Massachusetts Biotechnology Council

ALSO NOTED: BioSeek to collaborate with Merck KGaA; BioAlliance acquires drug rights; and much more...

Tue, 20 May 2008 06:59:50 -0400

> BioSeek has forged a collaboration deal with Merck KGaA to evaluate the potential of small molecules and proteins. Release

> BioAlliance Pharma has acquired the European rights to ondansetron Oral Spray, which is being developed by NovaDel Pharma. NovaDel gets a $3 million licensing fee and up to $24 million in milestones. Release

> Dr. Dale Bredesen is leaving the Buck Institute for Age Research and launching Prevarex, which will help people understand more about medical research and advances in diagnostics. Report

> A U.S. court hearing over Seroquel's patents has been bumped forward to today from June 4, boosting speculation that the drugmaker might just come out on top in the high-stakes case. AstraZeneca report

> Rep. Bart Stupak might be a severe FDA critic, but he's also shaping up to be the agency's dearest friend. Chief of the House Energy and Commerce committee's oversight-and-investigations group, Stupak helped push FDA commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach to ask for millions more in FDA funding. FDA report

> The British press is abuzz today with the fact that outgoing GlaxoSmithKline CEO Jean-Pierre Garnier abruptly ended a BBC interview when it turned adversarial. Report

And Finally… The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council and the American Cancer Society are raising $1.4 million to fund three years of research by 10 Massachusetts cancer scientists. Story

Are Mass. lawmakers 'anti-biopharmaceutical'?

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

After coming up with a billion-dollar program to encourage the growth of the state's biotech industry, you'd think that BIO and the biopharma biz would be giving great bear hugs to Massachusetts lawmakers. Instead, GSK wrote a letter to the governor castigating the bill for demonstrating "a strong anti-biopharmaceutical streak." And BIO complained that the bill included a provision that threatened research as well as patient treatment.

The target of all this ire? A provision that bans any and all gifts from a drug company to a physician. That's any and all, as in free lunches, trips to swanky resorts or even cheap pens with company logos on them.

Nonsense, replied state senator Mark Montigny. Lawmakers felt that the gifts--which don't include drug samples--encouraged the use of expensive branded drugs without really benefiting patients.

- read the AP report

Funds from non-profit groups flow to biotech R&D

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Epix Pharmaceuticals said this morning that its development pact with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has mushroomed into a $50 million deal, adding $37.7 million to the $12 million already provided by the Foundation for new drug research. Epix will have to hit a series of goals for the money. And as a story in the Boston Globe makes clear, Boston-area biotech companies have been able to garner ever larger sums of cash to advance new therapies. Other examples include $25 million in research cash provided by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, $8.5 million from the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation and $6 million from the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

"It's becoming a significant method of funding," Robert Coughlin, president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, tells the Globe.

"By utilizing our proprietary in silico technology to model the CFTR ion channel, we were able to quickly discover novel CFTR modulators that are fueling our structure-based optimization approach," says Epix CEO Michael G. Kauffman.

- check out the press release
- read the article in the Boston Globe

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Epix shares soar on $1.2B pact with GSK. Report
Epix anxiety drug fails in late-stage trial. Report

Incentive bill open only to MA-based biotechs

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:59:54 -0500

The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council got a surprise when the state's $1 billion biotech incentive bill was unveiled yesterday. As it turns out, only companies that have their U.S. headquarters based in Massachusetts are eligible for the funding, meaning that 40 members of the Mass BIO are out of luck if they don't relocate operations. "If we're going to spend a billion dollars, we would like to get as many corporate headquarters here as we can," said Rep. Dan Bosley (D), who was involved in drafting the bill. Mike Webb, Mass BIO's chairman, wasn't expecting that requirement but said he doesn't foresee it being a problem. Massachusetts lawmakers, including chief proponent Gov. Deval Patrick, say the massive funding bill is necessary to help Massachusetts keep its edge in the biotech economic development race.

- check out this report

Related Articles:
Mass. lawmakers see support for $1B biotech bill. Report
Mass. job stats a mystery to economists. Report
Mass. announces $1B stem cell plan. Report
Mass. fills in the details on $1B biotech program. Report

Mass. Bio launches ad campaign, ups lobbying

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 06:59:56 -0500

The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MBC) has two big projects in the works: it's upping its lobbying spending and at the same time kicking off an ad campaign to boost its profile in the state. Recently, MBC has weathered controversy over the council's leadership--former MBC head Thomas Finneran pled guilty to obstruction of justice earlier this year--and its pay packages.

MBC's current CEO, Robert Coughlin, will be leading the effort in Washington to discuss issues such as patent reform and federal research funding. With the ad campaign, MBC hopes to raise local awareness of the work biotechs do in Massachusetts, and the contributions medical research will bring to public health in the future.

- read this article from the Boston Herald

Related Articles:
Mass. fills in the details on $1B biotech program. Report
Boston biotech booming as scientific research flourishes. Report
Massachusetts biotech council taps new president. Report
Mass. Bio's Finneran takes a felony plea deal. Report

Mass. Bio members distraught over new controversy

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 06:59:56 -0400

With a fresh controversy swirling around newly appointed Executive Director Robert Coughlin, the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council is being hit with criticism from its own members concerned that the group is constantly finding itself mired in one political scrap after the next. Coughlin has been hit with allegations that he had a conflict when he worked as an aide to the governor, developing biotech initiatives while he was being considered for the top post on the council. His predecessor, former House Speaker Thomas Finneran, was forced to resign after he pleaded guilty to obstruction charges.

"It's a real shame," Alison Taunton-Rigby, chief executive of RiboNovix, told The Boston Globe. "We are an industry that is very clean and very pure and it hurts to have things like this happen."

- here's the article from The Boston Globe

New Mass. Bio chief caught in fresh controversy

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 06:59:56 -0400

In Massachusetts, the politics of biotechnology is something of a blood sport. The new chief of the state's biotech council, Robert K. Coughlin, is mounting a defense against charges that he is guilty of a conflict of interest. The conflict, critics say, lies in negotiating for the job while he was an aide for the governor, working on some significant biotech initiatives. It didn't help that he waited six weeks to disclose the job talks. The job pays up to $500,000 a year. Coughlin replaced Thomas Finneran, a former political heavyweight who very slowly tendered his resignation after agreeing to plead guilty to obstruction charges.

- read the article from The Boston Globe

Related Articles:
Massachusetts biotech council taps new president. Report
Mass. Bio's Finneran takes a felony plea deal. Report
Finneran resigns from council. Report
Finneran's reign at Mass Bio may soon end. Report