Posted in BioTechnology - Venture Creation, Venture Capital on June 19, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
|
|
SOURCE
From: MassBio <communications@massbio.ccsend.com> on behalf of MassBio <robert.coughlin@massbio.org>
Reply-To: <communications@massbio.org>
Date: Monday, June 19, 2017 at 1:06 PM
To: Aviva Lev-Ari <AvivaLev-Ari@alum.berkeley.edu>
Subject: Breaking News: Gov. Baker Announces Next Phase of Life Sciences Initiative
Posted in BioTechnology - Venture Creation, BioTechnology - Venture Creation, Venture Capital, Drug Development Process, FDA Regulatory Affairs, Venture Capital on April 24, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
UPDATED on 4/26/2017
Read More:
SOURCE
Table SOURCE: Thomson Reuters abd ENDPOINTS
According to both sources:
Broken down by city, $6.1 billion went to
SOURCE
Where the money is: Biotech’s megahubs command VC’s billions by john carroll, June 30, 2016 10:41 AM EDT, Updated: November 17, 2016 07:32 PM
by john carroll,
April 24, 2017 05:22 AM EDT, Updated: 05:27 AM
The top five in the business saw their collective spending jump by more than $5 billion, from 2015 to 2016, based on the annual numbers filed largely — though not entirely — with the SEC and gathered by Endpoints News. Two of those companies,
- Roche and the new number 2, a hard charging
- Merck, accounted for the lion’s share of the increase. (To be sure, some onetime non-R&D spending, such as Merck’s patent settlement with Bristol-Myers on Keytruda, figured in. But so did bread and butter spending.)
- Gilead also saw a significant increase in research costs, with
- Eli Lilly — now off course following two bad setbacks for solanezumab and baricitinib — and the ever aggressive
- Celgene joining the action as they pressed the accelerator on new drug programs.
Curiously, the added spending coincided with a bad drop in new drug approvals in 2016. But they don’t correlate, and we’ve already seen that turnaround under way as regulators get busy with a brand new year — and soon a brand new FDA commissioner.
SOURCE
https://endpts.com/special/top-research-budgets-in-pharma-and-biotech/
Posted in BioTechnology - Venture Creation, BioTechnology - Venture Creation, Venture Capital, Foundations for supporting Science and Education on February 13, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
It wasn’t easy to narrow down the applicant pool, according to Quake.
“Over 750 people submitted a three-page application proposing risky but innovative ideas. In return, we’d provide them with the funding to work on their ideas in an unrestricted capacity,” said Quake regarding the application process.
A panel comprised of 60 prominent engineers and scientists sifted through the applications that came from the three universities. Submissions came from a diverse array of departments, including computer science, engineering and mathematics before settling on the final 47 participants.
“It’s a phenomenal gathering of talent working on issues like using computer science to help understand human health through the use of wearables,” added Quake.
One notable member of this program is Jure Leskovec, Ph.D., who is a computer scientist at Stanford and the chief scientist at Pinterest. His work at the biohub will focus on using data to help biologists comprehend the interactions between the genes and proteins exposed to drugs or disease, according to Nature.
Other investigators include Ada Poon, Ph.D., hailing from Stanford who is studying new techniques for miniaturing bioelectronics devices, and Markita Landry, Ph.D., who is working on nanosensor technology and near infrared imaging platforms designed to visualize neurotransmitters in the brain.
The CZ Biohub will institute policies that enable quick dissemination of research papers through pre-print servers. This will help inform other researchers of their work and expedite the discovery process.
Posted in BioTechnology - Venture Creation, Venture Capital, Seeking Talent on February 3, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Posted in BioTechnology - Venture Creation, BioTechnology - Venture Creation, Venture Capital, Institutional Capital Raised by Female Founders, Venture Capital on February 1, 2017| Leave a Comment »
– See more at:
The Data Reflects Several Key Trends
Key Takeaways
Raising a Series A led by an institutional VC remains difficult, but female founders in NYC continued to be the most successful (compared to those in other cities) in 2016.
At 17%, the percentage of total A rounds led by female CEOs in 2016 represents the highest total percentage since Female Founders Fund started tracking the data in 2013.
In addition, New York saw a record number of Series B and C rounds led by female founders in 2016.
Female Founders Fund remains the most active institutional VC firm investing in early-stage female-led companies.
Funds that have traditionally been uninterested in e-commerce have renewed interest in the e-commerce sector following the Dollar Shave Club and Jet.com acquisitions by large strategic investors.
