12 Jan

Kaleido Bio and Cirius Join an IPO Queue Stalled by Federal Shutdown

The partial government shutdown may have diminished staffing at the SEC, but it hasn’t dimmed the hopes of biotech firms hoping to go public. On Friday, Kaleido Biosciences and Cirius Therapeutics both filed paperwork for their respective initial public offerings with the securities regulator.

While it’s operating with “very limited staff” due to the shutdown, the SEC’s electronic system for regulatory filings is still up and running. Kaleido and Cirius join a handful of biotechs that have filed for IPOs since the shutdown started last month.

Kaleido, a microbiome drugs developer, set a preliminary $100 million target for its IPO. The… Read more »

UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS

          

          

            

12 Jan

It Starts with One-Partnering Meeting Leads to Unique Public-Private Partnership

Roy Zwahlen took a long shot when he requested a meeting with an investment firm at the 2017 BIO International Convention in San Diego. As Assistant Dean for Innovation and Strategy at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and the Eshelman Institute for Innovation, Zwahlen was in search of a partnership that could help bring the University’s science to the marketplace. He was aware of the firm’s  interest in unique partnerships with leading academic research institutions and discovered, to his delight, the firm  was participating in BIO One-on-One Partnering™.

BIO One-on-One Partnering facilitates upwards of 45,000 one-on-one meetings among 7,000 partnering delegates during the four days of the Convention. It has an intuitive interface that allows participants to search company and investor profiles to identify the right prospects and begin a direct dialogue with potential partners. The impressive database includes biopharma and medical technology companies, in-licensors, investors, and others across the life sciences. The program will automatically add scheduled meetings to Outlook calendars and retains meeting histories across multiple conferences.

So Zwahlen took his shot. “I didn’t actually think it would be a good place to connect with them. I presumed the VCs get a lot of requests at these meetings and have limited capacity to field meeting requests.  However, I was pleasantly surprised that they were available and interested in meeting.

Zwahlen was strategic in his use of the partnering system. He sent his meeting requests early on (participants can sign up as early as February!) and he made sure his pitch to the firm aligned with what they were interested in.“UNC was looking for unique public-private partnership models that could both increase our chances of taking research from the bench to the bedside and accelerate the process. When we learned that the investment firm was exploring unique partnerships with leading research institutions and that they were in the BIO partnering system, we hoped BIO would be the perfect place to begin discussions about a potential partnership and we were pleasantly surprised.”

The rest, as they say, is history. In October of last year, UNC-Chapel Hill and the investment firm announced a $65 million commitment promising new drug research at UNC-Chapel Hill across a wide range of therapeutic areas through the creation of a company called Pinnacle Hill. Profits from successful projects will be shared by the firm  and UNC-Chapel Hill.

Preparation, planning and research were the keys to Zwahlen’s success. Getting started early allowed him to evaluate the partnering database and meet those with mutual interests. BIO provides guidance for using the partnering system with webinars like this every year and a team is available to answer questions anytime.

As Zwahlen noted, “The Convention was really the critical starting point for the relationship. The process took several phone calls, several onsite visits by the investment firm to evaluate our science, a process of learning how the other partner works and how best to streamline our efforts…”

UNC-Chapel Hill  can attest to the BIO 2019 theme-It Starts with One. A promising partnership “started with one” meeting and blossomed into a solid collaboration.

11 Jan

GeneCentric Promotes Michael Milburn to CEO & President

Four months after joining GeneCentric as chief scientific officer, Michael Milburn has been promoted to CEO and president of the Durham, NC, company. He succeeds founder, CEO, and president Myla Lai-Goldman, who is taking on the newly created role of executive chairperson of the board of directors. GeneCentric develops tests that match a cancer drug to an individual patient.

UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS

          

          

            

11 Jan

Research Headlines – Award-winning innovations to propel fusion power

[Source: Research & Innovation] Researchers from Germany and the United Kingdom have been recognised for cutting-edge innovations that could help make fusion power a commercial reality – a highly stress-resistant metal and robots with mini yet mighty laser heads.

11 Jan

It Starts with One-Partnering Meeting Leads to Unique Public-Private Partnership

Roy Zwahlen took a long shot when he requested a meeting with an investment firm at the 2017 BIO International Convention in San Diego. As Assistant Dean for Innovation and Strategy at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and the Eshelman Institute for Innovation, Zwahlen was in search of a partnership that could help bring the University’s science to the marketplace. He was aware of the firm’s  interest in unique partnerships with leading academic research institutions and discovered, to his delight, the firm  was participating in BIO One-on-One Partnering™.

BIO One-on-One Partnering facilitates upwards of 45,000 one-on-one meetings among 7,000 partnering delegates during the four days of the Convention. It has an intuitive interface that allows participants to search company and investor profiles to identify the right prospects and begin a direct dialogue with potential partners. The impressive database includes biopharma and medical technology companies, in-licensors, investors, and others across the life sciences. The program will automatically add scheduled meetings to Outlook calendars and retains meeting histories across multiple conferences.

So Zwahlen took his shot. “I didn’t actually think it would be a good place to connect with them. I presumed the VCs get a lot of requests at these meetings and have limited capacity to field meeting requests.  However, I was pleasantly surprised that they were available and interested in meeting.

Zwahlen was strategic in his use of the partnering system. He sent his meeting requests early on (participants can sign up as early as February!) and he made sure his pitch to the firm aligned with what they were interested in.“UNC was looking for unique public-private partnership models that could both increase our chances of taking research from the bench to the bedside and accelerate the process. When we learned that the investment firm was exploring unique partnerships with leading research institutions and that they were in the BIO partnering system, we hoped BIO would be the perfect place to begin discussions about a potential partnership and we were pleasantly surprised.”

The rest, as they say, is history. In October of last year, UNC-Chapel Hill and the investment firm announced a $65 million commitment promising new drug research at UNC-Chapel Hill across a wide range of therapeutic areas through the creation of a company called Pinnacle Hill. Profits from successful projects will be shared by the firm  and UNC-Chapel Hill.

Preparation, planning and research were the keys to Zwahlen’s success. Getting started early allowed him to evaluate the partnering database and meet those with mutual interests. BIO provides guidance for using the partnering system with webinars like this every year and a team is available to answer questions anytime.

As Zwahlen noted, “The Convention was really the critical starting point for the relationship. The process took several phone calls, several onsite visits by the investment firm to evaluate our science, a process of learning how the other partner works and how best to streamline our efforts…”

UNC-Chapel Hill  can attest to the BIO 2019 theme-It Starts with One. A promising partnership “started with one” meeting and blossomed into a solid collaboration.

11 Jan

Former Roche Exec Pearl Huang Joins Cygnal Therapeutics as CEO

Cygnal Therapeutics has appointed Pearl Huang to serve as its CEO. Huang most recently worked at Roche, where she was senior vice president and global head of therapeutic modalities. Her experience also includes executive roles at GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK), Merck (NYSE: MRK), and BeiGene (NASDAQ: BGNE). Cambridge, MA-based Cygnal developed within the labs of venture capital firm Flagship Pioneering over the past two years. The startup is researching “exoneural biology,” developing drugs that target nervous system mechanisms and pathways that play a role in cancer, inflammation, and autoimmune disease.

UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS

          

          

            

11 Jan

Inventor Unlocks Method to Turn Plant Sugars Into Environmentally-Friendly Fuel

For years, scientists and researchers have been working to extract sugar molecules in plant life, known as cellulose. However, until now, it has proven to be nearly impossible to extract these sugars in a clean and efficient manner because they are locked tightly in a plant’s cellular walls.

