Ann Barbier

As competition increases for biotech funding, the need for an effective pitch deck continues to grow. A common mistake is neglecting to address potential risks or setbacks. Companies may feel that this will give the impression of an ill-equipped organisation and ultimately erode investor confidence. However, it can have the opposite effect. Acknowledging the risks or potential setbacks you may face demonstrates a clear understanding of the volatile nature of biotech and can show investors that you're prepared to deal with this. If done well, addressing risks can drastically boost confidence and increase your chances of securing funding. #Funding #Biotech #PitchDeck

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Boston-based biotech Syntis Bio launched on Tuesday with the goal of advancing alternatives to GLP-1 receptor agonists for the treatment of obesity and other metabolic and rare conditions. Syntis’ lead program is SYNT-101, which the biotech is developing for obesity. The oral drug candidate is designed to be taken once-daily and block the absorption of nutrients in the duodenum, diverting them to the lower small intestine where nutrient absorption is more controlled. According to Syntis, this mechanism of action mimics the effects of gastric bypass surgery and triggers signaling cascades that produce satiety hormones such as GLP-1. Syntis’ launch comes as the obesity market is poised for explosive growth in the coming years. Last month, analysts estimated that GLP-1 receptor agonists would exceed $150 billion in value by the early 2030s. Through the end of the decade, this drug class will dominate the metabolic diseases space as obesity rates continue to climb and supply chains stabilize, according to analysts. #biotech #biopharma #obesity #weightloss

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Solas BioVentures is pleased to announce, that one of the stars in our portfolio, Arrivo BioVentures LLC have shared the FDA has granted Fast Track Designation to Arrivo's investigational drug, RABI-767, for the treatment of acute pancreatitis predicted to progress to severe disease. Acute pancreatitis is a serious disorder with no approved treatments for patients, so this designation underscores the urgent need for effective therapies and our commitment to addressing significant unmet medical needs. There has really been no major improvements besides supportive care and teaching all young doctors the differential diagnosis acronym "BAD HITS", Yes there is another one I remember better, but it is a PG-13 crowd! Biliary, Alcohol, Drugs, Hypertriglyceridemia, Idiopathic, Trauma, Stones. I have never been more fulfilled in an investment as this one, I lost a friend and fellow doctor, not just any doctor but a doctor's doctor and one great "War Eagle" to severe acute pancreatitis a few years ago. Solas made this investment with him in mind. This one is for you pal. RIP and know Arrivo BioVentures is carrying on with the doing good for patients. Please enjoy the Arrivo press release here: https://lnkd.in/eP9eeGtR #ArrivoBioVentures #FDAFastTrackDesignation #AcutePancreatitis

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𝐈𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐦𝐢𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 Gene-sequencing company Illumina is grappling with significant financial fallout following its decision to divest GRAIL, a cancer-test developer it acquired in 2021 for $8 billion. The divestiture comes after intense scrutiny from antitrust regulators in both Europe and the United States, culminating in orders from the US Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission to undo the acquisition due to competition concerns. As a result, Grail is now being valued by traders at a mere $485 million, a stark 94% discount. Grail's market struggles are evident as its shares began trading at low volumes, closing at $15.58 recently, down from its peak values. This pricing debacle marks a substantial loss for Illumina, whose share price itself has plummeted nearly 80% from its high before the acquisition was finalized. he separation process has proven challenging for Illumina, affecting both Grail's valuation significantly and having a wider impact on the company's overall business. Analyst Doug Schenkel from Wolfe Research criticized the deal as the worst in diagnostics history, emphasizing the severe financial strain it imposed on Illumina. This strain includes a commitment to fund Grail for two-and-a-half years at a cost of $1 billion to comply with EU antitrust regulations. Additionally, Illumina retains a 14.5% stake in Grail post-sale. The biotech giant had initially spun off Grail in 2016, only to buy it back in 2021 for $7.1 billion. The deal has since attracted legal challenges, including a lawsuit from veteran investor Carl Icahn, accusing Illumina of breaching fiduciary duties. The European Commission further penalized Illumina last year with a record €432 million fine for proceeding with the Grail takeover without proper approval. Despite these challenges, Grail continues to market its Galleri blood test in the U.S., which claims to detect over 50 types of cancer, although it awaits FDA approval. Projected revenues for Grail are around $125 million this year. Analysts suggest that the divestiture, painful as it has been, will eventually allow Illumina to refocus on its core operations and potentially recover from this setback under new leadership. This move could provide a much-needed reset for Illumina, enabling it to address its recent performance issues and strategize for future growth. Source: FT 18.6.24 #biopharma #insights #genesequencing #Illumina #Grail