2016 Series A Rounds — NYC — Female CEO
Rockets of Awesome — $12.5 million — December — Rachel Blumenthal
Ellevest — $9.0 million — September — Sallie Krawcheck
CoheroHealth — $9.0 million — November — Melissa Manice
Away — $8.5 million — September — Steph Korey
Primary– $8.0 million — June — Galyn Bernard
goTenna — $7.5 million — March — Daniela Perdomo
LOLA — $7.0 million — December — Alex Friedman and Jordana Kier
Uncharted Play — $7.0 million — September — Jessica Matthews
Thrive Global — $7.0 million — August — Arianna Huffington
Everplans — $6.4 million — June — Abby Schneiderman
pymetrics — $6.1 million — February — Frida Polli
Sakara Life — $4.8 million — January — Whitney Tingle, Danielle DuBoise
Shoppable — $3.5 million — August — Heather Marie
MMLaFleur — Sarah LaFleur
2016 Series A Rounds — Bay Area — Female CEO
Cortexyme — $15.0 million — January — Casey Lynch
FOVE — $11.0 million — March — Yuka Kojima
Front — $10.0 million — May — Mathilde Collin
REBBL — $10.0 million — December — Sheryl O’Loughlin
Nima — $9.2 million — May — Shireen Yates
Rocksbox — $8.7 million — March — Meaghan Rose
LaunchDarkly — $8.7 million — December — Edith Harbaugh
Modsy — $8.0 million — February — Shanna Tellerman
ThirdLove — $8.0 million — February — Heidi Zak
Node — $7.5 million — June — Falon Fatemi
Shippo — $7.0 million — September — Laura Behrens Wu
Mobilize — $6.5 million — September — Sharon Savariego
Neurotrack — $6.5 million — January — Elli Kaplan
Sourcery — $5.0 million — September — Na’ama Moran
Luka — $4.4 million — April — Eugenia Kuyda
SupportPay — $4.1 million — December — Sheri Atwood
Zybooks — $4.0 million — February — Smita Bakshi
Schoola — $3.6 million — May — Stacey Boyd
– See more at:
Series A Rounds in 2016
Our 2016 analysis began with an overall review of Series A rounds globally, nationally and regionally.
Series A Rounds Raised Globally, Nationally and Regionally in 2016
Series A Rounds in 2016:
Globally: 1,272
United States: 600
Bay Area: 187
NYC: 84
Boston: 31
Los Angeles: 38
Seattle: 26
Austin: 7
Washington D.C.: 17
Globally: 1,164
United States: 664
Bay Area: 205
NYC: 96
Boston: 50
Los Angeles: 40
Seattle: 25
Austin: 22
Washington D.C.: 17
– See more at:
The total number of Series A rounds in the U.S. decreased by 10% in 2016. Of the seven regions that we track in the U.S., Seattle is the only region that experienced an increase in the number of Series A raises in 2016, at 4%.
While overall Series A activity declined slightly in Los Angeles, there were two large Series A raises for female-led businesses — (i) HopSkipDrive, led by CEO Joanna McFarland, which raised $10.2 million in January 2016 from Upfront Ventures and FirstMark Capital; and (ii) Hutch, led by CEO Beatrice Fischel-Bock, which raised $5 million in July 2016 from Founders Fund. Los Angeles remains among the most female entrepreneur-friendly cities in the U.S.
VC’s investing in female-led companies in 2016.
Female Founders Fund remained the most active investor, participating in 3 of the 14 — or 21% — of all female-led A rounds in NYC. – See more at: http://femalefoundersfund.com/2016-review-of-female-founders-raising-institutional-capital/#sthash.Pcuj7rVB.dpuf
– See more at:
Posted in BioTechnology - Venture Creation, BioTechnology - Venture Creation, Venture Capital, Health Law & Patient Safety, Intellectual Property, Intellectual Property, Innovations, Commercialization, Investment in technological breakthrough, Patent Law in Biotech, Venture Capital, tagged M&A Brokers FINRA Guidance Investment Platforms for Private Placements Investment Platforms for Private Funds Crowdfunding on February 1, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Overview
The distinction between being classified as a finder and a broker-dealer can have significant consequences. An unregistered broker-dealer may face sanctions from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and it may be unable to enforce payment for its services. In addition, transactions involving an unregistered broker-dealer may create a right of rescission in favor of the investors, allowing the investors the right to require the issuer to return the money invested. One example of the consequences of an unregistered broker-dealer occurred in the Ranieri Partners SEC enforcement action. In that action the SEC brought charges against a private-equity firm, its managing director, and a consultant because of the consultant’s failure to register as a broker-dealer. The SEC’s order found that the private equity firm paid transaction-based fees to a consultant, who was not registered as a broker-dealer, for soliciting investors for private fund investments.1
The federal securities laws do not specifically define the term “finder” or outline what finders can do. Instead, finders must avoid being deemed a broker or dealer under the federal securities laws unless they register as such with the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). A broker is defined as “any person engaged in the business of effecting transactions in securities for the accounts of others.”2 A dealer is defined as a person that is “engaged in the business of buying and selling securities … for such person’s own account,” but excludes a person that buys and sells securities for its own account, but not as part of a regular business.3Because the broker definition is the one that finders have the most trouble with, this discussion is focused on what activities may cause a finder to fall within the definition of a broker required to register with the SEC and FINRA.
