2016 PUBLIC HEALTH
Moonshot mania Large investments in biomedical networks proliferated in 2016 Big names Celebrity health initiatives garnered headlines in 2016.
SUPPORTER
Sean Parker
INITIATIVE
The Parker Institute
Mark Zuckerberg & Priscilla Chan Chan Zuckerberg Science Initiative
MONEY
$250 million
$3 billion
FOCUS
Cancer immunotherapy
Human health
campuses in Berkeley and San Francisco. Industry experts regard the splashy efforts with a mix of hope and skepticism. “I think they are useful as long as we do not resort to them each time we need to accomplish something,” says Bernard Munos, founder of the InnoThink Center for Research in Biomedical Innovation. He notes that the approach pushes researchers to collaborate and share data more effectively. But there is also concern
Patrick Soon-Shiong
Joe Biden
Cancer Moonshot 2020
Cancer Moonshot $1 billion
Cancer
Cancer
that the initiatives will duplicate research already ongoing at other institutes or companies. And the money committed is dwarfed by the amount spent by NIH and drug firms to tackle the same problems. Munos sees a risk of moonshot fatigue. “Scientists are willing to play along, as long as moonshots remain exceptional,” he says. “But their engagement could turn to derision if we start having the moonshot of the week.”—LISA JARVIS
INVESTMENT
Biotech firms managed to go public in rocky year The 2016 U.S. market for initial public offerings of stock “will go down as the least active year since the financial crisis and will most likely trail both 2008 and 2009 in terms of proceeds raised,” according to the IPO tracking firm Renaissance Capital. Biotechs emerged as a bright spot. True, after nearly two years of strong fundraising, the biotech market cooled halfway through 2015 and remained down for 2016. But biotech firms still managed to account for all eight of the IPOs held in the first quarter. Moreover, offerings picked up in subsequent quarters and biotech companies made up about 40% of roughly 110 IPOs anticipated for the year. Myovant Sciences, formed around just two drug candidates from Takeda Pharmaceutical, raised $218 million. Other notable IPOs of more than $100 million were from the Chinese firms BeiGene and Hutchinson China Meditech. Of the three, only BeiGene is outperforming its offering price—by more than 30%. Share prices have also risen substantially for AveXis, Protagonist Therapeutics, and Reata Pharmaceuticals. Three start-ups focused on CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology—Editas Medicine, Intellia Therapeutics, and Crispr Therapeutics—went public this year. But share prices for all three are near where they started because of an ongoing dispute over CRISPR patent rights.—ANN THAYER
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C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | DECEMBER 5, 2016
Notable IPOs in 2016 Investors backed biotech firms pursuing CRISPR and cancer. COMPANY
FUNDS RAISED ($ MILLIONS)
Myovant Sciences
218
FOCUS AREAS Women's health, cancer
BeiGene
167
Immuno-oncology
Intellia Therapeutics
113
CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing
Hutchinson China Meditech
101
Cancer, inflammation
Editas Medicine
98
CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing
AveXis
98
Gene therapy
Protagonist Therapeutics
90
Peptide therapeutics
NantHealth
83
Personalized health
Kadmon Holdings
67
Cancer, autoimmune
Reata Pharmaceuticals
65
Cell function, inflammation
Selecta Biosciences
61
Immunotherapies
Crispr Therapeutics
56
CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing
IPO = Initial public offering of stock. Source: Company data
CREDITS: ADMEDIA/ SPLASH NEWS/NEWSCOM (PARKER); SKA/HSS/AEDT/WENN/NEWSCOM (CHAN, ZUCKERBERG); RINGO CHIU/ZUMAPRESS/NEWSCOM (SOON-SHIONG); OLIVIER DOULIERY/CNP/ADME/SIPA/NEWSCOM (BIDEN)
In 2016, billionaires better known for their tech savvy put their money behind solving major human health problems. Multiple high-profile initiatives were launched with lofty goals for preventing and curing disease. Cancer is getting much of the attention of these “moonshot” programs. Tech billionaire Sean Parker committed $250 million to create the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, which is focused on developing cell-based therapies and cancer vaccines. The funds will be dispersed among 300 scientists working at six academic cancer centers. Vice President Joe Biden shepherded the Cancer Moonshot, which is aimed at accelerating government efforts to prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer. The future of the program, which sought $1 billion in government funding, is uncertain given the pending change in Administration. Meanwhile, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, created by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, will put $3 billion over a decade toward curing human disease. Roughly $600 million of that will go to creating Biohub, a site meant to facilitate partnerships with Stanford University and the University of California
