Angela Hwang

Takeda's CEO's annual letter hits on some key themes that many biopharma CEO's are converging on: value-based care, price transparency, breaking up the middlemen, and driving healthcare access and equity. "For several years I have been outlining Takeda’s thinking on health equity—including advocating for a transition to value-based health care that pays for outcomes and care quality, emphasizing the need to prepare for the next pandemic by ensuring global vaccine equity and explaining how the protection of intellectual property rights is essential to incentivize investment in R&D. One area where we would like to see greater progress this year is pharmacy benefit managers reform. We support efforts in Congress to delink rebates from list prices or wholesale acquisition cost. It is a complex system, but the bottom line is that the current system creates misaligned incentives that ultimately result in higher costs for the system and higher out-of-pocket costs for patients. One potential way to address these challenges is through greater transparency. Transparency at the point of purchase for patients would empower them to make decisions knowing exactly what their costs will be. This could lower costs for the entire system by building in greater pricing accountability along the chain so that no stakeholder can benefit from the inefficiencies that result in the prices that patients pay today." At COEUS, we are working with the world's leading biopharma companies to help transition them from a broken FFS model towards value-based care. We have built the world's leading platform that hosts the biggest CGT commercial launches, and rapidly moving into Oncology, Obesity/ Diabetes, and beyond. 1. Enabling Value-Based Healthcare: Our solution facilitates the transition to value-based healthcare by providing a powerful tool for creating and managing contracts that pay for outcomes and care quality. 2. Enhancing Transparency: By aggregating disparate healthcare data from various sources, our platform provides unprecedented transparency into the entire healthcare ecosystem. This empowers payers, providers, and patients to make informed decisions and helps stakeholders across the value-chain to tie price and value to therapeutic outcomes. 3. Driving Innovation: Our platform's ability to evaluate complex rules for value-based contracts, real-world evidence studies, and health equity measurements fosters innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. By providing a tool to measure the impact of new solutions, we help companies drive medical advancements while ensuring equitable access. 4. Improving Access and Affordability: Our solution helps identify areas where access and affordability can be improved without compromising innovation. By providing data-driven insights into the effectiveness of various interventions, we enable stakeholders to make informed decisions that benefit patients and the healthcare system as a whole. Visit https://coebra.ai/.

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All pharma CEOs need to understand that they have a responsibility beyond that to their shareholders. Maximizing profits for shareholders beyond what is needed to earn a return on R&D investment—at the expense of people who cannot afford their pharmaceuticals—is unethical. Business ethics should be taught not only in MBA school, but in all undergraduate and graduate programs.

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Fabulous to be on the investor panel for Mintz’s Life Sciences Pitch Event today, on yet another glorious fall day in Boston. ☀️🍁 (Although perhaps all meetings that start at 8am should come with good weather?) Key feedback shared by our panel: 🔹 Ensure your target market is clear - especially when the population for your relevant indication is highly heterogenous 🔹 Share your current assumptions about how your product may be used (e.g., chronically vs. episodically) and open questions 🔹 If you're exploring a range of commercial use cases, share how you anticipate prioritizing across them over time 🔹 If your GTM strategy requires you to displace heavily entrenched solutions and/or processes, share how you will enable these transitions 🔹 Note the specific set of milestones to be achieved with investment 🔹 Always include target timelines and potential paths to exit Thank you to the incredible lineup of entrepreneurs who pitched today, and please stay in touch! Thank you to Dean Farmer and Charlie C. for facilitating today's event. Thank you to panelists David Fogel, CPA, Ben Littauer (he/him), Molly Hoult, and Richard Wagner for your contributions. Great to meet you, and thank you for all of your help, Emily (Krasowski) Yanachkov and Diana Malkin. #lifesciences #pitchevent #investor #panel #boston

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AbbVie has lost >$45B in market capitalization since the negative Phase II readouts on emraclidine, the schizophrenia drug they acquired via their $8.7B buyout of Cerevel Therapeutics. Competing neuropsychiatric drug developers Neumora and Neurocrine Biosciences have faced similar setbacks on their schizophrenia drugs leaving only Bristol Myers Squibb's Cobenfy (acquired via their buyout of Karuna Therapeutics for $14B in cash) and Terran Biosciences' TerXT the only real assets of significant value and with near-term hopes for commercialization. Given TerXT's superior release profile (once-daily oral pill vs. Cobenfy's twice daily regimen) along with a long-acting injectable form that could last up to six months, as well as TerXT's reduced side effects, analysts are speculating that TerXT could take substantial market share from Cobenfy which is projected to reach as much as $10B in annual sales. This all adds up to TerXT being exceptionally well positioned in a white hot neuropsychiatric biopharma M&A market.

