Good article and brings in some very important considerations in the over all picture. The investors are of course in the business for the long term investment, working with start up biotechs to both bring a product or service to market, and see a return on the investment and the costs of doing so are rising every day, as the processes continue to complicate too.
Of late too, we have seen several biotech companies fail on clinical trials or run out of funding, and is there something perhaps being missed here? Is there some portion of the R and D that could perhaps be incorporated elsewhere, with another company for a simple example? Does the government really scrutinize the values of some biotechs fully, in other words is there a time to step in and through a grant offer some assistance? In short, are we perhaps losing some valuable scientific information in the process?
One other item that is a bit gray as well if joint efforts were to occur with VC and NIH grants, where does the line of “Intellectual Property” lie at this point and that of course is one big monetary question. One item for certain though, without outside capital investments we would not be seeing the advances we are seeing today as the NIH budget has been flat for obtaining grants and just within the last year the bar to obtain a grant risen considerably. It is all about unknown risk when it comes to investing in science, no matter who’s the bank. BD
VCs likely will remain the primary source of financing for young innovators in personalized medicine "due to the extraordinary risk associated with investing in health care technologies," said authors RS& Co. Venture Partners' Kathleen Behrens; Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers' Risa Stack; Foley Hoag's Bruce Quinn; and the National Venture Capital Association's Kelly Slone, in one of the commissioned papers. However, despite its enormous promise, personalized medicine faces numerous barriers, some of which stem from current regulatory policies and the uncertain reimbursement outlook for new technologies, the VC authors contended, adding that other barriers have resulted from the recent turmoil in the capital markets. For each variable, they said, even minute fluctuations and adjustments can alter the risk profile for even the most promising technology.
0 comments :
Post a Comment