The grass is not growing around Henri Termeer's ankles. The former CEO of Genzyme donated $10 M to Mass General Hospital to found a new center called the Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies. The new center will work to advance new drugs that target tumors defined by a specific genetic profile shared by niche patient populations. See Fierce Biotech and Xconomy.
Said Termeer, "I hope this will help Massachuesetts be recognized globally as the knowledge center in targeted medicines. This is a global effort, but Massachuesetts has the responsibility to lead, to use the talents and capabilities it has built over many years."
So in one grand gesture, Termeer has backed an important growth area in cancer treatment. Targeted therapies coupled with companion diagnostic tests are clearly a major trend that the pharma companies are workign on and which is also supported philosophically by the regulatory bodies. And, Termeer has founded the new effort in his home ground territory in Massachuesetts which no doubt will lose some jobs due to Sanofi purchase of Genzyme but now will gain some momentum to build in another key area of medicine.
Posted by Bruce Lehr Sep 13th 2011.
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