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Approx 4.5 billion people across the world lack equitable access to essential health services (WHO data) though access to highest quality of healthcare is a fundamental right of every human being. Even U.S. strugggles with this issue and ranks last among 10 comparable nations on health equity measures, despite the fact it spends the most on healthcare (Blumenthal D, et al. The Commonwealth Fund; September 19, 2024). Clearly it's not an issue of resources or funds, it's the strategy that counts. The world is off track to achieve universal health coverage (Sustainable Development Goal 3.8) by 2030. Improvements in health coverage have stagnated since 2015 across all regions and the majority of countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has further disrupted progress on this front (Global Health Observatory - Universal Health Coverage Factsheet, WHO). In the latest episode of Princeton Foundation's "What Matters" series, let's hear from Mr. C. K. Mishra, former Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt of India the highlights of India’s recent healthcare advancements, major policy initiatives, and how the nation is navigating strategically through the structural and financial challenges. Mr Mishra is credited with leading some of the world's largest public health programs during his tenure including 'Indian National Health Mission' - to provide universal access to equitable, affordable and quality health care services; and 'Mission Indradhanush’ – world's largest ever focused campaign to immunize children. His proactive policy reforms helped India see a huge reduction in maternal and child mortality, Mr Mishra discusses India's approach to enhance equitable healthcare access, sustainable infrastructure development, innovative public health solutions, resilient policy frameworks, and learnings from these endeavors that other nations can employ. https://lnkd.in/ebswzfJF www.pfplus.org Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Indian Administrative Service (IAS) - Government of India World Health Organization U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) PrimeMinister India Department of Health & Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Medical Council of India The Commonwealth Fund Ministry of External Affairs, India MyGov India

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Interesting read on gene therapy.

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#podcast Joe Ferra, CEO of Elevation Oncology, highlights the unmet needs in gastric cancer & the potential of targeting Claudins, proteins involved in cell adhesion. The current competitive landscape of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) confirms the promise of a targeted therapy that delivers a cytotoxic drug directly to cancer cells. Targeting Claudin 18.2 with an ADC approach offers an opportunity to treat a broader range of tumors expressing a lower level of Claudin 18.2 than those currently treated by CAR-T therapy. This approach is being investigated as a single-agent drug with promise for use in combination for gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer & esophageal cancer. ElevationOncology.com https://lnkd.in/gYt4s-xz

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HUGE Congrats to the Corner Tx Team for Successfully Raising $54 Million to Fuel A New Era for Cancer Therapy! From the very beginning, our vision of Corner Tx, inspired by the motto "infection-like immunity = life-long immunity," was to revolutionize cancer treatment—enhancing survival rates and offering long-lasting protection to those afflicted. Typically, while the immune system efficiently targets infections without impacting healthy cells, it does not naturally combat tumor cells. Under the pioneering research from Jonathan Kagan's lab at Boston Children's Hospital, Corner's novel approach has been to replicate the body’s infection response to develop a robust immune defense against tumors. This strategy aims to attack existing cancers and prevent their future occurrences, promising a beacon of hope to countless patients eagerly awaiting breakthrough therapies. The excitement within the cancer community is palpable, bolstered by compelling evidence published in Science Magazine and Cell Reports. The studies illustrate that it is possible to deliberately provoke the immune system to reach an unprecedented level of activation - specifically to achieve hyperactive Dendritic Cells that have an enhanced ability to migrate to draining lymph nodes and stimulate potent cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses. For cancer patients in dire need of novel treatments, this milestone marks a significant step forward in developing potentially life-saving therapies and will propel Corner's antigen-agnostic approach into clinical trials. The funding, led by Ziff Capital Partners and including Cockrell Interests, Tanis Ventures, and Sandia Holdings, will boost Corner’s mission to enable the immune system to engineer long-living, disease-fighting T cells. The company has received funding from leading organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and partners with prominent biopharma companies to fully realize the protective promise of both therapeutic and preventative vaccines. Thank you Allison DeAngelis 🙏🏻 for providing an overview of the story and platform! Steven Altschuler M.D. Andrew Bellinger Nicholas Seaver Laura Brandano Andrew Cornforth, Ph.D. Sivan Elloul

