Lars Rebien Sørensen – The 25 most influential people in biopharma today

Posted under Blog, China, Companies, Diabetes, Diagnostics, Funding, insulin, Lars Rebien Sørensen, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Novo Nordisk, obesity, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Universities, Videos by Suzanne Elvidge

Making moves in China

Lars Rebien Sørensen
President and CEO
Novo Nordisk AS

Lars Rebien Sørensen, president and CEO of Novo Nordisk ($NVO) since 2000, joined the company in 1982 in marketing, and so genuinely knows the company from bottom to top. He is at the helm of a company that is weathering the financial storms rather well, and with its focus on metabolic disorders in a world where diabetes is increasing, both in the developed and the developing worlds, Novo Nordisk looks set to continue comfortably under his leadership, and be a role model for the industry.

China is exciting for the biopharma industry--long seen just as a place for low-cost manufacturing, it is increasingly emerging as a biopharma market. This is driven by the improving incomes and quality of life increasing access to (and desire for) healthcare. However, this rising income is a double-edged sword--as people embrace a more Western-style lifestyle they also take on the Western-style diseases of obesity, diabetes, lipid disorders and cancer. China also has a huge aging population, with all the associated diseases of old age.

Sørensen is grasping this opportunity, not by the established route of buying up domestic Chinese generics companies but by creating a brand-new R&D center in China to develop innovative drugs for the local and international market and so contributing to the local community. Something else that Novo Nordisk is doing that should be an example to the industry is educating local physicians directly and through the Chinese government and Chinese academic institutions. Diabetes is also climbing in Qatar and Novo Nordisk is part of an educational partnership there.

Under Sørensen, Novo Nordisk has changed its approach to people with diabetes (and their physicians)--rather than encouraging people to switch, it's aiming to catch people as soon as they are diagnosed. It might only seem like a small change, but it could drive the company toward a much larger bite of the market, because once people get established on a form of insulin, they tend to be loyal. Also in diabetes, Novo Nordisk is using a "me-slightly-better" rather than a "me-too" approach to insulin development in an already crowded market. These are approaches that could work across the industry, and not just in diabetes--why develop a "me-too" when you could make something that's actually better?

Since Sørensen joined Novo Nordisk, he has been a distinctive voice in the access to medicines debate. Under him, the company has maintained its ethical stance while still making a profit, and this is a strand that runs through many of its projects, including the investment of $100 million to create the World Diabetes Foundation, and the commitment to provide insulin at 20% of its standard price to people in the developing world.

Health for Sorensen isn't just a market, it's a personal commitment--he is a keen cyclist and was one of a group of CEOs at Davos who introduced the Workplace Wellness Alliance to promote health and fitness to employees. Workplace health programs, as well as being socially responsible, also have an ROI of $4 per $1 spent-a pragmatic move that deserves to move out across the industry, both for the sake of the employees and for the bottom line.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw – The 25 most influential people in biopharma today

Posted under Biocon, Blog, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, india, insulin, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Universities, Videos, Women in Biotech by John Carroll

Perfecting the hybrid R&D model

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Chairman and founder
Biocon

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is a powerhouse in India. While many life sciences businesses in the subcontinent have struggled to develop a winning formula, she was out striking a rich development deal on biosimilar insulin products with Pfizer. And starting out with nothing, she's forged a drug development arm that could well prove that the country's acknowledged scientific skills can translate into a thriving development industry.

Oddly enough, Mazumdar-Shaw started off in the beer business, learning a considerable amount about enzyme activity that would later bring her fortune with an industrial enzymes manufacturing business. But her most recent breakthroughs have been built on a deep understanding of the ways in which India can play a big role in the multinational pharma game.

"I really believe this is an interesting hybrid model for drug innovation," Mazumdar-Shaw recently told FierceBiotech, taking the "low-cost base in India and marrying it with the discovery skills in the U.S. and seeing if you can reduce the cost and time for drug development. We do what we do best in India and they do what they do best in the U.S."

