Leadership

In this latest installment of VC playbook, In Vivo speaks to Naveed Siddiqi, senior partner at Novo Ventures. He discusses the group’s strategy, the European investment outlook for life sciences and how COVID-19 has permanently shifted perceptions of the biopharma industry.

A selection of articles you might have missed from March 2021, including exclusive interviews with industry leaders and a deeper dive into drug development and R&D.

An interactive look at recent executive-level company changes and promotions in the biopharma, medical device and diagnostics industries.

Astellas’ chief medical officer, Bernie Zeiher, shares perspectives on how COVID-19 has forced the health care industry to think differently about patients’ diverse needs and how the best of these changes must become the norm in delivering patient-focused innovations.

A year after COVID-19 first turned the world upside down, executives across the biopharma industry consider what 2021 holds in store. The impact of the pandemic will have profound and long-lasting implications for a sector that has been at the heart of responding to the global health challenge.

Venture capital funds in Latin America have overlooked biotech, leaving an untapped opportunity for local capital markets and US and European investors alike. Chilean entrepreneur Cristian Hernandez, founder of newly launched boutique VC Zentynel Frontier Investments, explains how business – and society – can benefit from launching biotech start-ups able to serve a global market at lower cost.

With $250m in series A funding, Cambridge, MA-based Centessa is looking to upend traditional biopharma R&D models. The new company was created through the merger of 10 private biotechs, which will sit under the Centessa umbrella as subsidiaries.

An interactive look at recent executive-level company changes and promotions in the biopharma, medical device and diagnostics industries.

Asia continues to gain attention for its healthtech innovation and adoption activity, and VC investors have seen the merits of a maintaining a focus on this newly emerging regional innovation hotspot, regardless of the pandemic.

With a combined $335m raised in a crossover series B funding and an IPO last summer, Cambridge, MA-based iTeos Therapeutics has the juice to move its two cancer immunotherapy clinical programs forward.

A new technology accelerator, FemTech Lab, will support the scale-up of at least 10 firms in 2021 that have innovative solutions for issues affecting women’s health and wellbeing. The founders talk to In Vivo about their view of the femtech market and how it will impact traditional health care.

After manufacturing issues disrupted a Phase III study for its lead pipeline candidate, Pharnext believes it is back on track with new management, a fresh clinical trial and strong guidance from regulators. New CEO David Horn Solomon has blockbuster expectations for the company’s rare disease drug.