO. Biotech and pharmaceuticals have become Public Enemy No. 1. Public approval ratings...Read More
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24
Feb
2020
Dissecting Biotech’s Living and Walking Dead
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18
Feb
2020
Techlash Offers Health And Tech Opportunity To Reset Relationship, Rediscover Mutual Respect
Technology companies are experiencing a staggering reversal of reputational (though not financial) fortune; their stature seems reduced with each successive news cycle. Gone is the halo many tech companies once enjoyed. The implicit (and often explicit) assumption that tech innovation inevitably makes the world a better place has been replaced by real concerns that the picture may be far more...Read More
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17
Feb
2020
As Scientists, It’s Our Duty to Speak Up as the 2020 Election Nears
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13
Feb
2020
Lilly, Genentech Alzheimer’s Drugs Fail, Revolution’s Big IPO, & an Obesity Drug Disappears
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12
Feb
2020
Automation and Miniaturization Are Upon Us: Gritstone’s Mission to Make Personalized Medicines
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11
Feb
2020
The Cell Therapy Puzzle: Jane Grogan on The Long Run
Today’s guest on The Long Run is Jane Grogan. Jane is the chief scientific officer of South San Francisco-based Arsenal Bio. Like the name suggests, Arsenal is pulling together a stockpile of potent tools of modern biology. As the company describes itself: Arsenal will integrate technologies such as CRISPR-based genome engineering, scaled and high throughput target identification, synthetic biology, and...Read More
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6
Feb
2020
Sanofi’s Intriguing MS Drug, Merck’s Big Spinoff & Coronavirus Fog
Lots of shiny blinking objects are out there to pay attention to, but this was a week when a lot of fundamental hard work got done in biotech. Read about it in Frontpoints. Deal of the Week Merck is spinning off women’s health, biosimilars, and “trusted legacy brands” into a new company. The unnamed NewCo rolls together products expected to...Read More
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6
Feb
2020
CAR-T for Autoimmunity: Bluestone Joins Sonoma Biotherapeutics, a $40M Bet
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5
Feb
2020
First Buy, Then Invest: Novartis, Gilead Join $35M Bet on Vineti’s Software
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30
Jan
2020
Coronavirus Fear Spreads, CVS Feels the Heat & Black Diamond’s Sizzling IPO
Last week, I was dismissive of the coronavirus outbreak stories. The internet was teeming with what struck me as alarmism. I’m still not running for the hills. I’m still rolling my eyes at the speed and volume of misinformation about coronavirus on the web. But more facts have since emerged to make this a more urgent and serious situation. We...Read More
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27
Jan
2020
Scientists at the Movies: Relay Therapeutics CEO Sanjiv Patel on The Long Run
Today’s guest on The Long Run is Sanjiv Patel. Sanjiv is the CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based Relay Therapeutics. Relay is among a new crop of drug discovery companies driven by advances in computational chemistry. What does that mean? As I wrote in Timmerman Report a little over a year ago: “The basic concept is all about starting with high-quality crystallography...Read More
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