13
Oct
2020
An Especially Inspiring Nobel Prize, and a Sign of More Work to Do
A historic moment for women in science Early in the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 7, we heard news that buffered the impact of the chaos and tragedy of this year. For the first time in history, women almost matched men for Nobel Prize awards across all categories. One in particular stood out. Two women shared the award in Chemistry: Dr.... Read More
12
Oct
2020
Looking at Cancer From a Different Angle: Pearl Huang on The Long Run
Today’s guest on The Long Run is Pearl Huang. Pearl is the CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based Cygnal Therapeutics. Cygnal is a startup dedicated to developing cancer drugs based on some fairly new understanding of the Peripheral Nervous System. For years, scientists assumed that the PNS was merely a conduit of the central nervous system. But what if the PNS is... Read More
8
Oct
2020
A Historic Nobel for CRISPR, Pfizer Sticks Up for FDA, & a CDC Legend Speaks
What a time to be alive in biomedicine. Catch up on the main events in Frontpoints. The Babe Ruth of Public Health Speaks Out William Foege is in his mid-80s. There’s a genome sciences building at the University of Washington named after him because Bill Gates gave money to build it, and he wanted it named after a scientific hero.... Read More
7
Oct
2020
Learning From COVID-19: The Lessons For Real World Data
The COVID-19 crisis created an urgent need for healthcare data. For starters, it was necessary to characterize the spread of the pandemic. Quickly, reports were needed on the capacity of healthcare facilities responsible for care of the severely afflicted. Then there was the urgent need to assess the trajectory, and outcomes, of patients admitted to hospitals. The profound difficulty our... Read More
7
Oct
2020
Seeing COVID-19 in Context: Applying Spatial Biology to the Lungs
It’s worth looking back on what is known about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which was first detected in the US in mid-January, when a man traveled from Wuhan, China to Seattle. Nearly 10 months later, a tremendous amount of knowledge has been gathered about the virus, how it is transmitted, and the disease symptoms it causes. We know, for instance, the... Read More
1
Oct
2020
FDA Commissioners Speak Out, An Antibiotic Incentive Proposal and a Drug Price Grilling
Rummaging around in the garage can be about more than just tossing out junk. Going through old files lately, I found a printout from the Carnegie-Knight Task Force in 1997. That was the year I graduated from college and went to work as a local newspaper reporter. The task force, convened by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, was wrestling... Read More
30
Sep
2020
COVID-19 Diagnostic Testing Needs To Be Open, Not Closed
The U.S. already has the real-time PCR infrastructure to run tens of millions of tests per day. Why don’t we use that capacity? Our consumer electronics companies are constantly marketing the newest one-touch, automatic machine. They make it sound so simple, so alluring, so irresistible. Think of our smartphones and watches. That might partly explain the administration’s instant embrace of... Read More
28
Sep
2020
Small Molecules Against RNA Targets: Jennifer Petter on The Long Run
Today’s guest on The Long Run is Jennifer Petter. She is the founder and chief scientific officer of Waltham, Massachusetts-based Arrakis Therapeutics. Jennifer is a medicinal chemist who has spent her career thinking about how to make small molecules with all the classic Lipinski “Rule of 5” characteristics against protein targets. Five years ago, when she was looking for a... Read More
24
Sep
2020
Illumina’s Bet on Early Cancer Detection & ESMO Highlights
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23
Sep
2020
How Lunch with Bill Gates, Sr. Changed My Life
“I’m gonna have the halibut and chips. And a medium vanilla milkshake. What about you, Thong?” I looked up at my towering companion as he peered down at me with a gentle smile. I’m about 5-foot-8, and he was about 6-foot-7. I quickly scanned the menu board, then made my choice. “You know, Mr. Gates, I think I’m going to... Read More
22
Sep
2020
Designing ‘Hyperstable Minibinders’ Against SARS-CoV-2: Q&A With David Baker
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21
Sep
2020
What We Know About COVID-19, and What We Don’t
He or she will have had fever and chills for the past few days, severe fatigue, muscle aches, and cough. They have no interest in food. They will have felt short of breath when doing the mildest of tasks, such as walking upstairs in their house. They might have had some lightheadedness and may say that they feel chest pain... Read More
17
Sep
2020
A Tribute to Bill Sr.
Before diving into a big week in biotech, let’s pause to think about the life of a tremendous human being we can learn from. RIP Bill Gates Sr. died at age 94. He had Alzheimer’s. The father of one of the world’s richest men was a prominent lawyer, and deeply engaged civic-minded figure in my hometown of Seattle. The older... Read More
16
Sep
2020
Graphite Bio Secures $45M Series A To Advance Targeted Gene Editing Therapy
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15
Sep
2020
America, the Engine of Biomedical Discovery, Should Be Trump’s ‘Most Favored Nation’
Imagine if John F. Kennedy had stepped to the podium at Rice University on Sept. 12, 1962 and said: “We choose to go to the moon. We don’t know how to do it, but we’ll pay what seems like a fair price for one rocket — something like what the Soviets are paying their people.” That wouldn’t inspire anyone. It... Read More
14
Sep
2020
Attralus Secures $25M Series A to Diagnose and Treat Amyloidosis
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10
Sep
2020
Industry and Academia Take a Stand for Science
Science is under attack. The FDA and the CDC have seen their credibility tarnished, largely because of the relentless pressure, and lies, of certain political leaders. The pharmaceutical industry, built on a bedrock of science, knows darn well that the whole business will come crumbling down if the world continues indulging in this bottomless cynicism and nihilism that says everything... Read More
9
Sep
2020
Recursion Pulls In $239M for AI Drug Discovery, Bayer Bets on Fibrosis
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8
Sep
2020
Becoming a Biotech VC: Otello Stampacchia on The Long Run
Today’s guest on The Long Run is Otello Stampacchia. He’s the founder and managing director of Omega Funds. Otello started Omega in 2004, and it’s now on Fund VI. Based in Boston, Omega has $1 billion under management, and invests in a wide variety of biotech companies – early stage, later stage, American, European, oncology, immunology, rare disease. There’s a... Read More
3
Sep
2020
FDA and CDC Credibility Tarnished; Pfizer Sprints Ahead With COVID19 Vaccine
Credibility takes years to build. It can crumble in seconds. Repairs can take a lifetime. The FDA and the CDC are two of the American public health agencies that became global models of excellence after World War II. We should remember that, and perhaps the FDA and CDC should plaster it up on their walls as a reminder. Both agencies... Read More