Friday, August 8, 2008

Biomed Notebook

Life sciences questions still looking for answers

By Ryan McBride

In order of importance: The economy stinks, competition in the life sciences industry is mounting, and this is my final installment of Biomed Notebook. Here are some last observations about the New England life sciences industry in the face of a poor economy and growing competition. (I offer thoughts and no solutions.) 

• First, New England states appear to be squandering opportunities to nurture more executive talent for the life sciences industry here. There seems to be a disconnect between venture capitalists, many of whom say they need to search around the world for capable managers to run their local startups, and Boston-area bench scientists, who say they dream of entering the business side of their fields. This is a problem because great science will be commercialized outside this region if there are no talented managers here to form startups.

• On a separate front, skyrocketing drug-development costs are draining resources from biotech firms, and throwing money at the problem hasn’t worked. Christoph Westphal, CEO of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, noted during an invitation-only roundtable event at Mass High Tech last month that the cost to develop a single drug from start to finish is $1.2 billion. The Bay State’s plan to invest $1 billion in its life sciences sector over the next 10 years is no tonic for this cost crisis. Perhaps more resources should support nascent technologies that could reduce drug-development costs?

• Work is already afoot to engineer systems that mimic human biology to better predict the utility of certain drugs before they enter pricy clinical trials. For example, Millipore Corp. in Billerica says it is applying stem cell technology to build such systems. Millipore has also invested in local research on stem cells.

Speaking of early stage life sciences investing, does anyone else question whether the so-called investment “valley of death” is all bad? A few venture capitalists have told me that the “valley of death” — a term used for the gap between seed-stage and funding for product development — is somewhat overstated. I’m told that the most viable ideas are getting venture funded, regardless of how early in development they are. And a quick check around town shows that, at least in the life sciences, several VC firms really have kept on making early stage investments.

• Here’s a head-scratcher: When is technology going to radically improve health care? There are startups cropping up all over the Boston area with big ideas about how to use a heaping dose of technology to improve access to doctors, boost the quality of care and control costs. Take American Well Corp., a Boston startup that seeks to connect patients with live doctors via the Internet and phone. The company’s health care website is intended to save patients from hassles related to office visits with doctors. It’s worth watching to see whether this idea flies.  
 
Separately, I wonder how long it’s going to take for genomics to revolutionize health care. When I say “revolutionize,” I mean the day when every patient can walk into a clinic, get their DNA mapped, and leave with a wellness plan that integrates their genetic profile and health status. Contemporary wisdom says the first step to realizing this health-care dream is to develop tools to sequence an entire human genome for $1,000 or less.

Stephen Lombardi, president and COO of Cambridge-based Helicos BioSciences Corp., says his firm has advanced its own DNA-sequencing technology to the point at which it costs about $75,000 to map a genome. Given that the cost to map a genome was several million dollars only a few years ago, the genomic revolution may be on the horizon.

That’s all folks. Mass High Tech’s life sciences beat now belongs to Stephen DeSantis, a scientist-turned-journalist who is going to provide you with terrific coverage. Thank you.

Stephen DeSantis is the new contact to send all your tips and information on life sciences, biotech and pharmaceutical news. He can be reached at sdesantis@masshightech.com.