A determination of whether an intermediary is acting as a finder or an unregistered broker-dealer is a very fact-specific analysis and can often be very complex. Unfortunately for unwary entrepreneurs, company executives, and equity fund sponsors, frequently a third party assisting with capital-raising will be acting as a broker-dealer, not a finder, and therefore should not be engaged unless properly registered. It is likely that we will see further clarification or new rules from regulators in the future; regardless, it is important to always carefully consider the involvement of finders or broker-dealers in any capital-raising endeavor.
If you have any questions regarding the use of finders, or capital raising in general, please contact the Venable lawyer with whom you work, one of the authors of this article, or a member of our Corporate Finance and Securities Group.
Posted in BioTechnology - Venture Creation, BioTechnology - Venture Creation, Venture Capital, Oncolytic virus & OncoViro-Therapy on December 28, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
SOURCE
http://medcitynews.com/2016/07/qa-ceo-oncorus-just-raised-57m-battle-cancer/?rf=1
MPM Capital, which has around $2 billion in assets, is already working with drugmakers on funding healthcare startups. This includes a venture fund it closed last year at $400 million that included Novartis ($NVS) Astellas Pharma as investors.
http://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/ubs-raises-471m-for-a-new-kind-cancer-research-fund
(with equal contributions from MPM BV2014 and the Oncology Impact Fund), and included Deerfield Management, Arkin Bio Ventures, Celgene, Inc., Excelyrate Capital, Long March Investment Fund and MPM’s SunStates Fund.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mpm-launches-471-million-social-194500117.html
https://www.ft.com/content/b5e1e678-0c6a-11e6-b0f1-61f222853ff3
COINVESTORS:
SOURCE
http://medcitynews.com/2016/07/qa-ceo-oncorus-just-raised-57m-battle-cancer/?rf=1
http://www.finsmes.com/2016/07/immuno-oncology-company-oncorus-completes-57m-series-a-financing.html
Oncorus®, Inc. Announces Additional Series A Financing Support From Astellas Venture Management LLC (AVM)
http://www.oncorus.com/board-of-directors
Finer serves on Oncorus’s Board of Directors along with:
– Luke Evnin, Ph.D., MPM Capital co-founder and Chairman,
– Briggs Morrison, CEO, Syndax;
– Cameron Wheeler, Ph.D., Principal, Deerfield Management; and,
– Alon Lazarus, Ph.D., Biotech Investment Manager, Arkin Bio Ventures.
This additional funding will help advance our immunotherapy platform as we discover innovative new therapies which we hope will be of benefit to patients in need and the physicians who treat them,” said Dr. Finer.
Oncorus licensed certain patent rights from the University of Pittsburgh based upon the work of renowned scientists Joseph Glorioso III, Ph.D., and Paola Grandi, Ph.D., who will join Oncorus’s Scientific Advisory Board.
The company will invest in researching and developing oncolytic viral constructs which will move through preclinical development and ultimately into clinical trials. Currently, the company’s lead candidate is in preclinical development for GBM. The company will also expand and improve its technology platform and accelerate the development of pipeline programs in other forms of cancer.
About AVM Astellas Venture Management LLC., based in Menlo Park, California, is a corporate venture capital of Astellas Pharma Inc. (“API”), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. For over 15 years, AVM has been making strategic investments to achieve its mission to explore emerging innovative companies, which have potential to become API’s collaboration partners in R&D. For more information, please visit the website at www.astellasventure.com.
About Oncorus, Inc. Oncorus, Inc. is an early-stage biotechnology company developing a next-generation immunotherapy platform of oncolytic viruses to treat several types of cancer, including highly malignant and aggressive cancers. A leader in corporate philanthropy, Oncorus has taken a pledge to donate a portion of product sales revenue to fund promising cancer research and to support cancer care in the developing world. The company is located in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Visit www.oncorus.com, for more information.
