Virtual Reality Biotech

Back in July 2011, I wrote about a type of “virtual” biotech company that is formed to focus on a single product and use minimal financing to generate sufficient data to validate the drug and attract an acquirer  and whether this model could be used to commercialize products for the neglected, global diseases (“Backyard Biotech” [...]

No Kiddin’

Last week I was pleased to attend the 5th anniversary reception for the Cambridge MA-based Institute for Pediatric Innovation (IPI), a not-for-profit founded by one of my technology transfer mentors, Don Lombardi.  After a career in business and technology transfer at Children’s Hospital Boston, Don started IPI to address the lack of new technology and [...]

A Really Neglected Disease

Sickle cell disease is a textbook example of evolution at work.  It results from a single gene mutation that allows hemoglobin to polymerize, leading to a number of bad results for the person unlucky enough to get two copies of the mutant gene (homozygotes), but in those with only one copy (heterozygotes), it confers a [...]