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Coming soon to Podcast Channel near you. Check out the YouTube Channel and save your spot by being one of the first to subscribe. First episode to air soon!!!! https://lnkd.in/gNyu_aip #decodinghealth #science #knowledge

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Under the leadership of Ron Alfa, MD, PhD, NOETIK is pushing the boundaries of AI-driven precision cancer therapies. Noetik’s recent $40 million Series A financing will further their mission to leverage machine learning for personalized medicine, reflecting a broader industry trend where AI is revolutionizing drug discovery and patient care. As AI continues to evolve, its role in transforming healthcare becomes even more critical, setting new standards for innovation and patient outcomes. Polaris Partners Khosla Ventures Breakout Ventures Wittington Ventures Zetta Venture Partners Catalio Capital Management 11.2 Capital EPIC Ventures ApSTAT Technologies Linearis @Ventures Platform Fund Yoshua Bengio David S. Wishart Jean-François Gagné Shafique Virani, MD FRCS James Hardiman #innovation #AI #Biotechnology #AIinhealthcare

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In the past two weeks, the biopharma industry has witnessed two multi-billion strategic partnerships fall apart as Sanofi cut half of its $6.2 billion deal with IGM Biosciences and Genentech terminated its T cell therapy partnership with Adaptimmune. This raises the question: what percentage of the BioBucks in a partnership deal actually get paid out, on average? Although companies rarely publish the unredacted deal terms of partnerships, nor do they publish which payments are actually made (unless material to a public company), nonetheless we can calculate the probability-adjusted expected value of the Sanofi-IGM and Genentech-Adaptimmune deals as shown below. I am using industry-typical probability of success by stage and am making rough guesses on how the milestones were distributed by stage. Such an expected value calculation can be thought of as answering the question: how much would the in-licensor expect to pay on average if they could conduct hundreds of experiments with these probabilities and deal terms. By the way, a more complete analysis would time-adjust the values with an NPV of cash flows but that is not shown here.   Sanofi-IGM deal was for 6 targets (3 cancer and 3 immunology/inflammation) with upfront of $150M and aggregate milestones of $940M per oncology target and $1,065M per immunology/inflammation target. Here is a rough cut at a probability-adjusted estimate of total payments to IGM Biosciences at the time the deal was signed, which at $909M is about 15% of the total BioBucks of $6.2B. #lifesciences, #businessdevelopment, #biotech

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Food for thought: Book on US Presidents, “The Highest Calling-Conversations on the American Presidency” This month, I am reading a book written by David M. Rubenstein titled, “the highest calling-conversations on the American presidency”. Through thoughtful and insightful analysis, Rubenstein captures our countries most prominent leaders, the political genius and phrase of the presidential role, and the wisdom that emerges from it. David Rubenstein interviews living American presidents and top historians who reflect on the US presidency, including George Washington , Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, Jimmy Carter, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Maggie Haberman, Jon Meacham, Ron Chernow, Peter Baker, Kai Bird, Evan Thomas, and more. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and found the conversations stimulating, thought provoking, and insightful. This book is timely as we are getting ready to vote in a few weeks to elect the next president of the United States, the insights gained from this book may assist us in making a right choice.

