Monthly Archives: July 2007
Amgen tries its hand at venture capital
Over the past ten years a number of large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have established venture funds to help small start-up biotechnology companies. The aim of these funds is to find new ideas, products and technology platforms to supplement internal … Continue reading
Filed under acquisitions, Venture Capital
Hedge funds get a taste for biotechnology companies
Biotechnology companies and hedge funds seem odd bedfellows. Biotechnology companies operate on time frames frequently stretching into decades, hedge funds typically operate on time frames measured in days. So why are some hedge funds becoming involved in the biotechnology sector? … Continue reading
Filed under Thought pieces
Biopharmaceutical partnering in China
China has become an attractive place for foreign investment in research and development, including the biopharmaceutical sector. A report by the US National Science Foundation in 2004 indicated that between 1994 and 2001 American multinational companies quadrupled their research and … Continue reading
Filed under Thought pieces
Biotechnology beyond the US
US inventors have continued to dominate biotechnology innovation since the first commercialisation of biotechnology in the USA in the mid-1980s. Material analysed from Silico Research’s database of 22,000 biotechnology-related patents filed at the USPTO indicates that the USA continues to … Continue reading
Filed under Research
AstraZeneca’s acquisition of Medimmune
On April 23 2007 AstraZeneca announced it’s acquisition of MedImmune for $15.6 billion. At least 20 companies had expressed an interest in acquiring MedImmune before AstraZeneca stepped in. The deal brings to AstraZeneca an additional 45 projects to its research … Continue reading
Filed under Thought pieces
South Korea’s biopharmaceutical patent footprint a year on from Hwang
A year on from the indictment of Hwang Woo-Suk for his embezzlement of research funds and faking of stem cell results how has the South Korean biotechnology developed and what prospects are there for biopharmaceutical partnering there today? Signs are … Continue reading
Filed under Research
Johnson & Johnson turns to internal venturing
In a move designed to encourage collaborative ventures between its 230 subsidiaries internal Johnson & Johnson has recently set up an Internal Ventures Group. Until now Johnson & Johnson had allowed its acquired companies to function largely autonomously in the … Continue reading
Filed under Thought pieces
GlaxoSmithKline announces Chinese neurology research centre
GlaxoSmithKline has announced a new Chinese research and development centre to add to its 32 research sites around the world. The centre is to be based in Shanghai and will be focused on the development of drugs to treat neurodegenerative … Continue reading
Filed under Thought pieces
China’s biopharmaceutical patent footprint
Since 1997 Chinese based inventors have slowly increased their filing for biopharmaceutical-related patents with the American USPTO, reaching a peak in 2003. While the proportion of Chinese inventors filing for biotechnology-related patents with the USPTO remain small by comparison with … Continue reading
Filed under Research
