Interview with Chairman of UCSF Department of Medicine Dr. Lloyd Hollingsworth Smith, Jr.

Dr. Llloyd Hollingsworth Smith Jr., a Harvard University alumnus and chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, visited Film Annex’s studio for an interview with executive director of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Dr. Ushma Neill. The visit was part of the video series, Conversations with Giants in Medicine, which interviews Nobel Prize winners and renowned scientists and is produced in collaboration with JCI and hosted on its Web TV.

In the video, Smith discusses being chairman of the University of California’s medical school since the early 1960s. The university has the highest standards in patient care, teaching and research. Smith recalls medical school in Boston when he was 19 years old, as well as his experiences with the Navy as a young man.

“The remarkable thing was that the Pearl Harbor happened while I was a freshman [at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va.], and this remarkably altered the career and aspirations of all of us at that age,” Smith said. “I was 17 at the time and we were, quickly, later that year taken into uniform and told if we could be admitted into medical school, the Army—or Navy, in my case—would send you to whichever institution you were admitted to.”

He also spoke about getting the first artificial kidney to work in military medicine during the Korean War.

View the full interview below. 

PWC Report Shows Decrease in Life Sciences Venture Capital Funding; Still Cause for Hope

A recent report released by PwC’s Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences Industry Group indicates that life sciences venture capital funding has shrunk for the fourth straight quarter.

On medcitynews.com, contributor Arundhati Parmar writes that “the decline was 39 percent in amount invested and 22 percent in number of deals in the second quarter from the same quarter in 2011. Total money invested in the sector that includes biotechnology and medical devices was $1.4 billion in the second quarter and the number of deals fell to 174. What’s more, the results show a four quarter slide.”

He continues,

“Both biotech and medical device venture funding took a hit. A total of 84 deals brought in $800 million for the medical device industry, but the numbers represent drops of 11 percent in deal volume and 17 percent in amount invested year over year. Biotech took a much bigger hit with a 52 percent decline in funding to $697 million and a 30 percent drop in number of deals to 90 deals in the second quarter.” Read more at medcitynews.com.

However, there is still cause for hope. As global managing partner of the venture capital practice at PwC US Tracy T. Lefteroff explained,

“The pace of venture-backed exits we saw for life sciences companies during 2011 should encourage investors. If M&A activity picks up during the second half of this year, investors should continue to see a clearer path to returns, which potentially could attract more money to be invested in this sector.

“Additionally, the new Jobs Act could spur more confidential IPO filings, creating the opportunity for more exits. This act makes it easier for start-ups with under $1 billion in annual revenue to go public by relaxing Sarbanes-Oxley requirements for five years.”

He continued,

“Finally, the recently passed user fee legislation contains some incentives for companies to develop breakthrough therapies for infectious and rare diseases. These include extended market exclusivity for qualified infectious disease products and expedited FDA review for therapies that address unmet medical needs to treat rare and life-threatening diseases and conditions. Such incentives could pique the interest of investors in companies developing innovative products that might have a shorter path to market.”

Read the full report here. 

Unilife CEO on Fox Business: "We Embraced U.S. Regulations" (Video) (UNIS)

A new trend is underway that is bringing jobs back to the US. But one company was ahead of the curve: Unilife Corporation, a developer, manufacturer and supplier of advanced drug delivery systems with state-of-the-art facilities in Pennsylvania.

In a Fox Business interview, Unilife CEO Alan Shortall explains that the company had outsourced its manufacturing operation to China around 2004-2005, but decided to move it back to the United States for a variety of reasons, not all of them intuitive. For example, the US's well-known and very stringent safety regulations, which make most businesses look elsewhere for manufacturing opportunities, were exactly what Unilife Corp was looking for.

As Mr. Shortall explains, "The US has a wonderful reputation for high quality medical devices, and the reason for that is because the regulations in the US are so stringent. Now I know we all complain about regulations, but this is one time when we actually embrace them, because it makes us better. And consequently, we can sell our products anywhere in the world because they're recognized as the best."

View the full interview below:

About Unilife Corporation

Unilife Corp. (NASDAQ: UNIS; Stock Twits: $UNIS) is a U.S. based developer, manufacturer and supplier of advanced drug delivery systems with state-of-the-art facilities in Pennsylvania. Established in 2002, Unilife works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seeking innovative devices for use with their parenteral drugs and vaccines. Unilife has developed a broad, differentiated proprietary portfolio of its own injectable drug delivery products, including the Unifill® and Unitract® product lines of safety syringes with automatic, operator controlled needle retraction. Unifill represents the world's first prefilled syringe technology integrating safety within the primary drug container. The products are ideally positioned to help pharmaceutical companies maximize the lifecycle of their injectable drugs and enhance patient care. Unifill syringes, together with other devices that are part of the Unilife technology platform, can either be supplied to pharmaceutical customers ready for use, or customized to address the specific requirements of targeted novel drugs.

Unilife Corp. (NASDAQ: UNIS; Stock Twits: $UNIS) is a U.S. based developer, manufacturer and supplier of advanced drug delivery systems with state-of-the-art facilities in Pennsylvania. Established in 2002, Unilife works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seeking innovative devices for use with their parenteral drugs and vaccines. Unilife has developed a broad, differentiated proprietary portfolio of its own injectable drug delivery products, including the Unifill® and Unitract® product lines of safety syringes with automatic, operator controlled needle retraction. Unifill represents the world's first prefilled syringe technology integrating safety within the primary drug container. The products are ideally positioned to help pharmaceutical companies maximize the lifecycle of their injectable drugs and enhance patient care. Unifill syringes, together with other devices that are part of the Unilife technology platform, can either be supplied to pharmaceutical customers ready for use, or customized to address the specific requirements of targeted novel drugs.