2007

Biotechnology in Turkey

December 13, 2007

My recent presentation at the “Biotechnology for Turkey” conference has been posted online. My central thesis was that the challenges faced by Turkey (and most any other location) are shared by many states within the United States. I’ve heard too many people opine for the seemingly easy start-up environment in the United States. The reality [...]

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FDA Enforcement Trends: 2007-2008

December 10, 2007

Guest content from John Avellanet, managing director of Cerulean Associates: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) intends to increase regulatory enforcement, extending the recent trend of laboratory and clinical site inspections to unapproved drugs and reformulations. How can you avoid compliance trouble? At the Food and Drug Law Institute’s 5th Annual Enforcement and Litigation [...]

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Drug Patent Expirations in December 2007

December 3, 2007

Courtesy of DrugPatentWatch.com: Drug Patent Expirations in December 2007*Drugs may be covered by multiple patents Tradename Applicant Generic Name Patent Number Patent Expiration DOVONEX Leo Pharm calcipotriene 4,866,048 DEC 29,2007 FASLODEX Astrazeneca fulvestrant 4,659,516 DEC 11,2007 KYTRIL Roche granisetron hydrochloride 4,886,808 DEC 20,2007 KYTRIL Roche granisetron hydrochloride 4,886,808 DEC 29,2007 MERIDIA Abbott sibutramine hydrochloride 4,746,680 [...]

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Venture Capital Returns

November 30, 2007

At a recent event was recently asked about investment outcomes for venture capitalists. I didn’t have any recent data, so I said that VCs generally expect that 1/3 of their investments will see great returns, 1/3 will see modest or no returns, and 1/3 will not be profitable. VC Fred Wilson as Union Square Ventures [...]

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Call for Papers: Biotechnology Marketing

November 29, 2007

Journal of Commercial Biotechnology – Special Issue on Product Innovation Management and Marketing Focus of the Special Issue Biotechnology companies are product innovation firms, yet they face a collection of challenges which make it inappropriate to simply apply existing innovation management thinking. For instance, at present relatively few biotechnology firms generate earned income from sales. [...]

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Career Development in Biotechnology

November 16, 2007

I’ll be giving a talk on “Career Development in Biotechnology” next week in the AstraZeneca seminar series at the University of Toronto. More details are available at the MBiotech website.

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Rethink PCR

November 6, 2007

Bio-Rad’s got an interesting website up: RethinkPCR. The company’s name isn’t posted on the front page, but is readily available in the contest terms and conditions and privacy policy. It’s an interesting strategy to acquire consumer intelligence. Of course, consumers don’t always ask for what they want — they tend to ask for incremental improvements [...]

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Drug Patent Expirations in November 2007

November 1, 2007

Courtesy of DrugPatentWatch.com: Drug Patent Expirations in November 2007*Drugs may be covered by more than one patent Tradename Applicant Generic Name Patent Number Patent Expiration ANDRODERM Watson Labs testosterone 4,849,224 NOV 12,2007 ANDRODERM Watson Labs testosterone 4,983,395 NOV 12,2007 AVITA Mylan Bertek tretinoin 4,971,800 NOV 20,2007 COMTAN Orion entacapone 4,963,590 NOV 27,2007 ELOCON Schering mometasone [...]

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Happy 25th, Humulin

October 29, 2007

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the FDA’s approval of the first drug produced by biotechnology, Genentech’s Humulin. I often use Humulin as a case study for biotechnology, because Genentech’s bacterial-fermentation approach to making insulin was revolutionary compared to the previous methods of harvesting insulin from pig pancreas. Thanks for OpenMarket for reminding me of [...]

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Exubera: The road to hell is paved with good intentions

October 25, 2007

I’ve been waiting to write up the Exubera story for the next edition of Building Biotechnology, and the story just keeps getting better. Exubera is was Pfizer’s innovative answer to the diabetes drug market. The market is so saturated with competitive products, that the only way to capture significant market share is to innovate. Either [...]

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