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Happy share the most recent #Alentis article on #CLDN1 as target in #oncology

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Congratulations to Viola Vogel, Mamta Chabria, and Martin Behe: Tandem Therapeutics has been accepted for the prestigious Wyss Zurich accelerator, to work on unlocking the extracellular matrix, to bring drug efficacy to the next level. A great recognition for a highly promising startup project! https://lnkd.in/eDNXehCg About: Most drug development is focused on targeting cells, overlooking the extracellular matrix that surrounds the cells. Presence of excessive matrix proteins are linked to therapeutic resistance and poor patient outcomes in fibrotic tumors and organ fibrosis. The matrix offers druggable biological real-estate to targets nodes that drive disease progression. Tandem Therapeutics' goal is to precision target this barrier and bring drugs to this disease extracellular matrix thereby enhancing safety and efficacy. Using evolutionarily optimised peptides, we are decoding complex matrix-disease biology to create breakthrough solutions for patients burdened with fibrotic diseases. Tandem Therapeutics is a spin-off of ETH Zürich and has been a winner of all stages of Venture Kick. #VentureKick #SwissStartups

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To further understand the genetic causes of certain types of lung cancer in families, GO2 for Lung Cancer is collaborating with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI), GO2's medical consortium, on INHERIT.   INHERIT builds on a previous study that identified an inherited gene mutation for lung cancer. It will look more deeply into families' genetic makeup to identify other mutations that increase the risk for lung cancer to inform prevention and treatment. Learn more about the INHERIT trial and how you can participate at inheritstudy.org. 

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The ZEPHYRUS-1 trial led by testing pamrevlumab (CTGF antibody) for #PulmonaryFibrosis published negative results yesterday, also discontinuing ZEPHYRUS-2. JAMA has a good editorial on challenges and ideas for improving predictive validity for #IPF clinical trials: - One is that the IPF label covers a heterogeneous patient population. Genetic risk factors could be used for targeting drugs, though that leaves >70% of patients with no treatment. Broader -omic characterization of patients & preclinical models could reveal which models best match patient subgroups. - Another is the FVC endpoint. Many physicians argue for more nuanced endpoints. But while we're using FVC we should think about how preclin assay map to this, given that it can't be measured in typical rodent models. Larger animals could give more direct comparisons, or when that's not feasible then we should think carefully about how anatomy and pathobiology of models reflect this endpoint. - Preclinical models for are much maligned, with high false positive rates for standard bleo mouse model. The editorial authors suggest focusing on human organoids, although this may be throwing out the baby with the bathwater: IPF is an inflammatory disease with a key role for immune cells, which aren't included in organoid/chip models (yet anyway)... We should also think about in vivo models that address the obvious limitations of the standard bleo mouse model: 1) fibrosis resolves spontaneously, instead of progressing. 2) IPF is strongly age-related, but the mice are usually young. Other species (even rats) have less spontaneous regression of fibrosis, and multiple types of injury might better capture patient exacerbations. And using older animals could capture both known and unknown mechanisms preventing normal regeneration in PF patients. Gordian Biotechnology's Vishwaraj Sontake thinks a lot about predictive validity for complex diseases like IPF. Mapping models to patients is key, and the basis for our 'Patient Avatars' concept. Trials are were biopharma spends the most dollars, so we think it's worth spending more on doing R&D in predictive models. Editorial: https://lnkd.in/gRUFQ5XK

