Category: Uncategorized

THE INVENTION OF THE LIDODERM PATCH is an interesting story. Dr Harry Hind was a bay area pharmacist in the days when they did a lot of creative compounding of medicines. His wife had herpes simplex neuralgia (excruciating pain). Weekly lidocaine irrigations gave temporary relief. He went into his basement and tinkered around with topical lidocaine formulations, and found, surprisingly, it had lasting efficacy on his wife. He got a Japanese patch manufacturer involved, and licensed it to Athena Neuroscience for 1 million upfront and 10% royalties. This product grew to a billion in sales. View in LinkedIn

HEURISTIC LEARNING is the difference between going to a chaotic second hand bookstore and browsing, versus doing a keyword search on Amazon. Heuristic learning permits surprises, intuitive guidance, common sense, and experience to be the discovery driver. Since we don't know what we don't know, surprises from the norm of orderly findings can have great value. Try walk arounds without an agenda to stumble on a new finding. View in LinkedIn

EMULATION TRUMPS ENVY. Boston's biotech success has shown the possible. It is a great model for other nascent clusters. Learn from history and avoid repeating old mistakes. http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/01/our_biotech_industry_%E2%80%98envy_world%E2%80%99 View in LinkedIn

KING CANUTE (AD 985-) famously demanded that his subjects take him to the East Anglian shores in England where he would command the rising tide to halt their advance. Needless to say, he was not altogether successful. Somehow, attempts to stop bio-generics have the same flavor. http://lnkd.in/e6Bheh View in LinkedIn

CRITICAL IP ADVICE for tech companies. http://lnkd.in/uG3u39 View in LinkedIn

THE VALUE OF A GOOD MENTOR: a perspective from someone who has been a VC and a teacher. Note two statements: that the overconfident students (read not curious or humble) were the ones that floundered early in their careers; and that we still live in a world of apprenticeship. Sage advice. http://lnkd.in/BsHD_d View in LinkedIn

THE EUROPEAN INNOVATIVE MEDICINES INITIATIVE is backed by 1 billion in EC money. Europe is showing great leadership with this gutsy move. Would any of this really happened without The Crisis, and The Patent Cliff? Pain and innovation are bedfellows. A startup founder with fear and hunger can leap mountains. A complex society of multiple nations can best rise to the occasion when the house is burning down.. http://lnkd.in/Q4Um_N View in LinkedIn

DISTANCE LEARNING: here is a completely charming and old-world perspective that will make you smile and wish the universe had more of these kind souls in it. http://www.simontaylorsblog.com/2013/02/10/the-death-of-distance/ View in LinkedIn

THE BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE FOR FLYING A SPACECRAFT. A brilliant use of a technology developed originally to help paralyzed patients gain limb function. The tip of the iceberg of potential applications. Now, a day at the office could have such a different meaning. Operating machinery on the other side of the planet by thought impulses. Big Wow! http://lnkd.in/Vbazp8 View in LinkedIn

USING THOUGHTS TO MAKE ACTS through brain computer interfacing and robotics is a dramatic advance for paralyzed patients. How many other applications does this approach have? Could a thought be propelled into action on the other side of the world remotely? http://lnkd.in/iqy8xt View in LinkedIn