Jason Chew There is no doubt that antibody therapeutics have revolutionized medicine in the last decades. Sales of antibody drugs are estimated to be $30 billion in 2009 and expected to grow at a 14% rate through 2012- this is more than double the rate of growth for all drug sales. Biotech companies have produced […]

Jason Chew According to a 2007 study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to entrepreneurship, 40% of youths between the ages of eight and 21 say they would someday like to start their own business. In our highly entrepreneurial society, risk-takers and innovators propel our continued economic growth. Garage and dorm-room start-ups […]

The term “Valley of Death” has come to describe the period of transition when a developing technology is deemed promising, but too new to validate its commercial potential and thereby attract the capital necessary for its continued development[1]. During this transition, there is often a funding gap due to the weariness of risk-adverse investors. This […]

Jason Chew(Featured in TheBigRedBiotechBlog, digitalpathologyinsights) Historically, the Big Pharma business model has been that of a fully integrated pharmaceutical company, complete with basic research and development, clinical trials, sales and marketing, focused on the development of blockbuster drugs. This model has recently been roundly criticized. A research article issued in January from Morgan Stanley titled […]

The genomics and proteomics revolution has produced thousands of new targets for drug discovery. Designing molecules with novel mechanisms is sexy and can be very rewarding but is risky and time consuming- though some would say this novelty and pursuit of innovation is the embodiment of the biotech industry. But the pursuit of innovation requires […]

Virtual Drug Development has been around since the 1990s with little fanfare. In this model, only the key personnel to manage the core operations of a project are retained, while all other functions are outsourced. Roche was an early adopter of virtual drug development, forming a subsidiary called Protodigm in 1996 consisting of only nine […]

Jason Chew Taiwan’s drug makers have largely focused on generics; few are in the business of developing novel medicines. This is partially due to the large resources required for such an endeavor combined with Taiwan’s small market potential. To justify the costs of developing a new drug, companies must have the ability to navigate across […]

Jason Chew Biotechnology is an emerging industry in Taiwan. After the country’s immense success in high tech, the government is searching for another engine of economic growth. There are now at least five science research parks and as of 2004, at least 238 biotechnology companies. Perhaps due, in part to Taiwan’s roots in computer sciences […]

Jason Chew(Featured in FieceBiotech, TheBigRedBiotechBlog) This autumn is turning out to be a busy season for Seattle Genetics. The company is expecting results from up to three clinical trials between September and October- each of which, if successful, may form the basis for the filing of an NDA. Two trials are nearing completion for flagship […]

Jason Chew In their heyday, big biotech companies rivaled some Big Pharma companies in market capitalization and epitomized innovation in pharmaceutical development. At the time of its acquistion by Roche, Genentech was valued at $106 billion. Amgen at one time reached a valuation of over $100 billion, Gilead- over $50 billion. Excluding Genentech, the top […]

Jason Chew The cardiovascular disease (CVD) market is worth approximately $100 billion today and makes up 12% of all global pharmaceutical sales. Unit sales of medicines for CVD are growing, but patent expirations for drugs such as Lipitor will hold revenues down. The advent of statins in the treatment of CVD was an incredible advance […]

Jason Chew(Featured in HCVAdvocate.org) Pegylated interferon plus ribavirin is the current standard of care for HCV treatment. However, it is a 48-week treatment and is only effective in about 50% of patients. On top of that, patients must deal with the inconvenience of injections and side effects that include fatigue, depression, anemia, and rash. Now, […]

Jason Chew The mantra for big Pharma is to fail early and fail fast in preclinical studies, then push compounds out as quickly as possible into first-in-human testing, and gather as much information as possible to determine if it is likely to succeed before putting it into expensive Phase III trials. It sounds good, but […]

Jason Chew During the last decade, Celgene has been one of the best performing stocks. With a market cap in the year 2000 of just $2.4 billion, it has grown to become the third largest biotech company behind Amgen and Gilead, sporting a $22.9 billion market cap; however, that is down from its recent high […]

Jason Chew June 30, 2010- Geoge Scangos from Exelixis was officially named CEO of Biogen, replacing James Mullen who retired June 8 under pressure from the board. He has biologics experience from Bayer and has been an R&D head. However, he is probably best known as a dealmaker. At Bayer he drove a large in-licensing […]

Jason Chew Calistoga and Plexxikon are on the leading edge of two of the hottest targets in drug development today. Both are privately held. Seattle based Calistoga Pharmaceuticals was founded when Icos was acquired by Eli Lilly for its Erectile Dysfunction drug, Cialis. Former scientists acquired IP from the company in 2007 that formed the basis […]