Discovery Research From The Editor

  1. 2024 Review: It Was Your Moment In Outsourcing History 12/17/2024

    Chief Editor Louis Garguilo writes that 2024 sent us a harsh reminder: None of us are paragons of outsourcing sagacity. We need to keep learning, and updating. And staying aware that the outside world – history in the making– interferes. Here's a review of a historic year that will get you thinking: How did I create outsourcing history in 2024?

  2. Biotechs Should Go With An Uber Not A Limo 12/12/2024

    Bob Discordia had been in stealth mode for a while. When he finally emerged, Chief Editor Louis Garguilo knew his newco would include a precise model of outsourcing. The reveal came earlier this year with the announcement he had founded EQUULUS Therapeutics, a neuroscience biotech. So how will Discordia outsource? He'll take an Uber ... and advises you do the same.

  3. Every CDMO Is Perfect Before The Project Starts 12/9/2024

    Jin-an Jiao, VP, Process and Analytical Development, Synthekine, has worked with CDMOs around the world. "When you talk with them about starting a new project," he says, "everybody's perfect. Everybody's great.” Unfortunately, that can change quickly, and thus the need to confirm "a real commitment to timelines." Part 3 and our final discussion with Jiao ...

  4. One Percent Of A Hundred People's Efforts 12/5/2024

    Persephoni BioPartners CEO Hilary Shultz, and newly hired Chief Scientific Officer William Heath – a 34-year veteran of Eli Lilly – explain their biotech-forming business model, dubbed a venture studio, and provide sound advice on working with CDMOs.

  5. Go Ahead, Outsource Your Entire Biotech 12/2/2024

    Persephoni BioPartners CEO Hilary Schultz has created a business model that may propel “externalization” to an ultimate implementation: The formation of a biotech by outsourcing the entire organization, which then outsources to advance an asset. Schultz describes Persephoni as a venture studio. Chief Editor Louis Garguilo investigates further ...

  6. Fabled Route-Scouters Riding AI Applications 11/18/2024

    Route scouting professionals – self-effacing hunters of small-molecule simplicity, searching for efficient pathways to commercial success, fearless in pointing out risks, and at times, dead ends. Today they face mounting challenges. Can artificial intelligence (AI) bring more clairvoyance to these battered scientists? “Absolutely,” says Dr. Jürgen Swienty-Busch of Elsevier.

  7. Is Executive Leadership At Today's CDMOs Up To The Job? 11/11/2024

    A report from WittKieffer's Global Life Sciences provides a macro analysis of the executives that helm today’s CDMOs. Competent executive leadership should be a main driver of business-to-business confidence. So as a component of your CDMO due diligence, are you adequately assessing the senior executives at that organization? If so, do they inspire confidence that theirs is a well-governed and operated entity?

  8. Global CDMOs: What's The Right Price And Location? 11/5/2024

    Jin-an Jiao of Synthekine, a developer of CAR T therapies and biologics, says despite the specifics of his pipeline, plenty of CDMOs are interested in working with him. “However,” he says, “what’s most interesting is there's a huge difference in price estimates for the same work.” Here's his advice on how to handle that.

  9. I Outsource, Reluctantly 11/1/2024

    “I’ve worked with CROs and CDMOs since 2000,” says an outwardly jovial Jin-an Jiao, VP, Process and Analytical Development, Synthekine, a developer of CAR T therapies and biologics. His apparent mirth, though, masks a complication: Generally speaking, Jiao is a reluctant outsourcer. Here's how he handles that.

  10. Were We (Are We) Correct About Oligonucleotides? 10/25/2024

    In 2023, Chief Editor Louis Garguilo proclaimed it was "the year of oligonucleotides," and 2024 would be an incredible growth year for oligos. How are those proclamations panning out? He takes a detailed look, including the important role in the expected growth played by CDMOs.