Three new rules for biopharma collaborations

Posted under Anna Protopapas, Avila Therapeutics, Big Pharma, Blog, Celgene, Center for Therapeutic Innovation, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Jose-Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos, M&A, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, partnerships, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Universities, Videos by Ryan McBride

Last week I moderated a panel called "The New Rules of Partnerships and Collaborations" at the Convergence East conference on Cape Cod, and the experience gave me a chance to probe some of the biopharma industry's top dealmakers about their preferences and prejudices going into talks with other companies. I've decided to write down three key observations or "rules" that emerged during the panel and other notes from the Convergence meeting.

1. Competition is heating up for compelling clinical-stage assets--and not just those in Phase III trials. Take Biogen Idec's ($BIIB) recent buyout of Stromedix for its Phase II-ready antibody STX-100 for combating fibrosis. Apparently, Pfizer ($PFE) was interested in buying the asset, Jose-Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos, senior vice president of biotherapeutics R&D at the drug giant, revealed during the panel. Gutierrez-Ramos and Steven Holtzman, Biogen's chief dealmaker (who obviously won the Stromedix deal), traded some jabs about why Biogen prevailed. The bottom line: Stromedix had options. 

2. Which partners are most coveted among biotechs? At least in oncology, Celgene ($CELG) appears to be winning over collaborators. In one off-the-record conversation, two heads of business development told me that biotechs are warming up to the flexibility and creativity of the Summit, NJ-based drugmaker in deals. Celgene has been quite active with the recent buyout of Avila Therapeutics, partnership deal with Epizyme and ongoing tie-up with Agios Pharmaceuticals. Yet I wonder whether sharp biotech dealmakers in Cambridge, MA, are getting the best of Celgene at the negotiating table.

For instance, one of my panelists, Anna Protopapas, executive vice president of global business development at Takeda Pharmaceutical, didn't think that her company would have bought Avila Therapeutics under the terms that Celgene did early this year. Protopapas noted that the key asset in the deal, Avila's Phase I Btk inhibitor, is a third-in-class compound, and first-in-class cancer drugs have an edge because of the difficulty that later drugs in the same class face in besting them. Did Celgene--which shelled out $350 million upfront and promised up to $575 million more in milestones--overpay for Avila?

3. Big Pharma can be your friend. Sure, we know about the monumental problems large drugmakers face from expiring patents on key drugs and assaults on their old business models. And, yes, drugmakers are entertaining all kinds of diverse deal structures with biotech companies to soften the blow. Yet every week or so we learn of another strategy drugmakers are using to efficiently develop products. Pfizer's Gutierrez-Ramos shared one with me (though it wasn't covered during the panel). He's now looking for biotech partners that are interested in taking over development of drugs from Pfizer's pipeline. He's offering the compounds for free and willing to share in the success of the programs down the line.

Of course, Pfizer's strategy here builds on the Center for Therapeutic Innovation, which the drug giant expanded last year through several collaborations with academic groups, which work with CTI on translational research. Like CTI, externalizing clinical development of Pfizer compounds at biotech companies, including venture-backed startups, lets the drug giant tap expertise that doesn't reside under its own roof.

"I think the misperception is that," outside of large buyouts and tiny deals, "Pfizer is not a great partner to work with because, due to the big acquisitions, we are product-driven [and] that the perception out there is that we just want products," Gutierrez-Ramos said. "And what we have been trying to re-prove over the last two years is that the new Pfizer is not like that." -- Ryan McBride (Email | Twitter)

New study confirms worst fears about Merck’s HIV vaccine

Posted under Biologics, Blog, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, HIV, HIV/AIDS, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Merck, NIH, Pharmaceuticals, R&D, Startups, Universities, Videos by John Carroll

Five years ago Merck ($MRK) investigators stunned everyone working in the AIDS research field with the news that they were abruptly halting a study of a prospective HIV vaccine after the data began to make clear that it wasn't only failing to guard against the virus, but appeared to increase the risk of becoming infected. Now researchers have followed up to confirm that the worst case scenario was true.

The sudden about-face on the vaccine forced investigators as well as the NIH to do some serious rethinking about the R&D work being done on HIV vaccines. Not knowing exactly what went wrong, another big trial was scrapped on a similar vaccine. And as The New York Times reports today, further work has been carried out in slow motion, delivering at best mixed results.

The new study tracked the health of 1,836 men enrolled in the Merck trial for a further two years. Almost 10% later became infected, with uncircumcised men and men with high levels of antibodies for the Type 5 adenovirus most at risk. As the vaccine was constructed using a weakened adenovirus 5, scientists speculate that may have boosted the presence of CD4 cells in the blood, creating the kind of "target-rich" environment that HIV thrives on.

But that's conjecture. Investigators still aren't certain what went wrong, only concluding that the result had to be biologic. As a cautionary tale, the Merck trial will continue to serve as a reality check for everyone in the field.

- here's the story from The New York Times

Related Articles:
Study: Further insight into Merck HIV vax infection increase
HIV vaccines: When is a failure actually a success?

Mohr Davidow’s Siegel tapped to run $6B GE health tech initiative

Posted under affymetrix, Blog, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, GE, healthymagination, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Mohr Davidow Ventures, personalized medicine, Pharmaceuticals, R&D, Startups, Sue Siegel, Universities, Videos by John Carroll

Mohr Davidow Ventures' Sue Siegel, the former president of Affymetrix ($AFFX), is leaving the venture group to take the reins at GE's $6 billion healthymagination project. An expert in tech platforms and molecular diagnostics, Siegel brings considerable experience in the personalized medicine field to the task. Mohr Davidow, Kleiner Perkins and other VC groups have been working with GE to identify new technologies that can cut healthcare costs by 2015. Release

Monday Items for #BIO2012 Business Forum

Posted under 2012 BIO International Convention, 2012 Business Forum, BIO Business Forum, Blog, Business and Investments, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, how-to's & tutorials, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, One-on-One's, Partnering, Pharmaceuticals, profile, scheduling, Startups, Universities, Videos, webinar, What would George do? by biotechnow@bio.org (Biotechnology Industry Organization)

Happy Monday Everyone! We thought we would do a quick post on some important items concerning the BIO Business Forum and One-on-One Partnering.

• The Profile Publication Deadline is May 22nd.

Why is this important? For one, if you have not published your profile, companies just have a harder time finding you. Make it easy for them. Fill out your keywords; provide as much detail in the assets/products/services categories as possible; Publish and Save! Second, publishing by May 22nd ensures that your profile will be included in the flash drives to be distributed at the event.

Don’t know how to publish your profile? Watch the video (under 1 minute).

• Scheduling will begin the week of May 28th.

Stay tuned for our post on how this process works. But for now, what this means for you is you should send your meeting requests, and accept the meetings you want to attend. Why? Because once the scheduler starts, people’s calendars will fill up FAST.

• Partnering Town Hall Meeting is coming!

This webinar will be Tuesday, May 22nd from 11:30 am – 12:30 pm EDT. We’re going to be taking your questions, on everything and anything you want to know.

• Status Update: We’re officially over the 18,000 mark of meeting requests in the system. As of today, there are 2,340 companies in the system, ahead of where we were this time last year, and close to 2,000 meetings already in the queue to be scheduled.

That’s it for this Monday. If there’s anything specific you’d like to learn more about, or feel would just be a good post, let us know. Happy Partnering!