Pharma Industry News Update: 28 April 2017
The Digital Gap Between Pharma and Other Industries In this 2-minute audio snippet, Brain Fox, Senior Partner at McKinsey, talks about how the pharma industry lags other industries in its investment in digital technology and in testing the effectiveness of its digital marketing campaigns.
Only a Small Portion of Venture Funds Land in the Hands of Digital Health Start-ups
[From research2guidance.com] There is no shortage of digital health investments. According to sources, 2016 has seen US$4.2bn worth of venture funding into digital health, while Q1 of 2017 has already US$1bn. These figures represent investments, deals and acquisitions that occur at a holistic level (small-large enterprise). However, much of the funding at the grass-roots level (where most of the innovation comes from) isn’t making its way into young digital health start-ups. Why?
Further Reading:
- Digital Disrupters Vie to Take Big #pharma “Beyond the Pill”
- Bayer’s New Grants4Apps DealMaker for Mature Companies
Theranos Deceived Investors and Offers Them Shares Not to Sue!
[From www.wsj.com] Theranos allegedly misled company directors about its laboratory-testing practices, used a shell company to “secretly” buy commercial-lab equipment, and improperly created rosy financial projections for investors, according to newly unsealed court filings in a suit by one of its investors.
The Silicon Valley company–which once promised to revolutionize the blood-testing industry using tiny samples from finger pricks–also allegedly ran “fake ‘demonstrations tests’ for prospective investors and business partners” using commercial devices while pretending to showcase its own technology, according to the filings.
Theranos said the documents reflected a “one-sided filing by one party to litigation” and that it disagrees with much of what a hedge fund suing Theranos alleges in its complaint.
Meanwhile, the company plans to offer investors shares in the company in exchange for them not filing lawsuits against the embattled blood-testing company. LOL!
Further Reading:
Why Silicon Valley Keeps Getting Biotechnology Wrong
[From www.wsj.com] Silicon Valley has a kind of blind spot when it comes to biotechnology, health-related start-ups, and other medical pursuits. The Theranos hype train was only stopped when The Wall Street Journal surfaced evidence that Theranos had misrepresented how far along it was in its research process to its investors, passing off mediocre test results as much more conclusive than they were. Venture-capital firms insist that the standard that needs to be met for investment is much higher for medical start-ups, which must prove that their technology works with data, not just a pitch. And yet somehow, when these start-ups finally surface to public consciousness, they don’t appear to pass even the most basic smell test with literally any experienced researcher in the field.
There are some confounding factors to take into account.
The Who’s Who of Health Care Lobbyists, 2017 vs 2016 Budgets
[From www.axios.com] Drug companies dug deep into their lobbying piggy banks in President Trump’s first quarter, but they weren’t the only health care companies or trade groups that increased their budgets in Washington. Here’s a list of the top 25 spenders and how much they budgeted for health care lobbying, based on an Axios review of the Senate lobbying database.
Further Reading:
- #Pharma Lobbying Wins: California Drug Price Transparency Bill is Scrapped
- PhRMA Deploys Scientists & Patients as Lobbyists on Capitol Hill
Why Silicon Valley Keeps Getting Biotechnology Wrong
