Archive | August, 2017

RESI Boston: Insight from China Strategic Partners on Cross-Border Opportunities

3 Aug

By Shaoyu Chang, MD, MPH, Director of Research & Asia Business Development Liaison, LSN

Shaoyu 10*10

An increasing number of Chinese biopharma companies are entering the global stage and changing the dynamics in life science innovations. In 2016, Simcere Pharma made a splash by hosting a life sciences startup competition across East and West coast. This year, not long after Qilu Pharma launched its 25,000 square-feet incubator in Brighton, Luye Pharma also opened its new Boston R&D Center.

As these Chinese firms are setting foot in North America, they typically hire industry veterans with multinational pharma experiences to spearhead their business development efforts. These professional deal-makers not only are equipped with deep domain knowledge, but they develop a unique perspective on cross-border opportunities for biopharma innovators.

At RESI Boston, entrepreneurs are invited to the China Strategic Partners Panel to learn about where market opportunities and challenges are, and how to collaborate with Chinese corporations. The speakers include:

How is Your Fundraising Campaign Shaping Up? Get Expert Consultation from LSN for Free

3 Aug

By Matthew Tosch, Vice President of Sales, LSN
Direct: 617-681-7891 Email: m.tosch@lifesciencenation.com

As any fundraising executive can attest, raising money for their start-up is an arduous process that requires steadfast perseverance. Even with full-time dedication to the task, many companies fall short. It is not for a lack of effort on their part- Life Science Nation has worked with hundreds of executives to help them set themselves up for success. For a limited time, LSN is offering any interested fundraising companies a free consultation on their current fundraising efforts. Topics that we will cover include:

  • Best practices for your branding to generate a clear, concise, and investor-centric message
  • Identification a “Global Target List” of investors that match your technology and your stage of development
  • Setting up your internal infrastructure;
  • Explaining why utilizing an administrator or hiring someone on an hourly basis to manage your meeting requests and to follow up with any investor leads is pivotal to your success.

LSN has a few RESI conferences coming up and I personally would like to help you get ready to take advantage of RESI and meet investors and strategic partners. You can contact me to arrange the consult. The consult will be led by a Senior Investment Analyst and a Senior BD Consultant who are experts in the early stage fundraising process. An example of the areas we can address are:

  • Feedback on your pitch deck / executive summary
  • How to effective canvass and message investors through email and phone exchanges
  • What does your “Global Target List” look like
  • Heat map of global investors that are a fit for you and should be on your radar

Bringing Access into the Drug Development Process, The 2017 Expanded Access Summit (September 15, 2017)

3 Aug

By Jess Rabourn, President, WideTrial

2017 may go down as the “Year of Expanded Access”. Expanded Access Programs (EAPs) are FDA authorized clinical trials for patients who cannot get into regular clinical trials.  The mechanism was created in 1987 to permit seriously ill patients and their doctors to explore new possible treatments that are in clinical development but not yet approved for market. And now, after 30 years of practice, there are major opportunities to use relatively inexpensive EAPs to strengthen clinical drug development in the toughest diseases.

This year, the Trump administration -including HHS and FDA leadership-  plus several elected officials on Capitol Hill, have called for greater power for gravely ill Americans and their doctors to consider pre-approval therapeutics. Drug and device makers around the country are already scrambling to comply with special measures in the new 21stst Century Cures Act which require companies to publicize their early-access policies. Additional early-access legislation may find its way into the FDA Reauthorization Act before Summer’s end.

At the same time, big initiatives for real world evidence, precision diagnostics, and adaptive clinical trial design are captivating product development teams in the same companies that face demands for early product access. Could these two disparate opportunities be addressed by the same solution?  In the U.S., well-designed Expanded Access programs are finding their way into the drug development process for new products in unsolved, life-threatening diseases. Treating wider sets of patients in a target indication opens the door to vast collection of consented treatment-outcomes data, which are vital for understanding a patient population and the differential response patients may have to an investigational drug, device, or diagnostic.  So how can EAPs be integrated into clinical development, and what needs to change to marry the benefits of access and research?

On September 15, 2017, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, leaders from pharma and biotherapeutics companies, FDA, NIH, and leading advocacy organizations will be brought together to answer these questions.

The 2017 Expanded Access Summit is designed to be a groundbreaking event for drug development. It is produced by WideTrial, a longstanding policy advisor and innovation leader in pre-approval access. WideTrial has tasked its speakers and attendees with establishing new best-practices for modern Expanded Access. Audience participation will be a critical component of the Summit outcomes, which will be compiled, edited, and submitted for publication after the event.

