Bluebird Bio chief Leschly pulled down $24M in 2018. But can he make it pay off?

fiercepharma | April 25, 2019

Biotechs are taking over the world—of executive pay, at least. Bluebird Bio chief Nick Leschly racked up a pay package worth almost $24 million for 2018, beating out every Big Pharma CEO. And the company doesn’t even have an approved drug yet. The gene therapy specialist didn’t have a great year with investors, either. Shares peaked in March at $232 per share, a couple weeks before Celgene opted to co-promote its CAR-T med bb2121, but by year’s end had dropped to just over $97. But only a sliver of Leschly’s 2018 haul came in cash, which means the company will have to hit some performance goals—and shares will have to recover—for the CEO to convert that pay into a payoff.

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Ginkgo Bioworks Advances Collaboration with Novo Nordisk on Expression Systems for Pharmaceutical Products

PRNewswire | July 13, 2023

Ginkgo Bioworks which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, today announced the completion of the pilot phase of their previously announced partnership with Novo Nordisk, a leading global healthcare company, to develop expression systems for pharmaceutical products. With the pilot phase completed and the first milestone achieved, the two companies will now move into the development phase to work towards making a more effective production process. Achievement of the first milestone included extensive modification and testing of a microbial expression system to understand the impact of the modifications on key performance parameters. "Ginkgo's achievement of the first milestone has both excited and inspired us, giving us the confidence to move into the next phase of this ambitious project," said Brian Vandahl, Senior Vice President, Global Research Technologies at Novo Nordisk. "This progress is a strong indicator of the potential we have to engineer biological systems that will expand the chemical space of biological medicines." "We're excited to continue our work with Novo Nordisk to help provide innovative treatment options for patients with diabetes, obesity, and other serious chronic diseases," said Jason Kelly, CEO and co-founder, Ginkgo Bioworks. "The next phase of this project will build on our existing microbial design, engineering, and phenotyping expertise while expanding Ginkgo's capabilities in genome-scale design and engineering. We believe this work will enable us to support even more pharmaceutical products, helping to achieve better outcomes for patients." About Ginkgo Bioworks. Ginkgo Bioworks is the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, providing flexible, end-to-end services that solve challenges for organizations across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to pharmaceuticals to industrial and specialty chemicals. Ginkgo's biosecurity and public health unit, Concentric by Ginkgo, is building global infrastructure for biosecurity to empower governments, communities, and public health leaders to prevent, detect, and respond to a wide variety of biological threats.

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PHARMACY MARKET

Cytel continues expansion of market access and medical communication capabilities with the acquisition of co.faktor

businesswire | September 28, 2023

Cytel Inc., provider of quantitative insights and health data analytics to leaders in the life sciences, has acquired the Berlin-based company co.faktor GmbH with its dedicated healthcare consultancy services co.value® (market access), co.medical® (medical communications), and co.patient® (patient relations) concentrations. As a result, Cytel’s services for biopharma commercialization will gain new and complementary specialist consultancy capabilities and localized expertise for successful market access in Germany, a first wave launch country. The acquisition marks another milestone in Cytel’s strategic growth in Europe, and follows the recent acquisition of stève consultants, specialists in market access, real-world evidence (RWE), and health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) in France. Cytel now boasts a 200-person-strong access consultancy team, making it one of the only providers that offers the full fleet of advisory services, from clinical trial and real-world data and evidence analytics to global market access and local in-country Health Technology Assessment (HTA) support. Cytel is now primed to provide global drug sponsors and their affiliate teams with advanced analytical support across the lifecycle through commercialization. Achieving favorable market access in today’s global healthcare industry is challenging and requires deep knowledge of EU national regulations. Cytel has long excelled at using proven quantitative techniques to help pharmaceutical manufacturers successfully enter new markets. To continue supporting global and local clients on their road to commercial success, Cytel has invested heavily in specialized, national capabilities in key launch markets with the recent acquisitions of stève consultants in June 2023 and SDS Life Sciences in 2022. Cytel’s most recent acquisition of the co.faktor businesses continues this investment, augmenting and extending localized regulatory support through product launch and commercialization. “The co.faktor team is recognized as a highly specialized biopharma services provider, with a broad spectrum of services including HTA, pricing, medical communication, patient relations, and strategic consultancy in Germany. It’s no surprise they’ve shaped the field there,” said Radek Wasiak, General Manager, Real-World & Advanced Analytics at Cytel. “We look forward to welcoming them to Cytel, where they will now be supported by the full depth and breadth of our unparalleled biometrics, RWE, HEOR, and market access advisory talent.” “Cytel and co.faktor have clear synergies, particularly when it comes to Cytel’s data know-how and co.faktor’s understanding of Germany’s uniquely complex market access and HTA requirements,” said Dr. Marc Esser, CEO, co.faktor. “By combining our deep expertise in the German HTA process with Cytel’s unique capabilities, we will be able to help our clients survive the upcoming European Health Technology Assessment (EU-HTA), a key challenge for all stakeholders in the European pharma market.” About Cytel Cytel is the largest provider of statistical software and advanced analytics for clinical trial design and execution. For over thirty-five years, Cytel’s scientific rigor and operational excellence have enabled biotech and pharmaceutical companies to navigate uncertainty, prove value and make confident, evidence-based decisions. Its experts deliver industry-leading software, data-driven analytics, real-world evidence, and strategic consulting. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, Cytel has more than 1,900 resources across North America, Europe, and Asia. About co.faktor For more than ten years, Berlin-based co.faktor GmbH has been providing specialized consulting services with its dedicated healthcare consultancy services co.value® (market access), co.medical® (medical communications), and co.patient® (patient relations) concentrations. By synergistically combining the expertise in these areas, co.faktor offers efficient launch support with consistent messaging to all relevant stakeholders.

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Pharmacy Market

Nexus Pharmaceuticals Receives FDA Approval for 0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection

businesswire | August 31, 2023

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