SOURCE
Posted in BioTechnology - Venture Creation, BioTechnology - Venture Creation, Venture Capital, Foundations for supporting Science and Education, Scientist: Career considerations on October 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Author: Shuli (Shoulamit) C. Shwartz, PhD
Entrepreneur in Residence, CornellTech, NYC
Co-managing Runway Startup Postdoc program
Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute
The Runway is a 1-3 years tech incubator in the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at CornellTech. It is an innovative hybrid of a postdoc educational program and a startup incubator, highly competitive, providing PhD graduates with a supportive environment that includes
Application is now open for 2017 Fall’s cohort.
Shuli (Shoulamit) C. Shwartz, PhD
Entrepreneur in Residence, CornellTech, NYC
Co-managing Runway Startup Postdoc program
Posted in BioTechnology - Venture Creation, BioTechnology - Venture Creation, Venture Capital, Conference Coverage with Social Media, CRISPR/Cas9 & Gene Editing, Drug Delivery Platform Technology, Drug Development Process, Drug Toxicity, FDA, Genetics & Innovations in Treatment, Genetics & Pharmaceutical, Genome Biology, Genomic Testing: Methodology for Diagnosis, Global Partnering & Biotech Investment on September 25, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Curator: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
2.1.5.11 Real Time Coverage and eProceedings of Presentations on 9/19-9/21 @CHI’s 14th Discovery On Target, 9/19 – 9/22/2016, Westin Boston Waterfront, Boston, Volume 2 (Volume Two: Latest in Genomics Methodologies for Therapeutics: Gene Editing, NGS and BioInformatics, Simulations and the Genome Ontology), Part 2: CRISPR for Gene Editing and DNA Repair
LIVE 9/19 8AM – 10AM USING CRISPR/Cas9 FOR FUNCTIONAL SCREENING at CHI’s 2nd Annual Symposium CRISPR: Mechanisms and Applications @CHI’s 14th Discovery On Target, 9/19 – 9/22/2016, Westin Boston Waterfront, Boston
LIVE 9/19 9:40 – noon CRISPR Engineering Lymphoma Lines & Will Interference from CRISPR Silence RNAi? CHI’s 2nd Annual Symposium CRISPR: Mechanisms and Applications @ CHI’s 14th Discovery On Target, 9/19 – 9/22/2016, Westin Boston Waterfront, Boston
LIVE 9/19 1:40 – 3:20 EMERGING APPLICATIONS OF CRISPR/CAS9 at CHI’s 2nd Annual Symposium CRISPR: Mechanisms and Applications @ CHI’s 14th Discovery On Target, 9/19 – 9/22/2016, Westin Boston Waterfront, Boston
LIVE 9/19 4PM – 5:30PM NK CELL-BASED CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY @CHI’s 14th Discovery On Target, 9/19 – 9/22/2016, Westin Boston Waterfront, Boston
LIVE 9/20 8AM to noon GENE THERAPIES BREAKTHROUGHS at CHI’s 14th Discovery On Target, 9/19 – 9/22/2016, Westin Boston Waterfront, Boston
LIVE 9/20 2PM to 5:30PM New Viruses for Therapeutic Gene Delivery at CHI’s 14th Discovery On Target, 9/19 – 9/22/2016, Westin Boston Waterfront, Boston
LIVE 9/21 8AM to 10:55 AM Expoloring the Versatility of CRISPR/Cas9 at CHI’s 14th Discovery On Target, 9/19 – 9/22/2016, Westin Boston Waterfront, Boston
LIVE 9/21 8AM to 2:40PM Targeting Cardio-Metabolic Diseases: A focus on Liver Fibrosis and NASH Targets at CHI’s 14th Discovery On Target, 9/19 – 9/22/2016, Westin Boston Waterfront, Boston
LIVE 9/21 12:50 pm Plenary Keynote Program at CHI’s 14th Discovery On Target, 9/19 – 9/22/2016, Westin Boston Waterfront, Boston
LIVE 9/21 3:20PM to 6:40PM KINASE INHIBITORS FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY COMBINATIONS & KINASE INHIBITORS FOR AUTOIMMUNE AND INFLAMMATORY DISEASES at CHI’s 14th Discovery On Target, 9/19 – 9/22/2016, Westin Boston Waterfront, Boston
2012pharmaceutical
sjwilliamspa