Remember when Oregon's own Sparrow Pharmaceuticals won 2020 BIO Start-Up Stadium honors? The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) invites Oregon Bio members to apply to pitch. Start-Up Stadium is designed to provide start-up companies with the opportunity to engage key members of the investment community, venture philanthropy groups, strategic partners, and non-dilutive capital at the world’s largest biotechnology partnering event. Applications are due April 9, 2021. During BIO Digital 2021, cutting-edge startups from around the world will share a quick pitch on the BIO Innovation Stage showcasing new technologies and therapeutic solutions to a panel of investor judges, followed by live interactive networking. #membershipmatters

Advocacy Alert: Stop H.R. 3

Life science leaders around the U.S. agree that the proposed federal House Resolution 3 is bad health policy. The Council of State Bioscience Associations (CSBA) last week released data in the report, H.R. 3 and Reference Pricing: Total Market Impact, by international health economics firm Vital Transformations, analyzing the potential impact of various drug pricing proposals on patient access to lifesaving medicines, future biomedical innovation, and the economic health of the life sciences industry.

Specifically, H.R. 3 is named the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)'s recent analysis of H.R. 3 shows, if H.R. 3 were put into effect, the average resulting drug price would be close to the specified upper bound of 120 percent of the index of international drug prices. Negotiations would reduce prices by 57 percent to 75 percent, relative to current prices, depending on the data and parameters that were used in the calculations. H.R. 3 specifies upper and lower bounds on the prices resulting from the negotiations; in CBO’s estimation, changes to the upper bound would significantly affect the prices of the drugs the agency examined.

Mike Guerra, the president/CEO of the California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) noted the CLSA commissioned a study to examine the impact of Medicare Part D foreign reference pricing in California and in the overall nationwide biopharmaceutical ecosystem. "The results were eye-opening. In exchange for some short-term price reductions, the bill would drastically damage innovative companies across the country. According to the study, this policy would reduce the Part D revenues for U.S. companies by $358 billion over the next five years, a 58 percent reduction before interest and taxes. The Congressional Budget Office projects a similar decline — $336 billion over five years for U.S. companies overall," said Guerra.

Guerra also notes much of the revenue being lost to H.R. 3 through lower drug costs tied to international reference pricing would have been reinvested in new, potentially lifesaving therapies for patients with cancer, heart disease, diabetes, rare diseases, and many other conditions. "Small and emerging companies would bear the brunt of this. The 58 percent reduction in Part D revenue would reduce the number of new medicines that small and emerging companies bring to market by 88% across the U.S.," according to the California Life Sciences report. 

Longtime #ORBioMember Douglas Kawahara, Ph.D., is the CEO of Elex Biotech, a growing Oregon-based a drug discovery and development company focused on first-in-class new chemical entities for the treatment of arrhythmia and heart failure. As a 3rd generation Japanese-American, he’s seen the recent stories about xenophobic attacks on Asian Americans. Oregon Bio interviewed him this past week to find out his perspective on these events. #stopaapihate #learnournames

OR Bio: Have you seen the media reports about the violence against Asian Americans and if yes, what is your perspective?

DK: Yes, I have seen the media reports about violence against Asian Americans. The violence is not new. What is new is the more recent rise in the frequency of overtly violent attacks and that the media are actually giving it significant airtime. What is also new is the realization by the Asian American community is they must speak up.

OR Bio: Why do you think Asian Americans are being targeted now?

DK: To be clear, Asian-Americans have been targeted from the first day they set foot in the US. Anti-Asian sentiment is deeply rooted in U.S. society. The difference at this time is we had a president that legitimized Asian-Americans as an overt target and enabled or mobilized hate groups and certain types of individuals to implement attacks.

OR Bio: Are you worried for you or your family’s safety? If yes, how?

DK: Yes. We Asian Americans are now a highlighted target for attacks. I have relatives who feel they or their spouses need to “cover up” to make it more difficult to identify them as Asian or married to an Asian (non-Asian partners are also targets.). While I have experienced anti-Asian sentiment and treatment all my life, I will focus on a few more recent events. This concern has become more palpable during my 8+ years in Oregon, and I have become even more guarded over the last 5-6 years for reasons related to what was mentioned above.

OR Bio:  What is your recommendation(s) about can we as society do about it?

DK: Anti-Asian attacks must be openly recognized as hate crimes, and there should be no tolerance for/of any hate crime.

In order to address these issues, the task force needs to understand what specific issues are occurring, in terms of specific supplies and time sequencing. A cross-governmental group, with the Office of HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) serving as Secretariat, is gathering and examining the issues experienced by industry and will explore solutions. To report on issues your company is experiencing, please email ASPR.DPA@hhs.gov and include the specific supplies/CMO issues, impacted products, and timelines for business impacts.

If your organization is experiencing issues accessing manufacturing components, ancillary materials and raw materials, as well as with securing time for manufacturing runs with CMOs, please email ASPR.DPA@hhs.gov and include the specific supply/CMO issues, impacted products and timelines for business impacts.

·      Tim Manning: timothy.w.manning@who.eop.gov

·      Tom Breslin: thomas.m.breslin@who.eop.gov

·      Sean Christiansen: sean.m.christiansen@who.eop.gov

·      Noe Gonzalez: noe.gonzalez@who.eop.gov

So that Oregon Bio has can help locally with our members' needs, please copy liisa@oregonbio.org in your response.

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National commercial real estate powerhouse

CBRE recognizes Portland

In its newly released 'Leading Life Science Clusters: The Bio Boom Intensifies' report, CB Richard Ellis has named Portland as 1 of 10 U.S. emerging bio clusters. Check it out at https://www.cbre.us/research-and-reports/US-Life-Sciences-Report-2020 #lifesciencejobs #bioscience #biotech #letsciencelead

You can share the news via Oregon Bio's LinkedIn page here.

The OHSU Invent-a-thon Post-Hack is a business plan competition hosting eight teams competing in business plan pitching that was open to all the 49 team participants in the 2020 inaugural OHSU Invent-a-thon. Teams have been working hard since October to advance their projects, in many cases with support from our partners. #ORBioMember OHSU says they're excited to help highlight their progress and award follow-on funding for the most promising technologies.

Those pitching at the April 21 event will have demonstrated the greatest chance of readiness for funding at this point in time. Participating teams will give a 7-minute pitch to a panel of investors to compete for $40,000 in follow-on funding, plus in-kind support.