Industry news

Best to take broad view early with focus on mutual wins

Randy Osborne / BioWorld

In moving a startup along, "I don't think [valuation] is where you start," Sentien Biotherapeutics Inc. CEO Brian Miller told attendees of Biopharm America. "I think you have to almost end there." In establishing valuation anyway, he said, "there's mostly fiction, and a little bit of fact, and usually the facts are underpinned by fiction. At the end of the day, this is going to be a negotiation," and the CEO's persuasive power will play a major role.

U.S.: UN report on health care access stems from a ‘biased mandate’

Mari Serebrov / BioWorld

The U.S. isn’t likely to buy into several recommendations in a new report by the UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines that narrowly focuses on patents as the barrier to access to drugs and devices across the world.

DM panel sees land grab due as industry growing wise

Randy Osborne / BioWorld

In digital medicine (DM), “you’ll see insane acquisitions at extreme prices for those [biopharma] companies who believe it’s a threat,” predicted Christine Lemke, co-founder and president of Evidation Health Inc., during the opening panel of an all-day DM exploration at Biopharm America. “For those companies who believe it’s a toy, they will dabble in small things. They’ll think that software is fungible and we can still do things the old way, and they won’t transform themselves. It will be interesting to see who’s right or wrong.”

Reverse mergers take on 2016, as IPOs ready for 2017 comeback

Stacy Lawrence / Fierce Biotech

Biotech reverse mergers are becoming more acceptable and are more commonplace this year. But startups are already ramping up for IPOs during the first half of 2017 in the hopes of taking advantage of an anticipated easing of market sentiment and volatility after the conclusion of the U.S. presidential election.

Are pharma marketers using fear-mongering ads to scare people into asking for drugs?

Beth Snyder Bulik / FiercePharmaMarketing

Fear sells--and pharma marketers have been accused lately of overusing that tactic.In February, cardio docs piled on in a CardioBrief article to criticize Novartis. And last week, Advertising Age pointed to Big Pharma's “terror tactics."

Pharma's digital contact with docs now surpasses sales rep visits: Survey

Beth Snyder Bulik / FiercePharmaMarketing

When one door closes, another email opens? That seems to be the case in pharma marketing, where indirect attempts to reach physicians have overtaken in-person meetings with sales reps.

FDA warns China facility over 'persistent' contamination

Eric Palmer / Fierce Pharma

Drugmakers looking to bring back hydrogen to deliver drugs over longer periods

Joseph Keenan / Fierce Biotech

Drugmakers like Teva ($TEVA) are looking to bring back hydrogen as a possible delivery mechanism for drugs as the heavier element could slow the breakdown of compounds in the body and allow the patients to take medications on a less frequent basis.

Combination Products Challenge Regulators and Manufacturers

Jill Wechsler / BioPharm International

Combination products are high on everyone’s radar screen, as seen in continuing discussion about appropriate testing and regulation of self-injectors, such as EpiPen, and emerging cellular and gene therapies. Manufacturers complain of delays in decisions by FDA’s Office of Combination Products (OCP) about which FDA center should take the lead in evaluating a new combo

The Next Frontier for Cancer Immunotherapy Trials

Fierce Biotech

With its measurable impact on patient survival, there’s no denying that immunotherapy is already causing momentum in ways that cancer is treated. Drug researchers and developers are identifying new candidates in their growing pipelines and exploring combinations of immunotherapies, while regulatory agencies are providing expedited review and approval of these therapies for new indications at an unprecedented rate.