With a 20% annual growth rate, Mazumdar-Shaw has proven that the subcontinent can create a go-go life sciences outfit with broad international connections. Her vitality has inspired a whole generation of Indians, men and women, meaning that there is tremendous potential to be tapped. The success of the industry and Mazumdar-Shaw are closely entwined.

Third Rock provides $34M bankroll for an obesity/diabetes startup

Posted under Biotech Venture Capital, Blog, Companies, Diabetes, Diagnostics, Ember Therapeutics, Funding, insulin, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, obesity, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Third Rock Ventures, Universities, Videos by John Carroll

Boston-based Third Rock Ventures has committed a $34 million chunk of its funds to a biotech upstart that promises to take some new insights into brown fat and insulin sensitivity and turn them into new treatments for diabetes and obesity. Initially helmed by Third Rock partner Lou Tartaglia, Ph.D., who pieced the deal together, Ember Therapeutics will get started with a small virtual crew challenged to point the newly launched developer toward the clinic with enough cash to see if their theories can deliver some solid proof-of-concept data.

In many ways a classic Third Rock startup, Ember is being built on a scientific foundation provided by a trio of top scientists: Bruce Spiegelman, Ph.D., from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Patrick Griffin, Ph.D., chairman of the department of molecular therapeutics at The Scripps Research Institute in Florida and C. Ronald Kahn, M.D., professor of medicine, Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School.

"We're well financed to move things along for a number of years," Tartaglia tells FierceBiotech, "moving into the clinic and looking to partner with pharma for later-stage development." Tartaglia adds that he's already hired a pair of key employees as Ember builds up to a virtual staff of six.

As FierceBiotech reported last October, when Third Rock was pondering whether to go ahead with a big first round, Spiegelman and Griffins garnered significant attention in scientific circles last fall when they unveiled new research they believe pinpoint the reasons why Avandia and Actos sometimes cause weight gain, the erosion of bone density and water retention among diabetics. While the drugs activate PPAR-gamma, making cells more sensitive to insulin and improving blood sugar, the scientists confirmed just weeks ago that when PPAR-gamma undergoes a process called phosphorylation by the kinase Cdk5, it disrupts various genes. Their new compound, SR1664, tested in mice, provided preclinical confirmation of the science behind a new drug program that blocks the Cdk5 enzyme, eliminating the side effects.

Obesity and diabetes are both rampant in the United States and indeed around the world, but recent attempts to gain approvals for new weight drugs have experienced some stiff headwinds at the FDA, where marginal weight loss data and prospective safety issues have kept regulators leery of new treatments intended for long-term use in a mass audience. But Tartaglia believes that the brown fat approach is "completely different from classic appetite suppressants."

By avoiding pathways in the central nervous system, Tartaglia believes that Ember has the potential to avoid many of the safety issues associated with obesity drugs by focusing on a natural mechanism for burning fat.

"Having said that," he adds, "I hope that appetite suppressants are approved and wish them well if they turn out safe." They would, after all, make great additions to a potential combination therapy with Ember's treatments. "We're certainly looking for game-changing weight loss, greater than 10%."

- here's the press release

Related Articles:
Third Rock seeds a new approach to treating diabetes and obesity
Third Rock gathers $426M for new biotech investments
Third Rock raising $400M venture fund for biotech "game-changers"

Biocon chief vows near-term pact on oral insulin

Posted under Biocon, Blog, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, insulin, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Universities, Videos by John Carroll

The high-profile CEO of India's Biocon says that she's closing in on a big-name pharma partner for the company's oral insulin program.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw told Reuters that "we are in advanced discussions with potential partners" and expects to have a deal by the end of the first quarter of 2012. Mazumdar-Shaw believes that the oral insulin program remains one of Biocon's most promising potential blockbusters, despite a late-stage failure for IN-105 in Type 2 diabetes patients earlier this year.

Biocon, India's biggest biotech, is developing biosimilars with Pfizer and has captured 10% of the subcontinent's insulin market.

- here's the story from Reuters