Sep 14, 2010

Everyday, technically minded PhD students around the world toil in their labs and meticulously document their findings. Whether they are spinning their wheels or are on the brink of revolutionary discoveries, they work with the hope that one-day the pages of their lab notebook will tell the story of a new breakthrough technology. Dr. Ory Zik knows this feeling...

Sep 14, 2010

$93,000 is a lot of money, but this tidy sum is the cost of a full treatment with Dendreon’s new prostate cancer therapeutic vaccine, Provenge™[1].  The new treatment, recently approved by the FDA[2], is indicated for use in minimally symptomatic, hormone refractory (androgen-independent), metastatic prostate cancer.  In such seriously ill patients, this...

Sep 10, 2010

Regenerative medicine’s first wave was associated with massive expectations, but met with limited success. Today, a second wave is emerging. Great Expectations The 1990s saw a flurry of research activity in regenerative medicine with the potential to restore, maintain, or improve tissue or organ function. It appeared as if regenerative medicine would address...

Aug 12, 2010

“Generics” is a common term in the prescription drug business lexicon. Although generics market (Gx Market) sales have generally soared in recent years, the Gx market is predominant in countries with high healthcare expenditures. For example, in the US, healthcare expenditures reached over $2.2tn in 2007, accounting for 16% of GDP. Prescription medication...

May 21, 2010

This month we attended the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center’s 6th annual Early-Stage Life Sciences Technology Conference. What we saw was indicative of a vibrant, entrepreneurial life sciences ecosystem. The first highlight was the host—Merck. The conference was held at Merck’s Longwood area facility which only opened in 2004. The company’s Reid...