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EU STIMULUS SPENDING plans for Smart Specialization Strategies is a monumental € 376 Bn. The EC has about 100 Bioregions that have been created by public money. They have been invited to send proposals to Brussels for consideration. This represents an historic Revolution in European thinking about stimulus and the economic promise of technology and science. Bold and decisive, this plan potentially lays the foundation for a Knowledge Economy of scale. View in LinkedIn

GENERIC DRUG substitution should be a no-brainer when the innovator patent has expired and there is a cheaper generic launched. Brand Pharma companies have long enjoyed, and in cases actively contributed to, the urban myth that the generic is somehow inferior. The FDA has a stringent process for generic drug approval and this debate is groundless. Unless you happen to be the innovator. http://lnkd.in/wkg7xn View in LinkedIn

FDA's moves towards regulating Lab Developed Tests (LDT) or reference labs, currently regulated under CLIA, is a chilling thought, and especially at a time when the FDA is famously underfunded and understaffed, barely able to keep up with its colossal workload. CLIA regulation has worked smoothly for decades, and there have been scant scandals or evidence of malfunction in the system. A really bad idea. http://lnkd.in/Y93yRa View in LinkedIn

FRAUD IN SCIENCE is relatively rare but especially troublesome when it comes to data on medicines. More commonly it relates to scientific publications aimed at securing academic tenure. On occasion, it relates to faking data to get investors. I have been privy to two cases if the latter type. In one case, Dr Glenn Elion of Chatham MA, nephew of the Nobel prizewinner, faked the cloning of the spider silk gene in a scheme to defraud friends and family out of millions for his company, which turned out to be a front for money laundering and making counterfeit currency. He went to jail. http://lnkd.in/wTv6ww View in LinkedIn

GOVERNMENTAL VCs whose dedicated mission is to fund early stage Biopharma, and fill the yawing void that VCs have left in this sector is an idea whose time has come due. Every country can shave off some stimulus money for this important stimulus of one of the greatest economic engines in recent history. View in LinkedIn

SBIR grants and game-changing new rules. About time! http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-14/game-changing-new-rules-for-innovation-grants-from-the-feds View in LinkedIn

GENETIC ANALYSIS can be matched with preventative treatment in breast cancer. This is the future: personalized medicine matching your tumor genetics with the treatment most likely to work, in a test tube, so you are not the test tube. http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2013-rst/7519.html View in LinkedIn

ORPHAN DESIGNATION for diagnostic tests now blocked by composition of matter gene patents, and having to rely on weaker use patents, has been proposed by Dr Ken Kangatharon here at LI. This is a BRILLIANT solution to the recent Supreme Court decision not to allow patents on genes. This would permit the considerable investment in developing an innovator test to be rewarded, and make diagnostics look like brand and generic Pharma markets. Let's hope a clever politician can go with this idea. View in LinkedIn

PUBLIC SPEAKING: a kind and wise set of observations. A must-read. http://lnkd.in/-Qc6fp View in LinkedIn

THE JUNIOR STOCK MARKETS have some advantages over the major boards. The London AIM and the Madrid MAB exchanges are less demanding of their companies, do not tend to attract the same low-end activity that NASDAQ does, and yet gives liquidity and access to larger capital pools for young companies. There are lots of junior exchanges worldwide, such as Japan, Taiwan, Australia, to name a few. They all are in much less litigious environments than the US. Litigation is killing the US. If you are thinking of an IPO, study the junior exchanges first. http://lnkd.in/Mc6cNg View in LinkedIn