The Big Red Biotech Blog

Just Back from Final Four

I just returned from an exciting trip to Atlanta to see the Final Four.  Unfortunately, my Orangemen didn't win but all 3 games were very competitive, the people were nice, and I had a wonderful time.  I even fit in a Braves-Cubs game on the off-day Sunday before seeing Sting and Dave Matthews.  Really good stuff.  Congratulations to Louisville.

Regardless, good season for the Cuse and Let's Go Orange!

Posted by Bruce Lehr Apr 10th 2013.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

A Happy St. Patrick's Day to you from Saint Frank O'Harris. Patron St. of the Black N' Gold.

Posted by Bruce Lehr March 17th 2013

Related articles

Happy St. Patrick's Day

SMILE! BE HAPPY!

Posted by Bruce Lehr Mar 6th 2013

Baseball and New Drugs

I love baseball.  The actual game really and discussions around it.  I'm less into the statistics but they are a usual part of baseball discussions.  I'm even less into sabermetrics though I do acknowledge they provide another interesting way to look at the stats of the game and do have merit in potential decision making in the game.

So I was really happy to see this morning's Xconomy post that compared evaluating baseball with the evaluating a drug development pipeline.  I thought many of the analogis held up pretty well -- you'll have to read it and decide for yourself. But one thing is correct in my view, we should continue to strive to find the best metrics to look at the success of drug development and open our minds toward doing this and operating in a fashion different than our historic past.  It is well pas that time.

Posted by Bruce Lehr Mar 1st 2013.  

Smoky Mac N' Cheese. Yum! Yum!

Here's what you gonna need.

• 8 ounces dry macaroni
• 1/2 pound thick sliced apple wood smoked bacon
• 2 cups half and half
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon white truffle butter
• 8 ounces smoked gouda, grated
• 1  teaspoon smoked paprika
• sea salt, as needed for cooking macaroni

To Cook:   

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Lightly butter baking dish or dishes.  This recipe will make enough for 10 1/2 cup ramekins.
2. Line a large, shallow baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Place the bacon side-by-side on
   the baking pan.  Bake in oven until crispy, about 20 minutes for thick-cut bacon.  Remove from oven and place on several layers of paper towels to drain.  (Do not turn off oven!)  Chop bacon into smallish pieces and set aside.
3. Pour 8 cups of water into a 3-quart saucepot.  Salt water according to macaroni package.  Bring the salted water to a boil and carefully add the macaroni to the water.  Cook only until macaroni is at a slightly firm al dente (approximately seven minutes, but depending on the quality of the macaroni, cooking times may vary).  DO NOT over-cook the pasta.  It is necessary for the macaroni to be a bit undercooked because it is going to absorb additional liquid from the sauce.
4. Drain cooked macaroni in a strainer/colander and rinse under cool water to stop the cooking process.  Drain well, then set aside while the sauce is prepared.
5. In a 3-quart saucepot, add the half and half (it's ok to use the same saucepot the macaroni was cooked in).  Whisk in the 2 tablespoons flour until smooth.  Add the white truffle butter and the smoked paprika to the half and half mixture.  Heat over medium or medium-low heat until hot and beginning to thicken, whisking constantly.
6. When the sauce is hot, stir in the cheese.  Continue to stir until cheese is melted and sauce is smooth.  Turn off heat.  Reserve about 1/4 cup of the chopped bacon, set aside.  Stir the remaining bacon into the sauce.  Taste and add salt, if needed.
7. Fold the macaroni and the sauce together.  Pour macaroni into the ramekins or casserole dish.  To help catch potential spills, place baking dish or dishes on a baking pan.  Top with reserved bacon.
8. Bake for approximately 10-20 minutes, depending on the size of the container, until hot and bubbly.  Serve immediately.

To Drink:  

Trenel Sanit-Veran 2010

Pale gold in color, this Saint-Veran offers up an intense and complex combination of white flowers, green apple, and ripe peach aromas.  The palate is soft on the entry with lemony apple flavors and a clean, crisp finish.

Saint-Veran is an appellation of dry white wines produced in the southern half of the Maconnais sub-region of Burgundy.  This clean and crisp 100% Chardonnay is a perfect compliment to the rich and creamy mac and cheese.

Recipe courtesy of Terri at That's Some Good Cookin' Blog.

Posted by Bruce Lehr Feb 28th 2013.

 

Well, yeah! And your point.....

"No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money."            --- Samuel Johnson

What's in a Drug Namzx?

Several commentators have recently mentioned all the new drugs with odd syllables and letter combinations -- often centering on the use of X's and Z's.  This is supposedly due to these types of names being "memorable" for prescribing MDs and to the public -- and due to regulatory requirements that names not be "confusing" with those of other drugs.

Although this might sound sensible -- I think on closer inspection it may not be when you consider how some of these names can be confused with other similar more popular names.  Zelboraf for instance, may be a drug, but is also a prison in Afghanistan.  Xalkori?  Best known as being the consort of Xena, Warrior Princess.  Jakafi is of course a new blend at Starbucks, while Xeljanz is a popular flavor of Gelato. 