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Royalty monetization is an oft-overlooked source of near-term, non-dilutive funding for cash-burning Biotech companies developing precommercial therapeutic candidates. Just last week, it was announced (https://lnkd.in/eG7druFB) that Agios Pharmaceuticals (owned by Servier) had agreed to sell royalties on its brain cancer drug vorasidenib to Royalty Pharma in exchange for $905 million in cash. Selling a portion of pharmaceutical product royalties has grown over the last 25 years from simple, upfront sales to complex transactions, allowing efficient risk and value transfer from the healthcare inventor to the investor. Specialty firms such as Royalty Pharma, HealthCare Royalty, Sagard, and Blackstone Life Sciences have stepped in to execute on win-win transactions needed to incentivize partners on both sides of the deal. That said, calculating the value of future royalties can be incredibly complex due to variables such as clinical performance, intellectual property strength, protection against generics, license agreement provisions, regulatory exclusivities, patient market size, pricing, and regulatory risks. Given these variables, the process isn't an exact science, making the financial prediction challenging, especially when it comes to therapeutics being developed for nascent indications or novel therapeutic modalities for more mature indications. While its widely accepted that there is no such thing as 100% accuracy in long range forecasting, inaccuracies are often driven by limited understanding of the market, poor assumptions and poorly built models. At Ipsos North America, we are able to offer clients on both sides of the negotiating table a unique combination of forecasting expertise, therapy area depth, and market access knowledge, along with Ipsos's industry-leading market research capabilities. Reach out, we'd love to hear from you. #Ipsos #Pharma

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THE NEW SCIENCE OF SLEEP: FROM CELLS TO LARGE-SCALE SOCIETIES In the past 20 years, more remarkable revelations about sleep and its varied functions have arguably been made than in the previous 200. Building on this swell of recent findings, this essay provides a broad sampling of selected research highlights across genetic, molecular, cellular, and physiological systems within the body, networks within the brain, and large-scale social dynamics. Based on this raft of exciting new discoveries, we have come to realize that sleep, in this moment of its evolution, is very much polyfunctional (rather than monofunctional), yet polyfunctional for reasons we had never previously considered. Moreover, these new polyfunctional insights powerfully reaffirm sleep as a critical biological, and thus health-sustaining, requisite. Indeed, perhaps the only thing more impressive than the unanticipated nature of these newly emerging sleep functions is their striking divergence, from operations of molecular mechanisms inside cells to entire group societal dynamics. https://lnkd.in/ekXDq4rN

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The recent setback faced by Lykos Therapeutics with the FDA advisory committee regarding their MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD underscores the critical importance of safety and efficacy in drug development. While MDMA shows promise for mental health treatments, its profound impact on mood and cognition presents significant risks, complicating its path to approval. At Lcatocore, we are committed to developing innovative and safer therapeutic solutions for mental health conditions such as generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD, and depression. Our approach focuses on peptide-based therapies designed to target specific pathways with high precision, minimizing off-target effects and potential adverse reactions often associated with broader-acting compounds like MDMA. The rigorous feedback Lykos received from the FDA highlights the necessity of thorough safety evaluations and clinical trials. We are dedicated to ensuring our peptide therapies meet the highest standards, providing effective and well-tolerated treatment options for individuals suffering from mental health disorders. As we continue advancing the conversation on innovative therapeutic solutions, we look forward to discussing our work and exploring potential collaborations at future conferences. If you're interested in learning more, please feel free to connect with us. https://lnkd.in/epb5xMuQ

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The Innovation Imperative: Pioneering New Modalities for Therapeutic Leadership -- great report from Revvity Signals, creators of the ChemDraw software I used to operate for many years during my research career. Grateful for featuring BioPharmaTrend.com's article "The Explosion of Therapeutic Modalities: Small Molecules, Biologics, and Everything in Between!" "New drug modalities encompass a broad spectrum of therapeutic strategies, each distinct in its action mechanism and target specificity. These span from monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and RNA-based therapies to advanced gene editing techniques and cell therapies. The classification of these modalities is multifaceted, considering both their therapeutic mechanisms and stages of development. Established methods like mAbs coexist with emerging frontiers like CRISPR and CAR-T cell therapies, illustrating the breadth and depth of this field." A noteworthy trend within the small-moleculemodality is the reemergence of PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras (PROTAC) although they were first described in 2001. This class within small molecule therapeutics Targeted Protein Degraders (TPDs), along with covalent inhibitors, and macrocycles represent an exciting frontier in small molecule therapy. TPDs, for instance, are designed to harness the body’s own protein disposal systems to eliminate disease-causing proteins, a strategy that could offer a new therapeutic angle for challenging targets. Covalent inhibitors, with their ability to form permanent bonds with target proteins, offer enhanced specificity and potency. Macrocycles, characterized by their large, ringshaped structures, present a unique balance of specificity and stability, enabling them to interact with complex protein surfaces that were previously inaccessible." Links to report and article in the comments 👇 #medicinalchemistry #drugdiscovery #biotech #biologics #biopharmatrend Image credit: Revvity Signals

