Month: September 2022

THERE ARE NEW ENTREPRENEUR PHILANTHROPIST HEROES. I had dinner with Dr. Nagata MD, PhD, FFPM, Chairman of SNBL Japan, a large CRO founded by his father. He started an innovative nasal drug delivery division within his 3,000 person company, and after almost a decade of failures, cracked nasal dry powder delivery. Not only a Professor, founder of a cancer care facility, he is a Buddhist Monk focused on helping humanity. He will all leave his wealth to charity. These are the fantastic new role models for young entrepreneurs. View in LinkedIn

THE INNOVATION NETWORK CORPORATION OF JAPAN (INCJ) IS THE LARGEST VC FUND IN THE WORLD AT 22 BN USD. It was formed half of public and half of private funds. I met with Kazuhiro Umeda, an old friend, who is the VP of Life Sciences. He had led a stellar career with JAIC VC in Tokyo, Palo Alto, and as President of the Singapore division. His mission is to innovate the Japanese Healthcare sector. Constantly working, he has a large network to draw from, and a very large budget to make that happen. This very bold initiative must have an impact and help Japan to the Tipping Point for a new economy. View in LinkedIn

SYSTEMS BIOLOGY IS THE PATH TO UNLOCK GENE PROMOTERS AND MUCH MORE. View in LinkedIn

THE FIRST REVERSAL OF MOUSE EPILEPSY WITH MOUSE OR HUMAN STEM CELL TRANSPLANTS. Using mouse cells these researchers eliminated the seizures in half of the mice and significantly reduced the seizures in the other half. While at least five years away from human applications this is big news and may well apply to pain and Parkinson's Disease in the future. A lovely example of macro damage repair using cellular therapies. View in LinkedIn

THE WRONG ANIMAL MODEL LEADS TO CLINICAL TRIAL RUBBISH. For example, dog and human noses are radically different in anatomy and physiology. Many positive nasal drug trials in dogs often fail when tested in man. The dog nose is like a sponge. The best animal model for human nasal trials is the monkey. Just one of many examples where the wrong animal model can lead to a false positive or a false negative in human trials, and how some good drugs have ended up on the shelf. View in LinkedIn

PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT IN STARTUPS IS VITAL. The one thing that can blow up a startup quicker than anything else is character, either of the key founders, or of the investors or board. Why this is overlooked by so many people dazzles me, and I see examples of this blind spot every week. Remember that about 1%, or more of us are psychopaths, borderlines, severe narcissists, and the less severe forms are way more common. These personalities are often charismatic and brilliant. You need to take this really seriously in your due diligence. http://commercialbiotechnology.com/article/view/305 View in LinkedIn

JAPAN IS PRIORITIZING PLURIPOTENT STEM CELL TECHNOLOGIES AS A BET ON THE FUTURE. This choice by leading groups in Japan's financing world is a significant step for stem cells. The California stem cell initiative was a good start, but this initiative has more financial muscle. It takes big bets to move a field like this forward. Now at least one nation has an eye on the prize. View in LinkedIn

CUTS IN SCIENCE SPENDING ARE CUTS IN THE FUTURE ECONOMIC ENGINE. After 15 years of Catalan investment in the Knowledge Revolution, Catalunya had achieved excellence in science and spinoffs. This needs to continue to preserve the past investment in the future. http://lnkd.in/yRqPRJ View in LinkedIn

THE LIFE SCIENCE IPO WINDOW IS FINALLY OPENING after five years of closure. Liquidity is a key driver of VC investments which also dried up in this period. This is a very hopeful sign. http://lnkd.in/Dund3M View in LinkedIn

MONOCLONAL THERAPIES FOR CANCER CONTINUE TO DOMINATE THE LANDSCAPE. The wave of approvals of MAb treatments for cancer continues unabated. However, does adding a few months to those ghastly survival graphs constitute forward motion in the majority of cases? The personalized medicine approach offers a rational solution by matching the treatment to the tumor's biology. These individual mutations confer drug resistance or susceptibility, and are becoming the focus of new drug therapies. http://m.seekingalpha.com/article/1403251-bristol-myers-has-the-future-of-oncology-therapies?source=yahoo View in LinkedIn