ARTICLES BY MATTHEW PILLAR

• Legal And IP Protection For New Biotechs

  10/31/2023

  Want to ensure you've got your biotech legal, IP, and patent bases covered? Join Business of Biotech host Matt Pillar and BlueSphere Bio CEO and biotech legal expert Keir LoIacono on 11/13 for the live, interactive, and FREE digital event Legal And IP Protection For New Biotechs. 

• Tech-Heavy Drug Discovery Yields Deep Pipeline

  8/3/2023

  Recursion Cofounder and CEO, Chris Gibson, Ph.D. is creating a map of human biology comparable to Google’s ongoing effort to map every street on the planet. He shared why that's so important, and how it's informing Recursion's rapid drug discovery efforts.

• Engineering Antibodies In A Box?

  7/27/2023

  Machines aren’t smart enough to engineer optimal, disease-specific antibodies without data that’s properly generated, captured, and structured. That’s why LabGenius Founder Dr. James Field says the key to success is neither human-derived data, nor machine-enabled design. It’s the organizational engineering feat of bringing the two together.

• Why RNA Is Good For Business

  7/3/2023

  Early last year, Nutcracker Therapeutics landed a $170 million Series C to further its work developing an RNA drug development platform. Learn how scientist-turned Chief Business Officer Geoff Nosrati is lifting the company above the cacophony of companies rallying around the therapeutic potential of RNA.

• Key Biomanufacturing Ingredient In Short Supply

  6/26/2023

  Biopharma supply chains and manufacturing capacity are on the comeback trail, but one of the key requirements for sustainable development and manufacturing success remains elusive. NIIMBL Workforce Director John Balchunas shares perspective from a unique vantage point.

• Where Oncology Drug Discovery Goes Next

  5/30/2023

  AbbVie Bay Area Site Head and VP of Oncology Discovery Research Steve Davidsen, Ph.D. lays out the primary challenges to pushing forward in areas of high, unmet oncological need: accelerating discovery to shorten the time to patient impact and identifying optimal patients for a given mechanism of action or molecule.

• Immunome’s Platform Partnership Potential

  5/16/2023

  Immunome’s discovery engine caught AbbVie’s eye, nabbing the biotech a transformative deal. CEO Purnanand Sarma, Ph.D. and CFO Corleen Roche take us behind the scenes.

• Active ADC Space Challenges Development Strategies

  5/15/2023

  Payload and linker technology advances have contributed to an explosion in antibody-drug conjugate development in recent years, amd the funding has followed. But, while the face value of ADC activity represents a bright spot in an otherwise sluggish biotech investment environment, the challenges of doing business in a hotly competitive market are playing out.

• Anatomy Of A Biopharma VC Deal

  4/20/2023

  Why does a venture capitalist choose to fund a biopharma company? What prompts them to choose not to? And why should (or shouldn't) a biopharma company take a VC's money?

• Topical Biologics In Ophthalmology?

  3/21/2023

  A recent clinical study of an eyedrop formulated with Grifols’ Immunoglobulin-based Flebogamma DIF offers cause for optimism among multiple stakeholders. It could become the first-approved topically administered biologic therapy for dry eye disease. 

• AAV Manufacturing Field: An Interactive Look

  3/17/2023

  Mapping the adeno-associated virus (AAV) therapeutic space gives us a glimpse into indication priorities for gene therapy, and a look at whose got their fingers in which partners’ pots. Check out this interactive graphic from DeciBio Principal Carl Schoellhammer, Ph.D. It's not only instructive, its kind of therapeutic to play with. 

• Cashing In On Biopharma Collaboration

  3/14/2023

  How does a biopharma business that’s potentially years away from its first shot at therapeutic sales revenue thrive in a high-inflation, high-interest, supply-constrained business environment?

• What’s In A “Biopharma” Name?

  2/23/2023

  As exciting new modalities, hybrids, and conjugates blur therapeutic lines, let’s not forget what “bio” means, how biologic therapeutics are distinguished, and why they were delineated as such in the first place. Make sure you're not a BINO (Bio In Name Only) when you’re naming your “biotech.”

