Month: September 2022

"YOU MAY SEE A HEAVY PERSON RUN, BUT YOU NEVER SEE A HEAVY RUNNER". http://lnkd.in/3fzuPW View in LinkedIn

DRUG DEVELOPERS SHOULD KILL MOLECULES. I once knew an entrepreneur who was very smart and developed an important synthetic enzyme. This enzyme was in the oxidative stress pathway, and animal model after animal model yielded positive data. He was passionate about the molecule and grew irrationally attached to it. Even as the IP was fading, and all attempts to fund it had failed, he still could not do what drug developers have to do every day: kill the molecule. Beware the zealot who falls in love with his own work. View in LinkedIn

THE US GENERICS INDUSTRY HAS SAVED CONSUMERS ONE TRILLION USD IN TEN YEARS (Generic Pharmaceutical Association study with IMS Health 2012). Similar savings are predicted for generic biologicals. In 1984 the Hatch-Waxman Act opened the doors for the modern generics industry by creating incentives for generic drug makers. At that time it was estimated that 10 year savings might be one billion, but by 1994 it was ~10 billion USD. Since then, those savings have grown exponentially. Many of the early innovators of the industry are now dead, but they have left a phenomenal legacy. View in LinkedIn

IVAX, WATSON (ACTIVIS), AND IMPAX are fully integrated specialty pharmaceutical companies founded by the legendary Taiwanese entrepreneurs Dr Charlie Hsiao and Dr Allen Chao. These are likely to be some of the last examples of successful FIPCO pharma companies in the US, as the universe of independent mid-sized companies shrinks through M&As, and the kind of giant funding no longer exists. I attended a funding event for Impax in Taiwan, where around a dining table a nod signified a huge traunch of capital. "Remember, Charlie, we know where your family lives" was the whispered collateral. View in LinkedIn

ENTREPRENEURS HELP ACTIVATE PATIENTS to help fight their own disease by managing genomics information and accessing patient portals with reliable data on drug choices. Combine this with the fact that any steps towards personalized medicine will inevitably lead to the question -- what do we do with this data? And the answer is a game changer in medicine -- preventative not reactive medicine. . Put the two together, and the trajectory is a new proactive and collaborative medical future. http://lnkd.in/WUEf5q View in LinkedIn

THE CALIFORNIA ECONOMIC BOOM AND VC MONEY DISCONNECT. Shopping bags everywhere from throngs of tourists in San Francisco, record stock market, over-ask bids on houses (including Mark Zuckerman paying 14 M USD for a 4 M home!); but I have met with SME CEOs who have been unable to raise capital. Most memorable was a Stanford microchip diagnostics company with stellar technology, top experts, 19 patents, who have been flat out of luck trying to raise Series A. They are asking me for help accessing overseas partners. There is a deceptive economic boom in California. View in LinkedIn

CHANGING SHOES IS ALMOST A FETISH IN JAPAN. Your outdoor shoes change to slippers at the front door. And again as you enter a changing room the first slippers must change for another pair, and again as you enter a toilet. And everything reverses as you go back. These are some of the numerous cultural rules about polite behavior in Japan. And in such a crowded society, polite behavior is a mandatory element. View in LinkedIn

THE FAMOUS RUGBY SCRUM AT RUSH HOUR IN JAPANESE TRAINS has to be experienced to be believed. Literally heaved into train cars like rugby players in suits, it is a serious contact sport. I was momentarily worried about my wallet, " "until I reassured myself that they are scrupulously honest. My wallet would have lasted a second in many other countries. Looking around at the sea of polite face masks (to keep your germs to yourself), at the inpeccable sea of suits, I reaffirmed that this is a very unique culture. Planet Japan. View in LinkedIn

EFFECTIVE STEERING COMMITTEES ARE ESSENTIAL For example, a co-development plan between Big Pharma and a SME. Each group has equal votes about the partnership. The goal for the small partner must be to minimize surprises. The working committee must anticipate future outcomes and reveal how they would be dealt with by their organizations. If Big Pharma has made the agreement only for a short-term pipeline stuffer, and any delays would result in a termination, this information is key for the small partner. Nothing is worse than an unanticipated termination for the small partner. View in LinkedIn

FEW APPS ARE GAME CHANGERS, but Uber is one of them. This App allows you to hail a taxi in minutes. Circumventing taxi medallion waiting lists (years) and costs (enormous), they link Limousines directly with online cell phone customers, in prepaid assignments, and showing the map location of the incoming Limo. In one strike, this has expanded insufficient taxi pools in cities where mayors have failed to act. When my taxi driver in San Francisco said it would take up to an hour to get a return cab from the old call-in system, I smiled, knowing I had Uber in my side. View in LinkedIn