Charles Darwin told us that it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. Biotech 2010—Life Sciences: Adapting for Success, Burrill & Company’s latest annual report on the industry, provides insight into biotech’s changing environment and how not to just survive but succeed.

Podcast: August 30, 2010 

When Barack Obama was a junior senator from Illinois he introduced legislation designed to foster the development of personalized medicine. New versions of that bill have followed, but never managed to get out of committee. The latest one, introduced in May, now faces the added dynamic of an emerging controvery over direct-to-consumer genetic tests. We spoke to Dan Vorhaus, editor Genomics Law Report and an attorney with Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson about the legislative efforts, what this latest version of the bill seeks to accomplish, and whether there’s a future for direct-to-consumer genetic tests.

The Burrill Report (August 30, 2010): Legislators Weigh Goals of Personalized Medicine Bill (.MP3,16.13 Mb)

Deal, which could grow to $725 million if milestones are reached, heats up competition in low-cost sequencing.

Life Technologies will pay more than $375 million for the DNA sequencing upstart Ion Torrent, adding new fuel to the ever-heady race to become the life science industry's dominant supplier of low-cost, next-generation sequencers.

Neurochip technology opens the brain to deeper inspection.

Researchers have proved it is possible to cultivate a network of brain cells that reconnect on a silicon chip—the brain on a microchip—by developing a neurochip technology that monitors brain cell activity at a higher resolution than has yet been achieved.

Two companies developing alternatives to petroleum file to go public.

PetroAlgae and Gevo, two alternative fuel and chemical companies, hope to fire up the tepid IPO waters. PetroAlgae, which produces biocrude from duckweed, has not generated any revenue yet, and has just filed to go public. The Florida-based renewable energy company, which has traded over-the-counter under an inactive shell corporation, hopes to raise $200 million. The underwriters of the offering are Goldman Sachs; UBS Investment Bank, and Citi.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given a green light to Geron to proceed with the first trial of a human embryonic stem cell derived therapy in humans. The decision sets into motion a study that had been placed on hold in 2009 over safety concerns after data in a preclinical study of the therapy showed some rats that had received the cells developed cysts.

Investors kill the $1.6 billion acquisition.

Charles River Laboratories and WuXi PharmaTech terminated their acquisition agreement due to investor opposition by Jana Partners, Charles River’s largest shareholder. The contract research organization giant will pay WuXi a $30 million breakup fee as a result.

Merck charts China expansion with Sinopharm.

Merck and China's largest pharmaceutical and health company, Sinopharm, are collaborating to increase access to and sales of human papillomavirus and other selected vaccines in that country, one of the world’s fastest growing pharmaceutical markets. The partners signed a statement of mutual intent to cement the deal and say they’ll also discuss the potential for promoting and marketing Merck’s pharmaceutical products in China.

Stinging report comes as FDA interest in their products reaches a boil.

The Government Accountability Office unveiled testimony showing identical DNA samples yielding contradictory results from four companies it investigated: 23andMe, Decode Genetics, Pathway Genomics, and Navigenics. The report comes as a new wave of letters from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is asking 14 companies to justify offering their consumer-oriented genetic tests without the agency's approval.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America named John Castellani as president and CEO replacing Billy Tauzin, who stepped down from the post earlier this year and remains a senior advisor to the trade group. Castellani, who headed the Business Roundtable, comes at a difficult time for the industry. Its reputation with the public is suffering, its relationships in Congress are strained, and headlines over drug safety plague it as it readies for a legislative fight to renew the Prescription Drug User Fee Act. We spoke to Ian Spatz, former vice president of global health policy at Merck and founder of the Rock Creek Policy Group, about a recent In Vivo blog he penned in which he offered his advice to PhRMA’s new CEO, why repairing the industry’s reputation should be Castellani’s top priority, and why the industry remains unloved by the public at large.

The Burrill Report (July 19, 2010): Can PhRMA's New CEO Repair the Industry's Image?(.MP3,12.33 Mb)