• FDA Submission Automation: Coming To A Cloud Near You

  2/15/2023

  The FDA is laying the groundwork for standardized, cloud-based electronic submission standards via an initiative that leverages data automation and artificial intelligence. What will it mean to biopharma filers?

• Bench To Boardroom: A Scientist-Turned-CEO’s Journey

  2/13/2023

  Novadip Biosciences CEO Denis Dufrane, M.D., Ph.D. got a crash course in biopharma leadership, but not before he left cell therapy research on his own timeframe. He sat down with Bioprocess Online to tell us what he learned.

• Antibody-Drug Conjugates: Increasing Investment In R&D And Partnerhip

  2/1/2023

  DeciBio’s Antibody-Drug Conjugates 2023 Industry Survey points to progress in ADC development. Respondents anticipate lower regulatory, financial, and R&D barriers as the technology matures. Senior Life Science Expert Joe Daccache, Ph.D. gave us an insider's look at the numbers.

• What's True Of Mice ≠ What's True Of Men

  1/27/2023

  After losing his mother to pancreatic cancer, entrepreneur Alex Blyth launched an immuno-oncology company that’s developing a novel allogeneic cell therapy. The company, LIfT BioSciences, recently received a shot in the arm when it was accepted into Johnson & Johnson Innovation’s JLABS network.

• Can JP Morgan Help San Francisco?

  1/25/2023

  My first in-person JP Morgan Healthcare Conference was great for business. It also left me wondering what the world's toniest healthcare conference is doing for the health of its ailing host city.

• A Personal Case For Drug Repurposing

  1/20/2023

  Amidst the dealmaking and spectacle of the 41st Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, a bright and personal light was cast on the value of a different kind of collaboration: drug repurposing. There’s a deep vein of patient benefit sitting on pharmacy shelves, and Michael Fajgenbaum, M.D. wants to tap it. 

• 60 Minutes To IND Success

  1/6/2023

  On 1/24/23, Daniela Drago, Ph.D. and Kati Abraham will join us for the discussion, IND Success: Navigate Through The Regulatory Gray, and I hope you do, too. We’ll talk through reasons for clinical holds, offer tips for avoiding and addressing them, and share best practices on ensuring smooth submissions on your journey from development to the clinic.

• Big Bio Breeds Startup Leadership

  12/27/2022

  Richard Francis’ arrival at Purespring in 2021 was indicative of a longer-term trend in the biopharma space that’s inciting a bit of a talent exodus from Big Pharma to emerging bio. While he's now returning to his big pharma generics roots, here's what he looked for in a startup leadership opportunity.

• Snake Oil Or Slippery CEO?

  12/22/2022

  Nader Pourhassan was just charged with a whole bunch of crimes. At the nucleus of the charges sits Pourhassan’s overzealous—and as it turns out, illegal—oversell of leronlimab, the monoclonal antibody he hyped as an HIV and COVID-19 therapeutic panacea when he was CEO at Cytodyn.

• Inside The Altavant/Enzyvant Self-Made Merger

  12/21/2022

  Prior to their merger, Enzyvant and Altavant didn’t have much in common beyond their suffix and their CEO. That CEO is Bill Symonds, Pharm.D., the architect of the merger whose history with the "vants" runs deep. Here, Dr. Symonds shares the company’s strategy and the implications of the combination. 

• From Racecars To Regenerative Medicine

  12/14/2022

  Find out what inspired a mechanical engineer, a U.S. Marine veteran, and a racecar driver to launch a regenerative medicine company manufacturing perinatal tissue allografts and get its products to market at breakneck speed.

• Data Confidence Drives Clinical, Financial Perseverance

  12/7/2022

  Under the leadership of Mai-Britt Zocca, Ph.D., IO Biotech raised a $150 million Series B during a pandemic to move forward with a target that's seen its fair share of failure. To get there, the clinical stage biopharma leaned hard into its data differentiators.