Life Science Nation Newsletter  |  January 29, 2015  |  Issue 96

  The LSN Story   |   Investor Platform   |   Company Platform   |   RESI Conference   |   Fundraising Accelerator
Life Science Investor Mandates (Jan. 22 - Jan. 28)

Seeking Global High-Growth Medical Device, Diagnostic, and Digital Health Opportunities

Seeking Seed Stage Highly Novel Life Science Opportunities

Seeking Pre-Clinical/Phase I Therapeutic and Platform Opportunities
In This Issue

The Life Science Venture Philanthropy Landscape

CRO Trends in 2015

[Video] 5 Major Investors Discuss Clinical Phase I & Phase II Investing 

LSN Videos
UMass Boston MKT465 Sales and Marketing 
RESI 2014 Fall, Fenway Park
RESI 3 Family Office Panel
  
RESI 3 Outbound Fundraising Panel 
RESI 3 Corporate Venture Capital Panel
The Life Science Venture Philanthropy Landscape
By Michael Quigley, Director of Research, LSN

 

LSN researchers recently decided to take a deep dive into interviews we have held with venture philanthropy groups from around the world to see what the future likely has in store. After analyzing data gathered over the past three years from more than 150 investors, we uncovered a few notable trends.

Diseases of the nervous system is the indication area with the greatest amount of interest from venture philanthropy investors. (See Figure 1.) This is likely a result of the notoriously high risk in this sector, stemming from a lack of accurate animal models that can serve as a viable gauge for human efficacy and safety. This heightened uncertainty drives many venture capital and other financially motivated investors away from the sector entirely, leaving a gap that venture philanthropy organizations hope to fill. Additionally, there are a massive number of unmet needs in the space, particularly with respect to diseases such as Alzheimer's, the prevalence of which is increasing as the overall age of the population increases...
  

CRO Trends in 2015

By Alejandro Zamorano, VP of Business Development, LSN 

 

LSN maintains regular dialogue with a broad spectrum of contract research organizations (CROs) - from top-tier full service organizations, to small niche-specialized research companies; some are customers of the LSN Company Platform, and others are friends.  Every year we talk to hundreds of business executives in the field. Based on our market insight, here are the top trends we see in 2015.

The Monetization of Data

CROs are beginning to realize the power of their clinical data after years of ignoring this information. Some established CROs are even monetizing their data set by anonymizing the data, providing incredible insight to researchers.  This should also help companies on deciding when a trial should be killed, and whether a drug is a worth pursuing when a sub-population seems to respond the treatment. In an ideal world all clinical data should be standardized for analysis, but this is a great first step.

 

The Death of the Undifferentiated CRO

The CRO industry has exploded over the past 5 years, and competition is fierce. By searching the LSN Company Platform, one can find profiles of 859 clinical trial providers globally. Standing out amongst the vast herd is becoming harder, and most are competing on location, speed and increasingly price. In order to stay competitive sales teams have started to target biotech companies as early as the discovery stage, in order to form a relationship before others come knocking on the door...


[Video] 5 Major Investors Discuss Clinical Phase I & Phase II Investing
By Nono Hu, Senior Manager, Branding & Messaging, LSN

 

At the fourth Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) Conference, LSN put together 16 biotech and medtech investor panels, in which we are featuring five major investors actively investing in and working with therapeutic companies in phase I and phase II of clinical trials. If you have entered into clinical trials (or are preparing to), the panel can help you understand the keys to positioning your opportunity at this stage and how best to approach investors in the initial outreach. The panelists answered a variety of questions, including: What types of things do you look for in an investment opportunity? Do you prefer companies with a platform approach or those focused on single assets? What do you think of build-to-buy partnerships with big pharma? What company profile is appropriate for venture funding? How do you manage an investment for success? What is the best way to approach you?...

 

RESI 4 Clinical Phase I & Phase II Panel
RESI 4 Clinical Phase I & Phase II Investor Panel

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