The Death of ‘Innocent Until Proven Guilty’?
Unlike every other country in the world at the time, the U.S. founded its judicial system on the premise “innocent until proven guilty.” Under that guiding principle, the burden of proof – in any enforcement action –…
What Would Albus Do? And What Should We?
There’s a story, sometimes used to illustrate the difference between counseling and research psychology, about a man who pulls out one, then a second, then a third drowning person out of a river. When he sees a…
Licensing or Acquisition? Big Pharma Shares How They (and YOU) Decide
When I was at the Biocom Global Life Science Partnering Conference last week, one of the more interesting debates I heard was about whether it’s better to in-license an asset or acquire the whole company. While every…
The FDA: Stuck in 1984
While 2012 has dawned everywhere else in the world, it’s still 1984 at the FDA. With its Bad Ad program, whistle-blower suits and spotters of conference crimespeak serving as its globalwise eyes and ears, the agency has…
Like Warren Buffett, J&J Throws Down Incubator Gauntlet . . .Who’s Next?
When people talk about Johnson and Johnson’s new San Diego incubator, Janssen Labs, they can’t help but be a little bit skeptical about the fact that J&J isn’t taking any options or first-rights to compounds developed by…
San Diego Scene: Sanford-Burnham Queuing Up Behind J&J to Launch Incubator
The San Diego biotech industry has been buzzing this week with the grand opening of Johnson and Johnson’s new incubator, Janssen Labs. But already plans for another San Diego incubator are being laid, this time at the…
Five New Trends in Biotech Venture
The cover story for BioWorld Insight this week is about the biotech venture capital world, and how despite its much-publicized contraction, there’s a lot of exciting stuff going on like established firms closing new funds, established players…
He Said What?!?! Best Biotech Quotes of 2011
As BioWorld Insight readers know, our “Word on the Street” column provides a sample of the most entertaining and thought-provoking quotes our staff stumbles upon each week. Some are gathered during interviews, some gleaned from analyst reports,…
The Good, the Bad and . . . the Huh? A 2011 Biotech Recap
The past year brought the biotech sector a mixed bag of news. Some of it was positive – for instance, the FDA picked up its drug approval pace in 2011 and, in some cases, even surprised…
Evidence and its Limits
The evidence on evidence-based medicine speaks for itself. The approach is a vast improvement over everything that came before, and over current rival approaches. It’s often enough to give its practitioners a bit of hubris –which is…
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