What a difference a decade makes. I left the Boston/Cambridge biotech community in 2005, when it was a lot sleepier and a lot smaller. Focused densely within just a few dozen blocks around the MIT campus, nascent successes like Vertex stood shoulder to shoulder with more established companies that were only older by single-digit years. … Continue reading “With Fresh Eyes, A Return To Biotech’s City Within A City”
Author: N. Anthony Coles
N. Anthony Coles is the Chairman and CEO of Yumanity Therapeutics. Before that, he was the President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the board of directors of Onyx Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Onyx, he was President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the board of directors of NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Before joining NPS Pharmaceuticals in 2005, Dr. Coles was Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, which he joined in 2002. Beginning in 1996, he held a number of executive positions while at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, including Senior Vice President of Strategy and Policy; Senior Vice President of Marketing and Medical Affairs, Neuroscience/Infectious Diseases/Dermatology; Vice President, Western Area Sales Cardiovascular and Metabolic Business Unit for U.S.Primary Care; and Vice President, Cardiovascular Global Marketing. From 1992 until 1996, Dr. Coles also held a number of positions of increasing responsibility at Merck & Co., Inc, including Vice President of the Hypertension and Heart Failure Business Group. Dr. Coles completed his cardiology and internal medicine training at Massachusetts General Hospital and was a research fellow at Harvard Medical School. He earned an M.D. degree from Duke University, a master's degree in public health from Harvard University, and an undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Coles currently serves as a trustee and member of the Executive Committee for the Johns Hopkins University Board of Trustees and a trustee of Boston Medical Center. He is also a member of the board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and FoldRx, Inc., a privately held biotech company in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Diabetes Drugs Could Cure Cancer
[Editor’s note: As a New Year’s exercise, we asked a select group of Xconomists to answer this question: “What’s the craziest idea out there that just might succeed?”] Drugs for type 2 diabetes have the potential to become effective therapies for certain types of cancers. Tumor cells have increased energy needs, and starving them of … Continue reading “Diabetes Drugs Could Cure Cancer”
24-Hour, Full-Genome Scans
[Editor’s note: We asked a group of Xconomists to answer the following question: “If you could patent one thing, what would it be?”] A DNA sequencing technology that results in full genome scans in less than 24 hours. This would enable real-time profiling of cancer patients, which would be of tremendous value in determining the … Continue reading “24-Hour, Full-Genome Scans”
Top Five Biotech Surprises & Innovations of 2010, and Five Trends to Watch for in 2011
1. FDA’s decision to remove the breast cancer indication from the label of bevacizumab (Avastin). 2. Approval of Dendreon’s sipuleucel-T (Provenge), representing a new class of drug. 3. Sanofi-Aventis’ pursuit of Genzyme. It illustrates an industry move towards adding orphan and rare therapeutic areas to pharma portfolios. Another example of the trend came when Pfizer … Continue reading “Top Five Biotech Surprises & Innovations of 2010, and Five Trends to Watch for in 2011”