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Mouli Cohen: I think for major investors in midsize Biotech companies, there is gonna
be great opportunity through the ongoing consolidation in the industry. Just a year ago
we saw Eli Lilly win a bidding war with BristolMyers Squibb for ImClone, a prominent bi
otech company with several cancer drugs in its pipeline, with an offer of $6.5 billion and
companies like GlaxoSmithKline have announced that they will be focusing more on bi
otech growth areas. The consolidation has only begun, so I think now is a great time to
look at the financials of some midmajors that might be poised for purchase and get in
before the buyouts take place.
Q: Does this new administration provide new opportunities in health care reform
adminst?
Mouli Cohen: Health care reform is inevitable. With health care as the major issue of this
new administration it is surely a sector to watch closely in the coming months for poten
tially massive opportunities. I believe that there will emerge multiple solutions, not the
least of which will be the implementation of telemedicine services (mobile/internet) that
will effectuate orders of magnitude in savings and bring access to uninsured as well.
Q: What about other diseases like cancer and diabetes? Are there companies out
there making breakthroughs with their treatment that look promising to future
commercial applications?
Mouli Cohen: There are some incredible advancements happening in this area on both
the academic and commercial side. With the recent lifting of ban on Stem cell research by
the new administration, there are enormous new opportunities to take human embryonic
cells almost all the way to a beta cell. Combine this with some recent breakthrough’s at
places like UCSF in the control over the immune system response should lead to highly
effective drugs over the course of the next few years. An important consideration will be
the merging of silicon technology (artificial physiology that accurately mimics the true
physiology) and stem cell biology.
Q: What about the timing right now? Is it the right time for companies to bet big
on R&D?
Mouli Cohen: In my opinion there is never a bad time to bet on smart R&D. If you have
a great process in place, R&D can be the game changer for the majority of major players.
It should be in the heart of our company at all times.
If you look at firms like, Wyeth Biotech which struggled with its Alzheimer's drug, bapineu
zumab, they could have easily hurt the company, but they had plenty of other drugs in the
pipeline including antiinflammatory drugs to treatments for cancer, and they had already
produced some of Wyeth's bestknown, mostlucrative drugs, including the pneumococcal
vaccine Prevnar ($2 billion in revenue per year) and rheumatoidarthritis injection Enbrel
($3.5 billion). If they had reduced their R&D they wouldn’t have those wins and wouldn’t
have had a full pipeline to make up for the ones that missed the mark.
Q: What are the opportunities for biotech in Latin America?
Mouli Cohen: Latin American implications are substantial. The biotechnology industry's
massive move into the energy sector brings together major social and ecological issues in
the region, such as agrofuel promotion and genetically modified (GM) crops. Latin Amer
ican civil society's aspirations of land reform, environmental protection and food and en
ergy sovereignty are at stake.
Biotechnology companies have become some of the main movers in promoting the use of
farm crops like corn, soy, and sugar cane to make fuel as the public resistance to GM
crops has increased. To a certain degree they see this biotech industry sees its salvation
in the production of GM agrofuels. By portraying GM crops as the answer to climate
change and resource depletion caused by fossil fuels, they hope to cast a more favorable
light on biotech plants. They have a lot at stake as big companies like Monsanto, for ex
ample, obtains 60% of its revenue from the sale of GM seeds.
Q: What about the opportunities in China? It has long been ignored, do you think
now the time to get in?
Mouli Cohen: The Chinese Central Government is currently participating in a large effort
to improve public health in China and so companies in this region that can contribute to
that effort are interesting look at. Sinovac is one of those examples as I see them as a
profitable China biopharmaceutical company that focuses on R&D, manufacturing and
commercialization of vaccines that protect against human infectious diseases In April
2008, they received regulatory approvals in China for the production of their pandemic in
fluenza vaccine, they have already been profitable and they have a reputation for solid
management and operating margins.
There are others like them and if you look at the focus on this sector in that region there
are some great 12+ month opportunities as the Government efforts start reaching the
private sector.
Q: What do you see as the top biotech regions in the United States today?
Mouli Cohen: Traditionally you would see the centers of Boston, San Francisco and San
Diego as the hotbeds driving the industry, but you are seeing grown in towns with dimin
ishing manufacturing centers like the research triangle in North Carolina you are seeing
these areas invest millions on bringing biotech industry into these areas. The NY Times
did a nice piece on this recently and I have been hearing the same thing in my conversa
tions around the industry.
The Los Angeles /Pasadena corridor is another interesting one to watch as it is expand
ing investment in Biotech (USC/UCLA/Caltech/City of Hope). They have long been active
but in an uncoordinated effort. Look for them to synchronize.
Q: What do you think about the discussions around bigger drug and biotech com
panies becoming more focused on marketing.
Mouli Cohen: You are still going to need the innovation and R&D inside a company that
can help you create patents that can be leveraged for years. Marketing will continue to
be an important aspect of a successful new product launch, but I do not see a time when
companies of this nature, can avoid aggressively pursuing new innovations. It is a sure
fire way to lose their competitive advantage. By becoming focused marketing entities,
they are only putting themselves in direct competition with well established ad agencies of
the
Q: Are you working with any research facilities to help with the funding of specific
projects?
Mouli Cohen: I have worked with in the past, and continue to work with UCSF and spe
cifically with their Stem Cell Research team. I am constantly impressed by the work they
are doing and I think we hold some great opportunities to cure Type 1 diabetes in the next
few years based on the work done by Jeff Bluestone Ph.D. and his team at the Diabetes
Center.