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Must-watch TEDx talk by Sheila Gujrathi, MD “ Focus on the Mirror, Not the Glass Ceiling.” As an accomplished biotech leader, Sheila shares her powerful insights on diversity, belonging, and thriving in executive and board roles. Her story of overcoming barriers is inspiring, and her advocacy for inclusivity in leadership is a reminder that we all belong in the rooms we enter. A must-see for those looking to foster more diverse, equitable workplaces. https://lnkd.in/eC5MyRpp

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Can one question drive a professional career full of commercial success? For Mike Rea of IDEA Pharma | From R&D to RxD, the question for pharmaceutical companies assessing new molecules has been: "If you gave the same molecule to two different companies in phase I, would they be equally successful?" Intuitively, not all companies will achieve the same success if given the same opportunity. I’ve found a lot of value in the 13-year benchmark survey: the Idea Pharma Innovation and Invention Index tracking the top-performing pharmaceutical companies by sales. https://lnkd.in/gwX554WM In the benchmark survey (link below), Mike and his team track invention and innovation capabilities and apply the lessons they have learned to help pharmaceutical companies deliver 8 out of the top 15 product launches from 2015 to 2020. While Mike’s research focuses on pharma, there are ample lessons that are industry-agnostic. Please join me on Thursday, June 20th, at 7 AM Pacific / 4 PM CET in the 4x4 Innovation Group, where I will interview Mike Rea. https://lnkd.in/gxDGv4dB In our discussion, we will cover: - The role consistency plays in innovation - Finding value where consensus suggests there is none - Invention vs. Innovation in pharma - What can pharma teach us about innovation more broadly For more on Mike: https://lnkd.in/gpswDr24 More on Idea Pharma: https://lnkd.in/gXTSZWvf #innovationmanagement #positioning #pharma

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The countdown is on. Next week, I'm heading to Chicago for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting (#ASCO24). It's one of the most significant events in the oncology world, bringing together a global community of researchers, clinicians, advocates, and patients in the fight against cancer. For me, #ASCO24 is more than just a conference; it's a chance to: - Dive into the Latest Research: Thousands of abstracts will be presented, showcasing cutting-edge advancements across all aspects of cancer care. I'm eager to learn about new therapies, diagnostic approaches, and breakthroughs that can transform patients' lives. Discussing the evolving landscape of cancer treatment is crucial for staying updated on the latest developments and best practices in patient care. - Connect with Experts: Meeting and exchanging ideas with leading oncologists, scientists, and industry innovators is an invaluable experience. It fosters collaboration and fuels inspiration for advancing cancer care. - Share Our Recent Developments: Zephyr AI team will present a poster and share our findings on the "Evaluation of a Novel Machine Learning Method for PARP Inhibitor Sensitivity Prediction Using Real-World Data." Abstract # 5583 / Poster Bd # 454, presented by Emily Vucic et al., June 3rd, 9 am—12 pm: https://lnkd.in/g8wKqB8v In the meantime, what are you most interested in learning about from #ASCO24? Share your thoughts and questions. See you in Chicago!

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When I went with my mom to urgent care, I learned firsthand about the power of context and how it matters, not just in the recommendations we make, but in the actions others take. Thinking back on that experience, Srihari Sarangan and I wrote about how pharma can leverage the power of CONTEXT--customer insights, observations, needs, trends, environment, experience and touch points--to meet our customers where they are and understand their barriers and drivers. #futurecommercialmodel https://lnkd.in/eWCbfCz6

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Last Friday, I opened a discussion on the critical importance of expanded access programs for patients battling rare diseases. The response from the community was both enlightening and inspiring. Expanded access programs are more than just pathways to treatment—they are lifelines for those who might otherwise have none. By bridging the gap between clinical development and regulatory approval, these programs offer a glimpse of light during the darkest of times. WEP Clinical will continue to advocate for these vital programs and recognize the hope and opportunities they provide. Our collective commitment to leaving no patient behind in the quest for healing and health equity is embodied in these programs. Let's start a conversation about how WEP can augment your internal team to support the expansion of current programs or just begin EAP within your organization. Because every patient deserves a chance to fight, and every rare disease voice needs to be heard. #RareDisease #PatientAccess #ExpandedAccess #WEPClinical #ClinicalDevelopment

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Can't wait to attend, and sharing for anyone else like-minded! It is open to non-Temple members, and can be attended virtually. If you want to think about reproductive ethics, gender ethics, the ethics of death and dying, animal ethics (think: questions like designer babies, artificial wombs, pig organ transplantation in humans, etc). from a moral and religious perspective, check it out: https://lnkd.in/eCqkRUii

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