John Sterling, editor in chief of Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
Last week Russo Partners attended BIOCOM’s breakfast meeting, one of a series of events featuring a panel of experts discussing key issues in the life sciences industry. This discussion focused on the promise of personalized medicine as well as challenges facing the space and was moderated by John Sterling, editor in chief of Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News.
Insights into the personalized medicine space were provided by a panel consisting of Mark Erlander, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of bioTheranostics, David Nelson, Ph.D., president & CEO of Epic Sciences, Darlene Solomon, chief technology officer of Agilent Technologies, and Ashley A. Van Zeeland, Ph.D., co-founder, Cypher Genomics, and director of strategic partnerships at the Scripps Translational Science Institute. Russo Partners was especially interested in this topic as many of our clients are involved in the personalized medicine space, such as Endocyte, a company co-developing targeted cancer therapeutics with companion diagnostics.
Key points from the discussion included:
- Beyond validity and accuracy, companion diagnostics must demonstrate clinical utility – the ability of the test to show that it is improving patient outcomes
- Companion diagnostics lower the technical risk involved in developing therapeutics, however business risks exist for diagnostics companies
- Currently, there is an unprecedented level of interest from big pharma in developing companion diagnostics
- While it may seem expensive to invest in developing a companion diagnostic, especially for small and medium size biopharma companies, it is also costly to treat a patient with an ineffective drug
BIOCOM events such as these provide the life sciences industry in Southern California with a valuable opportunity to discuss key issues affecting the space as well as network with peers. Russo Partners has worked with BIOCOM in the past to raise awareness of other initiatives that support the community, including BIOCOM’s Second Annual Global Life Science Partnering Conference, and we are currently working with BIOCOM to develop the front-page article of LifeLines, the organization’s quarterly newsletter. We look forward to working with BIOCOM as they continue to work to support the Southern California life sciences community.
