BIO CEO Company Snapshot: ImmunoGen, Inc.

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In the latest Company Snapshot for the 2012 BIO CEO & Investor Conference in New York City, we’re profiling ImmunoGen, Inc. which will be presenting at the event.

We spoke with ImmunoGen, Inc. CEO Daniel Junius and he outlined his organization’s priorities and challenges as well as how his company differentiates themselves from the competition.

Company Snapshot

What are the short-term and long-term priorities for your company?
Our highest priority today is building and advancing our pipeline of wholly owned product candidates. At this time, ImmunoGen is better known for our contribution to Roche’s T-DM1 (trastuzumab emtansine) than for our development of novel anticancer agents. A key priority for us over the longer term is the successful transition from being an early stage, research-focused company to one that also has strong later-stage capabilities.

How does your company go about differentiating yourselves from the competition?
We’re in the fortunate position of being in a field – antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) – that has limited competition today. Virtually all of the ADC compounds now in the clinic are made with either our technology or that of one other company, and there are far more ADC compounds with published clinical data using our technology than any other. As more large players enter the field, our challenge is to maintain our technological lead. We do this by continuing to invest in our technology, developing additional linkers and cell-killing agents to further expand the breadth of cancers that can be treated using our technology. For example, we’ve developed a linker that has been shown in preclinical testing to counteract the multi-drug resistance that many cancers develop.

What is the most challenging part of raising money and seeking collaborations?
The nature of our technology has enabled us to implement a balanced business model: use our technology with our own antibodies to develop ImmunoGen product candidates and out-license it for other companies to use with their antibodies to help fund our product programs. This approach has helped us keep a strong balance sheet, which is a powerful asset both at those times when we do raise money and when negotiating with potential partners.

Tell us something about your company that investors might not know.
While ImmunoGen is known for our Targeted Antibody Payload (TAP) technology – which our partners use with their antibodies – we also have strong antibody capabilities of our own. One implication of this is that we can create product candidates for targets that are highly challenging, enhancing product differentiation. Another is that we are able to go beyond the traditional approach of developing and advancing an antibody based just on its properties (e.g., binding affinity, avidity) to identifying and advancing the antibody that is best for use with our technology.

BIO CEO Company Snapshot: NuPathe Inc.

Posted under BD, BIO CEO, Blog, Business and Investments, business development, CNS disease, Companies, company snapshots, Diagnostics, Emerging Companies, Events, Funding, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, neuroscience, One-on-One's, Parkinson's, Partnering, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, underserved populations, Universities, Videos, What would George do? by biotechnow@bio.org (Biotechnology Industry Organization)

The Company Snapshots have returned for our next One-on-One Partnering event, the BIO CEO & Investor Conference, taking place in New York City this February.  The companies that will be profiled in these snapshots will all be presenting at the event, and we hope this provides the opportunity to learn more about them, and catch up on what’s new.

For our first Snapshot for the BIO CEO event, we’ve spoken with NuPathe Inc. about their priorities, challenges, and what you can expect from their company.

Company Snapshot

What are the short-term and long-term priorities for your company?

We develop innovative neuroscience treatments for the millions of people who suffer from neurologic diseases and disorders, far too many of whom are underserved by current treatments.  Our short-term focus is to gain FDA approval for and successfully launch our migraine patch product candidate, which has been clinically tested for the treatment of debilitating headache pain and migraine-related nausea.  Looking ahead, we plan to develop and commercialize valuable neurologic treatments across a range of therapeutic areas.

How does your company go about differentiating yourselves from the competition?

If approved by FDA, our migraine patch will be a perfect foundation product for our company because it would address the need for a better non-oral treatment for migraine patients.  We intend to use this foundation to help us advance our earlier stage pipeline product candidates for Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and to use our underlying technologies to build our current pipeline beyond current preclinical and clinical programs.

What is the most challenging part of raising money and seeking collaborations?

Clearly the challenges in accessing growth capital can negatively impact the pipeline of innovative therapies from both small and large pharmaceutical companies.  We believe these challenges offer an opportunity to simplify our approach to deliver tailored therapeutic solutions to underserved patient populations.  As an emerging company, this environment demands smart innovation – developing treatments and collaborations that not only improve on existing drugs or technologies but do so in a manner that truly meets a patient need.

Tell us something about your company that investors might not know.

Our earlier-stage pipeline includes two promising product candidates for global patient populations that utilize our LAD or long-acting delivery technology, a biodegradable implant that is injected subcutaneously to deliver the desired medication over a period of three to six months.  NP201, is being developed for the continuous symptomatic treatment of Parkinson’s disease with the delivery of ropinirole, a leading FDA-approved dopamine agonist, and is designed to potentially provide up to two months of continuous delivery.  NP202, being developed for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, is designed to address patient noncompliance, a long-standing problem in the treatment of these conditions, by potentially providing three to six months of continuous delivery of an atypical antipsychotic.

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Thanks to NuPathe for participating in the Company Snapshots, and don’t forget to catch their presentation at the event!  All presentation times will be posted on our 2012 Presenting Company list, and you can also find them in the One-on-One Partnering System.