As CBS profiled on 60 Minutes, Marshall Medoff, an 81-year-old inventor in Massachusetts, has uncovered the secret to accessing plant cellulose and transforming the inedible plant life into environmentally-friendly fuel and other applications.

By reversing the way large electron accelerator machines typically operate, Medoff has been able to break biomass apart and convert plant sugars into environmentally-friendly ethanol, gasoline and jet fuel. According to an independent study, Medoff’s ethanol actually emits 77 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than regular corn ethanol.

The technology could be a gamechanger because the fuel could be put into existing gas station pumps easily, requiring very little change in consumer behavior. A driver would simply walk up to the pump and be able to put this environmentally-friendly fuel in his or her vehicle.

The reason plant cellulose is such an alluring option as an energy resource is because it is the most abundant biological material on earth.

“Cellulose is everywhere,” said Medoff in the interview with CBS 60 Minutes. “I mean, there’s just so much cellulose in the world and nobody had managed to use any of it.”

Medoff’s technology is also being used to create healthier sugar and plastics that can be programmed to disintegrate within a specific timeframe.

This is just one of many examples of how industrial biotechnology is enabling the production of a variety of biofuels, bioplastics and other bio-based products, and helping make our lives and environment cleaner, safer and healthier.

10 Jan

Uncertainty Grows for Biotech as Government, FDA Shutdown Drags On

The partial government shutdown could soon become the longest shutdown in history, and biotech firms that have submitted regulatory filings are facing greater uncertainty about their future plans. More than 40 percent of FDA workers and thousands at the SEC are furloughed, and FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is resorting to Twitter to post updates about how his agency is using its fast-dwindling funds. Here’s a roundup of how the partial government shutdown is affecting the FDA.

On Tuesday, Gottlieb wrote that the agency is shifting user fees away from pre-market drug reviews to post-market safety surveillance. These fees, paid by companies,… Read more »

UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS

          

          

            

10 Jan

Call restricted to Member States for projects aiming to increase law enforcement cooperation to address migrant smuggling

[Source: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ageing/innovation/index_en.htm] Identifier: ISFP-2018-AG-SMUGGPillar: Organised crime and human traffickingOpening Date: Deadline: Tue, 28 May 2019 17:00:00 (Brussels local time)Modification Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2019Latest information: The submission session is now available for: ISFP-2018-AG-SMUGG(ISFP-AG)

10 Jan

Inventor Unlocks Method to Turn Plant Sugars Into Environmentally-Friendly Fuel

For years, scientists and researchers have been working to extract sugar molecules in plant life, known as cellulose. However, until now, it has proven to be nearly impossible to extract these sugars in a clean and efficient manner because they are locked tightly in a plant’s cellular walls.

As CBS profiled on 60 Minutes, Marshall Medoff, an 81-year-old inventor in Massachusetts, has uncovered the secret to accessing plant cellulose and transforming the inedible plant life into environmentally-friendly fuel and other applications.

By reversing the way large electron accelerator machines typically operate, Medoff has been able to break biomass apart and convert plant sugars into environmentally-friendly ethanol, gasoline and jet fuel. According to an independent study, Medoff’s ethanol actually emits 77 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than regular corn ethanol.

The technology could be a gamechanger because the fuel could be put into existing gas station pumps easily, requiring very little change in consumer behavior. A driver would simply walk up to the pump and be able to put this environmentally-friendly fuel in his or her vehicle.

The reason plant cellulose is such an alluring option as an energy resource is because it is the most abundant biological material on earth.

“Cellulose is everywhere,” said Medoff in the interview with CBS 60 Minutes. “I mean, there’s just so much cellulose in the world and nobody had managed to use any of it.”

Medoff’s technology is also being used to create healthier sugar and plastics that can be programmed to disintegrate within a specific timeframe.

This is just one of many examples of how industrial biotechnology is enabling the production of a variety of biofuels, bioplastics and other bio-based products, and helping make our lives and environment cleaner, safer and healthier.