The podcast … on video
July 31, 2007
In my continued experiments with video, I actually recorded the latest episode of the bbgm podcast on Kyte.tv. My desktop, on which I do all my audio is giving me some trouble (it keeps shutting down every time I want to do any processing), so it might take a bit to clean up the audio. You do get to watch the unadulterated video (with crummy audio)
Technorati Tags: Podcast, Kyte.tv, Video
Debugging the body
July 31, 2007
My wife (who works here) said something today which was really cool. We were talking about early cancer diagnosis, and she remarked that she wished that we could debug the body, it would be wonderful if we could add breakpoints to various points in the body and run a debugging program to find potential problems. While this might seem a little far-fetched, it should be one of the goals of the biomedical community, and an area where nanotechnology is likely to play a huge role. If we could get in vivo diagnostic devices into the body and a way to analyze their readouts, that is essentially what we would be doing. Of course, we have a long way to go before we can even come close to getting there.
Technorati Tags: Diagnostics, Nanotechnology, Cool
Bio::Blogs … a little extra time
July 31, 2007
You have some extra time to get in a bio::blogs entry. Neil always does a great job, so looking forward to his editorial.
Technorati Tags: bio::blogs, blog carnival
Creating shareholder value
July 31, 2007
Earlier today, I was reading an article in the San Francisco Chronicle on increased shareholder activism in the biotech industry. For those who are not completely familiar with my economics, I tend towards a libertarian view, but there is one aspect of the biotech industry that has always made me uncomfortable. In the article, Chris Young, Director of M&A research at Institutional Shareholder Services says that public biotech companies “must surrender the idea that their primary mission is to create drugs for the future or serve the greater good”. That to my mind is a fundamental flaw in the business of biotech. Science and biotech in particular are high risk, long cycle, R&D intensive operations. While there is a lot one can do to do more efficient research and development, the IP climate, the risk factors and the evolving nature of science is such that focusing on shareholder return, at least in my opinion, makes running a successful biotech business very difficult, or even pharma for that matter
What is a successful biotech business? Is it one that yields the highest return to its shareholders? Or is it one that develops the best pipeline of products that can have an impact on human health? If one lives in the short term, quarterly view of things, the chances of success are so slim, you should not even bother with going public. Some of the problems lie with the companies and with the unrealistic expectations that are raised with their early rounds of funding, but in general, a company that rests on it’s initial product is going to suffer long term consequences. What they need to do as they mature is place strategic bets, not bet everything on one option as is alluded to in the story.
Further Reading
Science Business: The Promise, the Reality, and the Future of Biotech
Technorati Tags: Public Companies, Quarterly Profits, Shareholder Value, Biotech
Around the web - July 29, 2007
July 29, 2007
Blogging is going to be erratic for a while. Work, Scifoo, Gnomedex and a new home do that to you. Anyway, some highlights from the week that was (I am still not doing a good job with my other blogs)
TechBizMedia: A post on respecting your competition
Bioscreencast Blog: Announcing Bioscreencast 0.2
Kyte.tv: Updated my Kyte channel. Really need to figure out how to leverage Kyte better
Technorati Tags: Bioscreencast, Competition, Kyte.tv
