Category Archives: Uncategorized
How I stopped worrying and learned to love Twitter: Top Hundred Life Sciences Twitterers to Follow
Twitter last month hit a half-billion users and no wonder. What a valuable business tool!. Adoption is accelerating in the biotech world. Initially I was skeptical – “What, me ‘tweet?’ You’ve got to be kidding!” But now I’m a believer. Here, I share some of Twitter’s benefits, giving readers a quick way to increase the value they can derive from Twitter. Continue reading
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Can the Amgen Takeout of Micromet Juice German Biotech? Can Anything?
Now that Germany has had its first billion-dollar biotech exit, it seems it would be about time for the beleaguered German biotech sector to enjoy a welcome jolt of juice. Generally, big exits create new opportunities. So is it time to celebrate in Germany? Not exactly. But I believe that the Micromet acquisition and other recent successes could serve as a valuable proof-of-concept for biotech products and technologies “made in Germany.” Continue reading
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Biogen Idec Lets Stromedix Do the Hard Part
For anyone wondering about the value that can be added by entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to the drug discovery and development process, look no further than Stromedix, acquired on Feb. 14, 2012 by Biogen Idec for up to $562 million ($75 million up-front). The kicker: Stromedix acquired STX-100, its primary asset, from Biogen Idec in 2007 for well under $5 million. Talk about added value. Continue reading
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“Quant” VC Correlation Ventures: VC’s New “Dream Date”
Those venture capitalists lucky enough to remain in the drastically smaller pack are constantly cruising for the perfect co-investor. Like the perfect spouse, it’s hard to imagine finding it all in one person: Quick decision. Even if it is a … Continue reading
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Startup Targets Sweet Spot for Consumer Health: Connecting You With Your Data
By Steve Dickman, CEO, CBT Advisors One secret to both improving consumer health and making money in healthcare IT is the feedback loop: providing a person with her own data as a way to improve compliance and performance. Once she … Continue reading
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Partnering360: A New Social Network Aims At Biotech – And Succeeds
We recently test-drove Partnering360, a new social network for biotech and pharma executives that meets a real need. Here we give details on what makes us think this network will succeed and describe some of the challenges to its growth. Continue reading
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Big Pharma Attempts to Extend Own Lifespan by Activating Sirtuins
Can drugs that supposedly “activate” a controversial target – sirtuin proteins – stop or even reverse the aging process? A new report this week said “No.” Sirtuin activators, it said, do not extend lifespan in roundworms and flies and earlier studies that said they did were flawed. Nonetheless, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) continues to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into developing drugs to hit these targets Continue reading
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How Google+ Could Transform Healthcare and Medicine
Even if Obamacare is ultimately upheld, it’s hard to imagine that the government alone is capable of unifying and analyzing all this data through the implementation of electronic health records. A better solution may come from the private sector, where all the necessary tools are already developed. As we know from Wikipedia, the most comprehensive, cost-effective data sets often come from user-generated data. Google+, with its 25 million users, could become the preferred platform for personal health data. Continue reading
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Google Health is Dead, Long Live Google+
Now that Google has put its ill-fated Google Health project to rest, we are wondering who will make the next big attempt to establish a personal health record (PHR) platform for healthy people. We think Google+ has the inside track. Continue reading
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Exosomes: The Little Vesicles That Could
Exosomes are long-known but little-studied vesicles secreted by all cells. Thanks to some exciting results, exosomes are beginning to gain the limelight in areas as diverse as diagnostics, disease prediction, therapeutics and RNAi delivery. Continue reading
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