BIO 2016 Notebook: Dealmaking, Reputation, Thailand And Boehringer Beyond Borders

During the final days of the BIO International Convention, we heard about trends in biopharma deals for 2016, a call to arms for individuals to do more to communicate the industry's positive impact, and anticipated reforms in Thailand.

Dealmaking Trends: Antibiotics A Seller's Market; Oncology A Buyer's Market

inVentiv Health Consulting MD Neel Patel, presenting results of the firm's annual survey of industry dealmakers' intentions at a session on June 9 – the final day of BIO – shared data on the varying levels of buyer demand versus asset availability from sellers. Antibiotics emerged as the area with the greatest demand surplus, with pain, CNS and gastrointestinal indications also evident as strong markets for sellers, while supply now looks to be outstripping demand in oncology, hepatic indications and dermatology.

Overall, 2016 looks like a seller's market, particularly for firms with later-stage assets to partner, license or sell. However, total deal value for the year is expected to come down from its extraordinary peak in 2015 to mirror the five-year average, the consulting firm predicts. The data was crunched from survey responses provided by 143 licensing professionals across the industry. – Eleanor Malone

Microbiome Overload?

One particularly memorable quote from inVentiv's panel discussion on dealmaking outlook came from Ellen Lubman, vice president, external science and innovation at Allergan PLC, as a comment on currently hot emerging areas of biotechnology. "If I hear about one more microbiome thing I might myself get C. diff," she told the audience.

Her more serious point was that "throwing theses around is irrelevant" and that it doesn't make sense to talk about a whole area in broad terms as representing a high risk or offering a significant opportunity. Instead, feasibility and ultimately success in any field will be determined individually for each asset, and "will depend specifically on the science, the platform and the data."

Even so, microbiome-focused Second Genome, which Scrip interviewed a day earlier, may want to be careful in its approach if it hasn't already tried to connect with Lubman. (Also see "BIO 2016 Notebook: Pricing And Innovation Hot Topics In San Francisco" - Scrip, 8 Jun, 2016.) – Eleanor Malone

Standing Up For Pharma, Face-To-Face

The vexed question of industry's poor reputation among the public was also discussed during the session, with Jim Healy, general partner at Sofinnova Ventures, declaring that when it came to healthcare pricing excesses, "the baddest actor is the insurance industry." (Also see "BIO 2016 Notebook: Pricing And Innovation Hot Topics In San Francisco" - Scrip, 8 Jun, 2016.)

Panelists lauded BIO CEO Jim Greenwood's efforts to communicate the biopharma industry's positive aspects through the organization's "Time Is Precious campaign," but Christian Hordo, Juno Therapeutics Inc.'s senior director of business development, warned that "there's an inherent skepticism whenever the message comes from industry and its organizations." Instead, he exhorted all those working in the industry to "be [its] individual ambassadors," speaking out when questioned to counter negative assumptions and explain the value of what the sector delivers to society.

"I don't know of any other industry with a greater disconnect between the perceptions and motivations of the people in the industry and the external perceptions of that industry," he said. "If we don't do more to own that message, we'll leave it to the politicians and the Shkrelis and that's a threat to our industry." – Eleanor Malone

Expect Reform In Thailand

Delegates from Thailand's public body TCELS (Thailand Center of Excellence for Life Sciences), the National Biopharmaceutical Facility at King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, and the country's Office of the Board of Investment told Scrip that changes should be on their way soon that will benefit biopharma doing business in Thailand.

TCELS and private companies are submitting proposals for the reform of the Thai FDA to make it more competitive with counterpart agencies in the region, notably the Korean and Singaporean regulators, which are aggressive in providing fast turnaround times to attract businesses to their locations. TCELS and partners want a restructure of the Thai FDA along with more resources to speed up the review and registration of new drugs, greater flexibility at the agency and more rapid approval of clinical trials.

They wouldn't reveal the precise details of the proposals, which are aimed at driving forward the country's stated aim of fostering growth in the strategic industry of biotechnology, and will be reviewed at a cabinet meeting later this month. The country already offers incentives, such as generous tax breaks, and can compete globally on cost.

But more is needed, including the opening up of the government procurement market, argued Dr Nares Damrongchai, CEO of TCELS; Ajarin Pattanapanchai, deputy secretary general of the Office of the Board of Investment; and Dr.-Ing. Panit Kitsubun, technical director and validation director at the NBF. – Eleanor Malone

Researching Beyond Boehringer Ingelheim's Border

With 11 new products launched within the past two years and four breakthrough therapy designations from the US FDA – including two approved drugs – Boehringer Ingelheim GMBH is coming through a very successful late-stage development period and refocusing on early-stage innovation. Scrip spoke with Boehringer's Senior Corporate Vice President and Head of Discovery Research Clive Wood about the company's many investments in emerging technologies at BIO on July 8.

"We have very much a tradition of strong, internal research and a passion for external innovation, wrapped up in our planning ability," Wood said, noting that Boehringer's private ownership makes it unique among big pharma companies. BI can take a long-term view of drug development without worrying about the constant ups and downs of its stock price based on incremental pipeline updates.

Wood said Boehringer traditionally has had different business development groups that focused on each of the company's core therapeutic areas – cardiovascular, oncology, respiratory, central nervous system, metabolic diseases and immunology. Going forward, he said there will be one business development group seeking licensing and acquisition opportunities across therapeutic areas, which should eliminate any confusion from potential partners about who to contact regarding their technology.

To that end, the business development team will continue to search for therapeutic candidates within BI's key areas, but they also will seek opportunities within the company's "Research Beyond Borders" initiative.

"Some of the most exciting stuff, when it comes into pharma, doesn't fit [within the core business]. They say, 'It doesn't help my goals today or tomorrow' and no one within the company wants to take ownership," Wood said. However, Research Beyond Borders allows Boehringer to engage with scientists and biotech companies about their discoveries even when the resulting product would fall outside of BI's current therapeutic areas.

Declining levels of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in the US may or may not play a role in the level of interest that Boehringer has seen in terms of scientists or biotechs that want to partner with the company. Wood has a different take: "They just have projects that they want to work on collaboratively." – Mandy Jackson