See Fierce Biotech and In the Pipeline.

Posted by Bruce Lehr Jan 28th 2013

Random Coffee Cake Recipe

I found this in Parade magazine and made it for my kids and me when they were visiting over Christmas break. It was delicious and we decided it was definitely "a keeper".

Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

• 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries (I used canned whole because I had them)
• 2 Tbsp chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp grated orange rind
• 1/2 cup butter, softened and divided
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice (I used a blood orange that I had)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (used some from Madagasscar that was on hand)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup fat-free buttermilk (I used regular 2% milk)

For the glaze

• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 tsp melted butter
• 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

How do we make this classic? 

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat a 9-inch square or a 9- or 10-inch round baking pan with cooking spray and dust with flour
2. Combine cranberries, walnuts and orange rind in a  small bowl.  In a saucepan, melt 2 Tbsp butter over medium.  Stir in brown sugar, orange juice and cinnamon. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour into your pan. Sprinkle cranberry mixture on top.
3. Whisk flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl.
4. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer (I did by hand and it worked fine) set on medium, beat granulated sugar and remaining butter until creamy.  Add vanilla, egg, buttermilk to the flour mixture. Spoon over the cranberries.
5. Bake 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of the cake comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes.  Invert onto a (plate) on rack to finish cooling. Beat glaze ingredients. Drizzle over cake and serve.

It was very rich and sweet.  But very good. Cranberries help temper sweetness of other ingredients. Serves 4-5.

Posted by Bruce Lehr Jan 19th 2013.

BIG RED REACHES NEW MILESTONE

 

BIG RED HITS 200,000 Page Views on November 29, 2012 at 10:45 am CST.  Yay! Yay! Double Yay!

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr Nov 29 2012.

 

 

TRUE.

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr Nov 9th 2012

Wassup with Vaccines

Takeda has decided to become a global player in vaccines challenging some of the biggest names out there like Sanofi, Merck, GSK, Pfizer and Novartis. They've hired Tadataka Yamada, GSK's former R&D chairman to spearhead the effort. He previously also worked at the Bill Gates' foundation and gained a global view of the vaccine world in that position.

The strategy at Takeda's new unit is to advance vaccines that combat bugs for which there are no vaccines.  Last month they bought LigoCyte ($60 M) and its lead vaccine aimed at treating norovirus gastroenteritis.  Approximately 21 million Americans are afflicted by this disease annually and there is currently no vaccine. Takeda notes that vaccines take a long time to develop compared to many pharmaceuticals but have a higher rate of success than pharma products at each clinical stage. See Fierce Biotech. 

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation made another equity investment ($13 M) in a startup biotech company, Visterra, aiming at a universal preventive as well as therapeutic approach to influenza. Much of that money is being earmarked to take the preclinical program for VIS410--a broad-spectrum antibody -- into the clinic in 2014.  VIS410 has the potential to work against any strain of seasonal or pandemic influenza.

Visterra is taking a unique antibody approach to flu. Its scientists identified a networked cluster of amino acids on the hemagluttinin protein, which the flu virus uses to enter cells and infect the host. That target gives them a potential key to treating or preventing all flu strains, coming up with a drug that the virus won't be able to mutate away from--a key problem with today's vaccines. And Visterra emphasized that this antibody approach is not a vaccine.  This is the type of novel appproach that the Gate's Foundation likes to fund. See Fierce Biotech.

Posted by Bruce Lehr Nov 9th 2012.

 

 

The Biotech Graveyard Report for Halloween

Fierce Biotech just published its 2012 Biotech Graveyard report - the 4th installment in the series chronicling the demise of biotech's for the year. This year's list is shorter than in year's past with only 5 companies that qualified (though several others as explained by Fierce could join them sooner rather than later).  This year's Failed Five (wonder if they all went to Michigan?):

1. Biolex Therapeutics - failed to earn a C (hepatitis that is)
2. Genta - lost its long battle with cancer
3. Halcyon Molecular - yes. the Halcyon Days are over with $100 genome
4. Neurologix - could recover from shaky start (or finish) with Parkinson's
5. Inspiration Biophamraceuticals - failed to inspire with Hemophilia

Let's send them out with a song.

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr Oct. 31st 2012.

Titantic, Challenger, Bapineuzumab

How do you spell disaster?  BMS-094 maybe?

In 2012, we've seen our share of big Phase III flame outs, as high profile drug programs have failed utterly in meeting their clinical endpoints.  Many of these were being conducted by companies counting on the success of these projects to fill in flagging sales due to recent patent expiration of blockbusters. They also were trying to make their mark in lucrative therapeutic categories that have few good alternatives now.

