Portola: A Cardiovascular Boutique with Big Plans
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
The founders of Bay Area start-up Portola Pharmaceuticals aim to leverage understanding of platelets, as well as their experiences at Cor Therapeutics and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. They intend to create an improved version of the blockbuster blood thinner Plavix. A key task for reaching that goal, they say, will be developing some new way to assay what's actually going on with platelets circulating in a patient's body at a given point in time.
You may also be interested in...
Where Are They Now? Checking In On Four Cardiovascular Start-Ups
It's no secret increasing generic competition and regulatory oversight, combined with the financial challenges of developing a primary care drug, make cardiovascular a tough place for venture-backed biotechs. START-UP takes the pulse of four previously profiled cardiovascular companies -- arca Biopharma, Celladon, NovaCardia and Portola Pharmaceuticals, -- to see what lessons they've learned.
Super-Specialist CROs: Commercializing Pharma R&D Expertise
Outsourcing is not just for mundane pharma services anymore. Increasingly, drugmakers are contracting for specialized R&D assistance they expect to provide strategic as well as tactical advantages.