Xconomy: Five Takeaways from “What’s Hot in Boston Biotech”
Summary
Two weeks ago, a drug Forum Pharmaceuticals has been developing for a variety of neurological diseases failed two Phase 3 studies in schizophrenia.Last week, Gilead Sciences agreed to acquire an early-stage drug Cambridge, MA-based Nimbus Therapeutics has been developing for a liver disease called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH.It became that way, he said, because of “seeds” planted in the 1950s by Harvard University and MIT scientists that would put those institutions at the forefront of molecular biology germinated some 20 years later.Sharp says this convergence is reflected by the fact that “like a herd of elephants,” large IT companies like Google and IBM have stormed in to Cambridge to set up outposts, aiming to make engineering “integral” to how we analyze biomedical problems.Hecht noted, for instance, that despite the fact that drug companies develop products that save and/or change people’s lives, the sector is “perceived to be a horrible industry, let’s not sugarcoat it.” One participant brought up the massive dollar figures drug companies spend on marketing as a reason for peoples’ distaste with pharma.