| | | |   | Hello, all. Damian here with the latest from an early Theranos skeptic, a brewing debate in biotech, and a sign that pharma's fears might be overblown. | | | He saw through Theranos. Now he’s vetting biotechs When Joel Dudley was at the Icahn School of Medicine, his team conducted one of the few published studies of Theranos’ technology, flagging serious concerns in the process. Now Dudley is joining Innovation Endeavors, the venture capital firm co-founded by former Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt, to suss out which biotech startups are worthy of investment.
As STAT’s Allison DeAngelis reports, Dudley comes to the world of VC from Tempus, a health tech unicorn that’s developing a system that can answer physicians’ cancer questions on the spot. Innovation Endeavors is primarily an investor in tech companies, and Dudley’s job is to bring scientific training — and a skeptical eye — to its growing interest in biotech.
“On one hand, I think it’s a good thing that tech VCs are getting into the space; It’s needed,” Dudley said. “But, it is an area that requires quite a bit of expertise. You do see some head-scratching investments that tech investors make.”
Read more. | Blueprint’s success raises some questions Blueprint Medicines’ treatment for a rare immune system disorder significantly improved symptoms in a pivotal trial, the company said today, but it remains unclear whether the drug’s benefits will live up to its price.
As STAT’s Matthew Herper reports, Blueprint’s drug, Ayvakit, led to a 31% reduction in the symptoms of non-advanced systemic mastocytosis, a disease that leads to headache, nausea, itching, and dizziness. The result was statistically significantly better than the 17% symptom improvement in the placebo group.
The data are likely good enough to get Ayvakit approved for non-advanced systemic mastocytosis. But analysts have expressed doubts that a roughly 30% improvement in symptoms will be enough to convince doctors and payers to opt for Ayvakit, which has a monthly wholesale cost of $35,213.
Read more. | Over a decade later, what’s next for the future of immunotherapy? Since 2011, the FDA has approved over three dozen novel immunotherapy treatments for patients with various forms of cancer. While these therapies have improved outcomes for some patients, there are others whose tumors don’t respond well enough to these medicines. Learn how the next generation and personalization of immunotherapies will help deliver more options for people with cancer. | Maybe the FTC is more understanding than pharma thinks Among the many headwinds facing the global drug industry is a pervasive concern that the Federal Trade Commission is going to crack down on mergers between companies that work on similar scientific pursuits. But the undramatic progress of a recent $4.1 billion deal suggests those fears might be overblown.
Bristol Myers Squibb said yesterday that it expects to close its acquisition of Turning Point Therapeutics today, consummating a deal first disclosed June 3. Neither party has mentioned any inquiries from the FTC, and analysts don’t expect anything to derail the merger in the future.
The fact that Bristol Myers, maker of the blockbuster cancer immunotherapy Opdivo, can buy Turning Point and its pipeline of targeted oncology products without triggering antitrust concerns suggests the FTC isn’t painting the drug industry with a broad brush. | When nature’s biomarkers won’t do, try making your own Tracking and treating cancer has long relied on finding biological hallmarks that indicate whether a given tumor is thriving, dying, or in the earliest stages of growth. But because natural biomarkers are often hard to detect or not specific to cancer cells, researchers are figuring out ways to create synthetic ones.
As STAT’s Angus Chen reports, the basic idea behind synthetic biomarkers is crafting molecules that compel tumors to give off measurable signals. The field dates back to the mid-2000s, when researchers at MIT tried to develop a novel imaging agent and ended up with a nanoparticle the led cancer cells to produce synthetic biomarkers.
The research is in its early days, and it’s not yet clear that what works in animal models will translate to humans. But the potential of synthetic biomarkers has scientists looking ahead to a bright future. “Imagine, in early detection for lung cancer, you can inhale a probe that produces a synthetic biomarker that comes out in the breath,” said Gabriel Kwong, a biomedical engineer at Georgia Tech. “Or you can design a probe and detect it on a piece of paper like a covid test or pregnancy test.”
Read more. | More reads - Newly launched U.S. drugs head toward record-high prices in 2022, Reuters
- As the Smithsonian wraps a landmark genome exhibit, leaders in the field reflect on what’s changed, STAT
- AstraZeneca sues to block top dealmaker sharing therapy data with GSK, Bloomberg
- Elliott Management has large position in Cardinal Health, Wall Street Journal
| Thanks for reading! Until tomorrow,  | | | |
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