Fierce Biotech lays out its TOP 5 failures in 2012:

• Bristol-Myers Squibb's BMS-094 for hepatitis C
• J&J and Pfizer's Bapineuzumab for Alzheimer's
• Eli Lilly's Solanezumab for Alzheimer's
• Roche's Dalcetrib for cholesterol management
• AstraZeneca's TC-5214 for depression

In 2012, all of these hit an ice berg.  Fierce listed them in descending order of magnitude of disaster but maybe you have additional nominees or a different order?  Feel free to comment or reorder to your desire.  Drug development though remains a tough business.

Posted by Bruce Lehr Oct 4th 2012.

 

Get Your Mind Right with Big Red

 

What We've Got Here is Failure to Communicate

Timmerman Recommends These Biotech Tweeters

Luke Timmerman put together his definitive list of biotech movers and shakers that you should follow on Twitter (or at least a group of interesting Tweeters who offer insight in their areas of expertise). Luke should know, so check this esteemed "A list" out.

See Xconomy.

Posted by Bruce Lehr Sep 24th 2012.

 

Big Red Biotech Blog

 

Made It to 175,000th Page View!

Yay!

Posted by Bruce Lehr Jul 18th 2012.

 

 

Causes of death: 1900 and 2010

Boing Boing via the Pharma Gossip blog lays out how the leading causes of death have changed from 1900 to 2010.  It's interesting.  There is an obvious shift from many deaths due to infectious diseases in 1900 to non-infectious causes in the "modern world".   Thank you antibiotics and vaccines.

Causes of death: 1900 and 2010 - Boing Boing .

As for modern situation, we need better dietary and living habits.  All I can say is "Watch your heart!"

Posted by Bruce Lehr Jun 28th 2012.

 

John Cleese on Being Creative

For all or you who are seeking more innovation in your work or private life, here is a talk on "How to be more creative" by Monty Python's John Cleese.  Creativity is not exactly equal to innovation but for me shares many elements and is close. Remember - Space, Time, Time, Confidence, and Humor.

PharmaGossip: John Cleese on how to be creative - Boing Boing.

This lecture is excellent -- with lots of good suggestions and information -- and of course some humor. I especially liked the last 2 minutes which has to do with "How to Make Sure You Stamp out ALL Creativity in Your Subordinates."  See how many of these techniques you already use -- : ).

Posted by Bruce Lehr Apr 15th 2012

Hit the 150,000th Page View Milestone

Every once in a while I post a milestone (as defined by me) number of page views that has been surpassed by readers of this blog.  I guess I'm always surprised that anyone comes to look at what I write or summarize, as may be the case.  But here we are -- at 150,252 and counting..........

Posted by Bruce Lehr Mar 30th 2012

 

Innovation - Don't Let It OUT!

Here's a nice post from the Innovate on Purpose blog comparing senior executives feelings about innovation and Pandora's box.  It's seems top execs treat Innovation as good -- only if you can control it  and put it back in it's box when it is time.  Otherwise, it can be a frightening prospect to release on your company if it can't be controlled.  Unfortunately, most innovation only works under the latter circumstances.  And if you want a culture of innovation to take root and grow  -- you need to let it loose.

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr Mar 29th 2012.

There's 143.5 Million Reasons This Man is Smiling!

From the PharmaGossip blog via Bloomberg's, retiring J&J CEO William C. Weldon will receive a retirement package worth $143.5 M -- yes -- that's GREENBACKS.

And that's why this man is smiling today.  That's a long way from the pay he received as a sales rep back in 1971 when he joined the company.  Wow! Just think what he might have earned if J&J had been able to make artificial hips, otc medicines and vaginal mesh products over the past couple years.

Then we might have been talking some real money.

Posted by Bruce Lehr Mar 14th 2012.

 

If I Ran the Pharmaceutical Zoo

 

A cute and perceptive poem from Xconomy's Stewart Lyman on the state of the pharmaceutical industry in the style of who else -- but the good Dr. Seuss.

 

How can you not like Dr. Seuss?  Kudos Stewart. Kudos.

 

 

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr Mar 13th 2012 

 

Dumb as [this] Post and Don't Even Know It

A colleague gave me the following article this morning, and I'm beginning to think there was a method to his generosity.  Apparently, a new study shows incompetent people don't recognize their own incompetence, dumb people are too dumb to notice and unfunny people don't understand that they AREN'T funny.

That explains a lot in terms of this blog.  More incompetent than I think, dumber than dumb and about as unfunny as can be imagined.  Maybe this also explains some of what we see going on in the industry, with our political candidates and process, and in society in general.

Everybody now.

If you're stupid and you know it clap your hands. If you're stupid and you know it clap your hands. If you're stupid and you know it, your work will clearly show it. If you're stupid and you know it clap your hands.

Posted by Bruce Lehr Mar 5th 2012 

 

 

 

Never Woulda' Thunk It - 100,000th Page View Today!

 

 
We're celebrating (in a small way) at the Big Red Biotech Blog today.  After being around for 20 months, we hit the 100,000th page view sometime this morning.  I never would have thought that was possible -- either lasting 20 months or having 100,000 page views.  We'll take whatever we can get.  Thanks to anyone -- anywhere -- who has ever visited the site.  If you liked it, please come back.

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr Aug 16th 2011