There have been more than 30 initial public offerings of biotechnology companies so far this year, and there’s a line around the block of promising new entrants looking to debut on the public markets.
Angelika Warmuth/European Pressphoto Agency But don’t call it a bubble. Those in the know are calling it a boom, and saying the good times are likely to continue for biotech, even in the face of clinical setbacks and other bumps in the road.
The health care industry has survived economically by cross-subsidizing margin shortfalls in one activity with the revenues generated from others. But the very existence of these cross-subsidies is symptomatic of deep flaws in the health care reimbursement system. As we move forward we need to be mindful of two principles that must be at the heart of any fundamental health care reform: “no margin, no mission” and “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” As the era of health care cross-subsidization ends, these principles must guide our actions.
MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, has acquired Spirogen, a privately-held biotech company focused on antibody-drug conjugate technology for use in oncology.
MedImmune will acquire 100 per cent of Spirogen’s shares for an initial consideration of $200 million and deferred consideration of up to $240 million based on reaching predetermined development milestones. Existing out-licensing agreements and associated revenue streams are excluded from this acquisition.
Shares of MacroGenics are surging in Thursday midday trading after the biotechnology company raised $80 million in its initial public offering.
MacroGenics sold 5 million shares of stock for $16 per share. It had expected to sell 4 million shares for $14 to $16 each. The $80 million total does not include expenses or underwriting discounts.
People love to rank U.S. biotech clusters. Most of these reports are full of data on venture financing, patents, jobs, and NIH funding. But many are riddled with flawed and biased methodology, and are usually designed to push a political agenda.
These rankings, which many people take at face value, have been irritating me for a long time. So last week, I decided to ask a few different questions in order to compare the relative strength of biotech hubs we cover at Xconomy.
Here’s what we know about the Affordable Care Act: 32 million Americans who would otherwise be uninsured will now have coverage. What you might not know is that Obamacare could also boost entrepreneurship by decoupling healthcare from employment.
How would that work? Existing research estimates that universal health insurance coverage could increase self-employment by as much as 3.5 percent. The reality is that many would-be risk-takers stay with their employers in large part due to the assurance of health insurance, in what economists refer to as “job lock,” or “entrepreneurship lock.” But, this pressure to be employed by a larger company is loosening as the Affordable Care Act makes it easier and less expensive to purchase individual coverage. Now, hopeful entrepreneurs can go out on their own in a far more efficient allocation of their skills, without gambling their own health coverage, or that of their family.
If UMD researchers are well on their way to creating a robot that can wiggle through the brain to root out the tumors deep within, then anything is possible. Plankton crawled through Spongebob’s cranium and now Dr. J. Marc Simard, a neurosurgeon at the University of Maryland School of Medicine; Jaydev Desai, a roboticist at the University of Maryland; and Rao Gullapalli, a radiologist, believe they’re developing something that can do the same.
It was Dr. Simard who fist came up with the idea after watching a show on TV featuring plastic surgeons using sterile maggots to root out damaged tissue from a patient. “It sounds strange, but it’s a real thing,” he said in an interview with NPR. That’s when the lightbulb went off. “If I could train maggots to resect brain tumors I would. I can’t do that, so robotic maggots are the next best thing.”
Tuesday, November 5, 2013 from 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM (EST)
Join business, government and technology leaders for a high-level conversation on the transformation of health care through technology and innovation. Bloomberg Government’s first annual health care summit, “Mind the Gap: Connecting Health Care Policy with Next Century Innovation,” will convene health care innovators, medical professionals, and government officials who are helping to redesign U.S. health care during a time of innovation.
Panelists
Join the conversation: #BGOVHealth
October 16, 2013 at 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Johns Hopkins – Montgomery County Campus
The National Capitol Area Local Chapter of SoPE in concert with the JHU Carey Business Schoo, MedChi, Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Center for Biotechnology Education, and the Medical Society of Northern Virginia present:
“The Health IT Explosion” What Big Providers Want: Value Proposition, Pricing & Closing the Deal!
Presenters:
Pete Celano, is an MBA from UVa, and has been in Digital Health for ten years. He was a co-founder of a start-up in Remote Patient Monitoring called BeClose.com (McLean, VA) and has been consulting primarily for big providers such as MedStar where he focuses on identifying solutions that Improve Outcomes, Reduce Costs, Enhance Revenue and Extend Access. He’s also consulted in Mobile Personal Emergency Response Systems, Home Testing for Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Holter Monitors, GERD drugs and Infusion Therapy.
Anand Iyer, PhD, currently serves as President and Chief Operating Officer of WellDoc Inc. WellDoc is a healthcare company that utilizes technology-based solutions to improve diabetes and other chronic disease outcomes and enhance a patient’s quality of life while systematically reducing healthcare costs. Prior to WellDoc, he was the leader of the global wireless solutions practice at PRTM Managment Consultants.
Joe Peterson, MD, is currently CEO of Specialists On Call (SOC), the nation’s premier provider of specialty physician consultations delivered via teleconferencing. Most recently a partner in United Westlabs, a hospital services company. Dr. Peterson has served on the Board of Directors of the Global Health Council, as a jurist for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awards in public health, and on the Board of Directors of the Aids Action Coalition.
October 29th, 6:00pm
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Rockville, MD
Please join us for an enhanced networking reception with leaders from the Mid-Atlantic Region’s life science community. Take time to network with your peers and make new connections. After networking, Christopher Austin will give a short overview of the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS). He will speak more specifically on what NCATS will be doing, the goals and the impact of the life science community in terms of collaboration.
