What do you think might hot areas of biotech right now?

Transcription

1 Current Trends or Hot Areas of Biotech or what is important for beginning a career in science Susan Baxter California State University Executive Director, Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology SDSU Biomedical Technology Students Association Meeting February 10, 2014 What do you think might hot areas of biotech right now? 1

2 How do you decide what defines hot or trendy? Splashy scientific journals IPOs M&A activity Unmet medical needs Proposal review panels Economics Job ads Equity crowdfunding What your mentor/friends say? needless to say - these all have different durations of hotness! From CNBC, Feb. 9,

3 injectable pain therapies MicroRNA diagnostics & therapeutics Gram negative antibiotics T-cell antigen discovery platform Deuterated compounds and analogs RNA interference (RNAi) technology platform Kidney disease drug development Animal health Antibody drug conjugates Pharmaceutical Formulation Platform Glycobiology technology platform MicroRNA diagnostics & therapeutics Protein Engineering Platform Bio-artifical liver therapy Agonists for Pain Relief???? From Biospace (Feb. 10, 2014). Available electronically: From Nature (2013). Available electronically: 3

4 From Science (2013). Available electronically: Life Science Industry sectors (what s hot right now - Baxter s list) Biopharmaceuticals (conjugate therapies) Medical Devices (wireless sensors/implantable devices) Diagnostics (whole genome scanning) Industrial Biotechnology (specialty engineered chemicals like flavor chemicals) Research & Testing (stem cells, live cell printing) Agricultural (disease-free traits) Health IT (personalized medical records) 4

5 Issues that matter...the new normal in this age of rising healthcare costs, venture capital belt-tightening, and a nearly broken Congressional system that can t see fit to invest properly in vital areas such as research and education? - Robert Buderi, Xconomy, April 29, 2013 Biomedical Product Commercialization is Dependent Upon Regulatory Approvals US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approvals based on efficacy and safety Increasingly FDA interprets efficacy in the context of head-to-head comparisons against already approved products 5

6 Rising Healthcare Costs lead to outcomesfocused, evidence-driven health care systems Tecfidera, Biogen Idec s new drug for multiple sclerosis, was approved for sale by FDA in April Tecfidera costs about $55,000 a year Companies are still free to set prices in the American market, but if they can t demonstrate significant economic value, they are not going to sell a lot of product...we only expect this scrutiny to increase over time. - Tao Fu, head of mergers and acquisitions in pharmaceuticals at Johnson & Johnson. - Beyond Borders Report, 2013, Ernst & Young (available online at: Venture Capital Belt-tightening The vast majority of biotech deals require >$15M in venture capital to get to an exit, and the average is close to $60M. Biotech success stories have exits in the 5x-15x range but 100x+ returns aren t in the genetics of our ecosystem. Bruce Booth, Life Sci VC (Oct. 2013) First-time funding for life sciences companies is dismal marked the lowest number of companies receiving funding for the first time since

7 what is important for beginning a career in science? 2013 workforce report from BIO organization written up in Nature Biotechnology Develop and increase the scope of public-private and industry-academic internships, cooperative fellowships and training programs to enable students to gain exposure to industry-specific needs Build a national life science certification program that includes potential deep dives into topics such as regulation, clinical trial design, and process validation... Recognize the global nature of the industry and the need for strong crosscultural fertilization and job mobility across national borders; increase the opportunities for interaction...across regions and countries via structured and unstructured programs... - From CSBI report, Demand for Talent: Current & Projected Workforce Trends in the Life Science Industry; 7

8 The Life Science Industry is not only for white coats (PhDs and MDs) 80% of the life sciences workforce is made up of professionals with degrees at the masters level or below - in job functions from discovery research to regulatory affairs Venture Capital & Banking Quality Bio IT Discovery Research Preclinical Research Product Development Project Management Operations & Manufacturing Clinical Development Business Development Corporate Communications Product Support Sales Law Marketing Regulatory Affairs Source: Career Opportunities in Biotechnology and Drug Development, Toby Freedman, See: I learned of the requirements necessary For example, medicinal chemistry requires a strong foundation in organic chemistry, and life science project managers need lab experience and strong backgrounds in biology. Moreover, these two fields demonstrated the applications of Ph.Ds outside academia. I didn t really think that an advanced science degree was sought after in the industry because of the high price tag associated with an individual with that background. In fact we know 85% of life sciences PhDs work outside academia. 8

9 Baxter s Advice Work on a hard project while you re an undergraduate. Put it on your resume and LinkedIn profile. When you have publications, claim your Google Scholar account. It is a personal mission of mine to smash the myth of "the right academic pedigree." Biotechnology changes so rapidly that it is extremely limiting to ask students to chart an exact career path, focus on a particular technique, or build a defined technical skill-set. My career advice? Stay agile by keeping your mind open, exploring your own interests, and working alongside excellent colleagues on hard problems. from: 9

10 2/19/14 Undergraduate researchers highly desired by companies, medical schools and doctoral degree programs. Together CSUPERB and the Doris A. Howell Foundation for Women s Health Research have awarded over $400,000 in scholarships to 141 undergraduate researchers since Since % of the Howell Scholars have gone on to research or medical careers. Why? Those Transferrable Skills Some technology and techniques Some depth of science/engineering expertise Team-work Project a start, a middle, a finish over a certain time & budget (key to your interviews/applications) Open-ended & uncertain (answers not already known) Understanding of how research works (not always) Awareness of issues around reproducibility (lab notebooks, etc.) 10

11 CSU Sacramento students compete in the 2014 CSUPERB-I2P Early-Stage Commercialization Challenge (January 2014) I ve been in the biotechnology industry for about 30 years in a variety of capacities. Over that time, one thing has always been true: to succeed, a product needs to meet a clinical need Today, we don t just ask, Will it work? We also ask, Will it matter? - Ed Mathers (NEA, venture capital firm) from: 11

12 Resources BIOCOM Xconomy San Diego: See especially: single_page=true Career Opportunities in Biotechnology and Drug Development CSUPERB websites: Facebook & The Life Sciences Foundation (great glossary and a look at biotech product lines) 12