To learn more and take part in this event, register now on the conference website:  http://widetrial.com/

Hot Investor Mandate 1: New $300 Million Fund Focuses on Early Stage Therapeutics

3 Aug

A venture capital firm backed by a China-based investment group was founded in 2017 and is based in San Francisco, CA. The firm closed its inaugural fund of $300M and is actively seeking new investment opportunities. The fund will make 15-20 investments in total with no set number of investments per year. The firm will be actively involved in their portfolio companies and will invest $15-20M over the life of the company. Initial check sizes will depend on the company’s stage of development and their needs prior to investment. The firm will invest mainly in USA-based companies but may invest up to 20% of the fund in companies based in Western Europe.

The firm is focused solely on early-stage therapeutics and will not consider opportunities in medical devices, diagnostics, healthcare services or healthcare IT. The firm is primarily interested in traditional therapeutic modalities – programs that aim to discover and develop small molecule, antibody/protein-based clinical candidates will be considered. The ideal stages of development would be anywhere from IND candidate (12-24 months from the clinic) through Phase I, and the firm is open to all indications including orphan and rare diseases.

The firm can work with all types of management teams and places more importance on their technology. The firm can both lead and co-invest along syndicates and will generally seek board representation in portfolio companies.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com

Hot Investor Mandate 2: Insurance Firm Launches Strategic Fund to Invest in Disruptive Health Technologies

3 Aug

A leading global insurance company based in the UK launched a corporate venture capital arm in 2015. The fund will invest £100M over the next 3-5 years and will generally allocate £1-5M for up to 20% equity stake, and selectively does convertible financing as well. The firm does not invest strictly for financial returns and seeks a strategic relationship with the companies they invest in. The firm will typically participate in Series A and B rounds. The firm anticipates 4-5 investments per year, although this number is subject to fluctuate depending on deal flow. The firm will invest in technologies that will impact regions where the parent company has a footprint.

In the life sciences space, the firm seeks innovative technologies that can disrupt and transform the future of insurance. The firm will not consider therapeutics or biopharma opportunities. Any technology with implications to the insurance industry will be considered, including smart diagnostics, genomics, etc. The firm has expressed interest in technology that helps with chronic disease management and considered telemedicine companies as well. In terms of diagnostics, the firm expects the technology to be undergoing promising clinical trials that contribute to its validation. For companies that fall into the healthcare IT sector, the firm expects some ongoing traction and key partnerships to be in place.

The firm seeks to work with companies backed by a full management team with strong industry expertise. Ideally, the team will have a strong life sciences background and an experienced advisory team, with good understanding of how their product or technology works. The firm can act as the lead or co-investor and will most likely take a board seat if they were to lead.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com

Hot Investor Mandate 3: New Venture Fund Invests Early in Therapeutics and Research Tools

3 Aug

A global innovation incubator and investment group based in San Francisco, CA focuses on biomedical R&D technologies and therapeutics. In addition to an incubator for early-stage life science companies, the group has assembled a senior team of investors and executives and had their first close of a new, early-stage venture fund at $80M and is expecting a second close at $200M in Q2 of 2018. The firm will invest in seed and series A rounds in companies in the U.S. and China, and targets initial investments of up to $5M. The firm usually participates as a co-investor in a syndicate, but going forward looks to lead more priced financing rounds. The group is flexible with deal structures and may employ convertibles, straight equity, etc. depending on the needs of the company.

The firm is primarily focused on therapeutics and research tools (ex. CRISPR) and is open to most modalities, but has the most interest and expertise in antibodies and immune modulator drugs. As for therapeutic areas, the group is most interested in oncology and cognitive disorders, but will also consider therapeutics in other indications and looks to broaden their portfolio going forward.

The firm has no strict requirements for companies or management teams and is comfortable working with first-time or novice entrepreneurs as the firm’s leadership team has deep experience in the life sciences space and looks to provide guidance and strategic direction to portfolio companies.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com

Hot Investor Mandate 4: Venture Capital Firm Focuses on Preclinical Stage Treatments for Aging and Age Relate Diseases

3 Aug

A venture capital firm founded in 2016 with headquarters in Germany makes 2-4 equity investments in the range from $1-5M per year. The firm has completed their fundraising in April 2017 and is actively seeking new investments globally, with a focus in USA and Europe.

The firm invests in technologies that can treat age-related disease and damages associated with aging, such as altered protein homeostasis, cellular senescence, stem cell exhaustion, etc. The firm will consider companies working in therapeutics, diagnostics, nutritional products and advanced therapy medicinal products (gene therapy, cell therapy, tissue engineering) as long as they are relevant to the firm’s mission in targeting the basic mechanisms contributing to age-related disease. However, medical devices are currently not an area of focus. In therapeutics, the firm looks mostly at pre-clinical technologies with a validated proof-of-concept. The firm will consider companies in their later stages but prefers working with early-stage companies to provide company building and strategic support.

The firm can work with all types of management teams. The firm places higher importance in the actual science or technology in development as well as solid IP position. The firm seeks to work closely with their portfolio companies and can assist with building and structuring a full management team. As the firm generally comes in as the first institutional investor, they prefer to lead rounds and take a board seat.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com

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