September 5, 2023

The need-to-know this morning

Illumina named Jacob Thaysen as its new CEO, replacing Francis deSouza, who resigned in June. Thaysen joins the genetic sequencing giant from Agilent Technologies, where he was a senior vice president and president of its Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group.

pharma

J&J wants to spend heavily in pharma, med tech

Johnson & Johnson recently divested its consumer health business. It plans on using the billions it netted to grow its focus on pharmaceuticals and medical tech, the Wall Street Journal writes. Specifically, in May it sold shares in Kenvue, which carries brands like Tylenol and Band-Aid, through an IPO to gain $13.2 billion in cash. And last month, it divested 80% of the remaining Kenvue shares in a $40 billion split-off, where some investors traded shares of J&J for Kenvue ones.

"We need to be a top-tier medical tech company, first and foremost," CFO Joseph Wolk told the Journal. "That is what's going to carry us for the medium term."

The pharma giant will use the money to scoop up already-approved drugs, as well as companies with late-stage pipelines that could launch drugs right around when J&J loses patent exclusivity for others.

climate change

Biotech could help fight climate change

An increasing number of people are interested in finding careers to help fight climate change. And biotech could be the perfect avenue to do this, opines Lily Fitzgerald, who previously worked at the synthetic biology company Ginkgo Bioworks.

There's a pressing global need for more sustainable versions of the products we've come to depend on, and biotechs are already coming up with alternatives for materials like nylon, cement, and silk. Some biotechs are growing trees with enhanced photosynthesis — there's a world of options for the creative-minded when it comes to environmentalism and tech.

"To reach its potential as a transformative climate solution, the biotech sector will need a major influx of climate-focused workers," Fitzgerald writes. "More accessible workforce development pipelines and more integration with environmental training and leadership can get us there."

allergies

Nestlé bails from peanut allergy market

There isn't a lot of money in peanut allergies, Nestlé has learned. The Swiss food company has sold Palforzia, a treatment meant to reduce the severity of peanut allergies in children, selling it to allergy drug and diagnostics company Stallergenes Greer. Nestlé acquired Palforzia in 2020, when it acquired Immune Therapeutics for $2.6 billion.

But the company admitted back in February that it took a $2.1 billion impairment on the investment, thanks to "slower than expected adoption by patients and healthcare professionals." The treatment had been a big step for Nestlé into the health care arena, Financial Times writes.

politics

Roivant distances itself from Vivek Ramaswamy

Roivant Sciences founder Vivek Ramaswamy is in the midst of a presidential run and has made some pretty controversial statements about the FDA. Specifically, he said the agency is rife with "corruption" and wants to "expose and ultimately gut" it. Speaking to the Financial Times, Roivant CEO Matt Gline said the company is no longer associated with Ramaswamy.

"Vivek and I are different people," he said. "Vivek is not associated with Roivant right now other than as a shareholder. Vivek's views on FDA are different than my personal views on FDA and different than Roivant's views on FDA. We have an enormous amount of respect for FDA as our regulator."

Gline replaced Ramaswamy in 2021. Roivant's subsidiary Dermavant is getting ready to ask the FDA to approve an eczema drug.

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