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Should have comp video from Boston, maybe covering, Blavatnik Accelerator/Wyss Institute at HMS, and Pagaluica Life Lab/Blavatnik Life Lab; Dana Faber and other Hospitals) and maybe Langer Lab and the Engine at MIT along with Koch Institute (which brings together academic partners and clinical organizations), Arena Bioworks maybe with Whitehead collab, maybe some possible connection between MBI, UMass Chan, RNA Therapeutics Institute (some have been covered individually but not catapult style) there might be some I left out on Boston side as AI/ML versions are starting to develop as well, like MIT AI Venture Studio (baby catapults on Life Science side (but there is MIT CSAIL and MIT Media Lab around as well) :). Anyway maybe 5-6 things including Stanford.

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Epoch 19: The AutoImmune Renaissance A few weeks back we went into detail on this topic, with a primary focus on CAR-T. Today we broaden to cover additional modalities. 👉CD19 👉CAR-T 👉FcRN 👉T-Cell Engagers https://lnkd.in/dEkBy2bY

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This week, I explored the fascinating world of Targeted Alpha Therapy (TAT), an innovative form of radiotherapy that holds potential in cancer treatment. The scientific principles and investment trends are detailed in my latest article, "The Science Behind TAT: Precision, Power, and Promise."

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Intriguing new role for GLP-1R in T cells opens doors to novel therapies in transplantation and cancer. GLP-1R, known for regulating glucose in pancreatic β cells, is also expressed by T lymphocytes during immune responses. In this Cell article, GLP-1Rpos T cells expanded and infiltrated grafts in transplant models, showing significant differences from GLP-1Rneg T cells. GLP-1R signaling prolongs allograft survival and reduces immune response, while its antagonism boosts anti-tumor immunity in colorectal cancer. #GLP1R #Tcell #regulation #cancer #immunotherapy #transplantation https://lnkd.in/dW_SGAe8

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Pathways Neuro Pharma is pioneering treatments for neurological disorders by upregulating serotonin and dopamine receptors and advancing novel gene therapy methods. This approach offers significant advantages, including dramatically reduced medication dosages. 38% of 700 surveyed patients reported side effects from SSRIs, most commonly impacting sexual health, sleep, and weight. The AAV6.2FF vector demonstrated excellent safety, tolerability, and effective scaling from small to large animal models, making it a hopeful candidate for future innovations in treating diseases like depression, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, and alcoholism through targeted gene delivery. This research lays the groundwork for further exploration into brain-specific therapies, offering a glimpse into the future of personalized medicine. #MentalHealth #SSRISideEffects #PatientCare #DepressionTreatment #GeneTherapy #Innovation #Healthcare #Biotechnology #depression #biopharm #BehavioralHealth #grants #dod #pharma #nih #strategic #partner #investor https://lnkd.in/ekRwyduH

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Appreciate John Glasspool’s op/ed in the Boston Business Journal. He brings the perspective of a CEO of a Cambridge-based #biotech, MassBio member Anthos Therapeutics, to the debate over the White House’s plans to use Bayh-Dole as a blunt instrument to force price controls. The reality is that any effort to use “march in” rights like this would hurt innovation, chill the collaborative relationship between research institutes and small biotechs (which are the lion’s share of Massachusetts’ industry) when it comes to advancing early science, and do nothing to address the price of drugs. You can’t argue with Bayh-Dole’s success: 6 million jobs, $2 trillion in economic output, thousands of startups, and 200+ drugs and vaccines. As John points out, we can’t go back to a time when science sat on shelves instead of getting into medicine cabinets. https://lnkd.in/ezkNndKA cc: The Bayh-Dole Coalition

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