Pullan Consulting
Biotech Business Development Consulting
www.pullanconsulting.com and www.lindapullan.com
email: lpullan@msn.com 805-558-0361
Issue #42, December 2009
Pullan's Pieces
Commentary on Science & Business of Drug Development
For Business Development & Others
Unpopular Sarbannes-Oxley up for review at the Supreme Court
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The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on whether the Sarbannes-Oxley Act of 2002 is constitutional. The issue is whether the board which supervises compliance with the law violates the Constitution’s separation of powers requirement. Under the Appointment Clause, all “officers” of the US must be appointed by the President and accountable to him. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is hired by the SEC but has authority to make whatever rules “may be necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors”.
Survey results suggest companies would like a change in the burden of Sarbannes-Oxley. In 2008, the SEC launched a survey of thousands of corporations and it recently posted the findings on the SEC Web site. It found the direct compliance costs were an average of $2.3M per year per company and only 19% said that for them, the benefits outweigh the costs. When public companies are asked whether the rules have motivated them to consider going private, 70% of smaller firms and 44% of all firms say yes. A majority say that it has led them to consider de-listing from US exchanges, and 77% of foreign firms said the law motivated them to consider abandoning their US listings. ( Wall St.Journal, Dec 7th, 2009)
Recap on current trends in financings of biotech and pharmaceutical companies
Another excellent webinar from Recap (www.recap.com ) gave a snapshot of current trends in funding of biotech and pharmaceutical companies. The take homes messages? The number of VC financings is trending up quarter over quarter this year, but the total dollars are still low. First round financings have been hurt the most, as a larger proportion of both deal numbers and deal dollars are going to later stage financings. Many of the rounds were from the same investors as in previous rounds. Corporate VCs are a bigger share of VC funding. Financings of public companies by public and private offerings are up substantially this year. Equity is playing a larger role in partnering deals now. M&A deal numbers are down in 2009, despite many prior predictions that consolidation would be a big factor in the face of the liquidity crunch of the current economic cycle. Another great webinar – watch for the next one!
JP Morgan and the Biotech Showcase – see you there?
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I hope to see you around the time of JP Morgan. I think the Biotech Showcase (http://www.ebdgroup.com/bts/program.htm ) will be a fun event. I’m particularly looking forward to the forward-looking session on Biotech in the year 2020. That panel on Wednesday January 13th includes Karen Bernstein of BioCentury, Fred Frank of Peter J. Solomon Company, and Dennis Purcell of Aisling Capital.
Come to the Personalized Medicine World Congress 2010
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After JP Morgan and the Biotech Showcase, my next meeting will be the Personalized Medicine World Congress 2010 (www.pmwc2010.com ). It is January 19-20th in Silicon Valley’s Computer History Museum in Mountain View in the Bay Area of CA. The organizers have put together a great program with big pharma perspective (AstraZeneca, Merck, Pfizer, Sanofi, and Takeda), outstanding academics, the FDA and NIST, investors, and personalized medicine companies leading the way. The talks really cover all aspects of Personalized Medicine from new technologies, to biobanking, to counseling, to pricing, to FDA regulation to IT, etc. I am expecting to learn a lot! See you there?
In the Holiday Spirit: Giving provides a Healthy reward
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The New York Times had a column (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/health/01well.html) on the health benefits of thinking of others, from chronic pain sufferers faring better when they counseled other pain patients, to elderly volunteers having a lower death rate in the study than matched non-volunteers, to a couple of studies showing a “helper’s high”, a physical response to volunteering similar to that of exercise or meditation. Let us all rid ourselves of negative stress by giving a bit to others during this season.
Wishing you a very Happy Holiday Season and a Great New Year!
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I have truly enjoyed working with many great people, hearing exciting science, and working toward big (and small) deals, and important contributions to our future health. Thank you for contributing to my pleasure! I look forward to a new year of biotech business development.
Linda
Pullan Consulting
Linda M. Pullan, Ph.D.
Biotech Business Development
www.pullanconsulting.com and www.lindapullan.com
e-mail: lpullan@msn.com
805-558-0361
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