The Next Big Biotech?

Dendreon's much anticipated cancer vaccine Provenge received approval from the FDA this morning.  Provenge is a first-of-its-kind prostate cancer vaccine expected to be priced at  ~$90,000 or more per patient ($31k per an infusion, 3 infusions per patient). 

For some time now, Big Pharma had eyed the Seattle-based company as an acquisition target but Dendreon might now have the legs to make it big on its own.  With the FDA's approval, Dendreon's stock is up 15% on the day (75% YTD), and the company is poised to make the rare jump into the biotech elite. 

This should be a real interesting story to follow as it is almost unheard of these days for a small biotech or pharma to grow organically and independently.  Without an approved product until today, Dendreon now has a market cap of ~$6B, roughly half the size of Biogen.  Are they still an acquisition target or are they going to go at it alone?  It should be an interesting story to follow. Dendreon Press Release

Nature's Inspiration

Nature-inspired design or biomimicry is a rapidly evolving field that studies all elements of nature for sources of inspiration and innovation.  Festo's bionic handling assist (BHA) is just one of the many concepts that have been developed recently.  It's entirely possible that sometime in the near future an elephant trunk-inspired robotic arm could make its way into an operating room.  Additionally, the 3-D "printing" process used to manufacture the BHA provides enormous design flexibility and produces significantly less manufacturing waste than conventional manufacturing processes.  Who would have thought an elephant would lead to innovation - pretty cool!
 

Simple Sustainability

These days it seems sustainability is one of the hottest topics around. This TED Talk (http://bit.ly/cNFiDW)from Dan Barber is a great example of why some of the best innovations come from the most simple of suggestions.

Virtual Environment

Amongst my daily email reads are FiercePharma and PEHub Wire. Today, both reported that Catabasis Pharmaceuticals raised $39M in Series A financing (http://bit.ly/9Xrdfe) . While the news of a biotech raising VC funding is not really notable, it should be noted that Catabasis is utilizing the "virtual company" model that start-ups in all sectors tend to be using.

There are many arguments for and against the "virtual" model. Those in favor of it cite a lower burn and more flexibility as the most important reasons to adopting. But are these virtual companies to lean? Can they operate efficiently in an industry where development time lines are too long?

I've worked in a both the traditional and virtual models, and from my perspective it's hard to say which model is more efficient. It really depends on the type of team and the technology. One thing is certain - the virtual model is more popular than ever (in fact INC magazine is covering it in this month's issue). It'll be interesting to see if there is a significant shift to this model within the life sciences industry.

The Preamble

For those who don't know me, I am a soon-to-be graduating MBA student at Columbia Business School. I decided to start Phase Zero to share with all of you my passion for the life sciences, innovation, and life in general. I'll try to share with you my thoughts as well as the great ideas of others. Concurrently, I look forward to your comments and I hope this blog can be viewed as a forum for open dialog.

Also, life isn't all about work, so I would be remiss if I didn't mention my passion for baseball (and basically all sports). Just to get it out there, here is where I stand on some key sports-related topics:

• I am loyal to all Miami sports teams and will never stray no matter where I move to
• College football over the NFL
• National League over American League (PLEASE BANISH THE DH!)
• I am a die-hard Marlins fans
• Yes, there are Marlins fans
• Game 7 of the 1997 World Series was the greatest sporting event I've ever attended
• I can't believe Jason Taylor is a NYJ...
  

When I was 16 years old, I was the last person I knew to get a beeper. At 19 I was the last person I knew to get a cell phone and at 28 I still don't carry a blackberry or iPhone (I currently sport the relic known as a Moto Q). For someone who loves technology and innovation, I clearly haven't always been the among first to adopt new communication tools. As I finish this first blog post, it is clear that I am well past being fashionably late to the blog party. I hope you all are willing to stick around and see where the rest of this party goes...