Big Pharma and academia cement big deals in the quest for bigger prizes With the patents of many highly profitable blockbuster drugs expiring over the course of a few years, the search is on for new drugs to fill large pharmaceutical companies’ shrinking product portfolios. For years, Big Pharma has turned to smaller biotech companies… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Energy + Environment
Subscribe to Energy + Environment RSS FeedMoFo BioMeter Report for Q4 and Full Year 2012
Posted on by Stephen Thau and Anelia DelchevaThe fourth quarter of 2012 saw an uptick in BioMeter value, with an average BioMeter value of approximately $26.8 million for license and collaboration agreements announced during the quarter, led by an increase in BioMeter values for Phase 2 transactions and a single high-value transaction for an approved product. Transactions for Phase 2 and pre-clinical/discovery… Continue Reading
Introducing the MoFo BioMeter
Posted on by Stephen Thau and Anelia DelchevaMorrison & Foerster is pleased to introduce the MoFo BioMeter™, an index developed to measure the health of the biotechnology industry. BioMeter takes the pulse of the industry by looking at a key measure of deal value—up-front payments—for deals in all stages of development. We also offer insight on the data and the potential impacts… Continue Reading
A Breed Apart
Posted on from MoFo Tech Fall/Winter 2012Crop inventors are seeking to protect their work, even if they don’t use GMOs When international seed supplier Enza Zaden bred a delicious and juicy new tomato in the 1990s, the world was introduced to the now famous Campari. The globe-shaped vegetable soon became a supermarket staple, but the Dutch company did not patent its… Continue Reading
Risk & Responsibility
Posted on from MoFo Tech Spring/Summer 2012New corporate form lets companies pursue sustainability with less chance of backlash In January, the California legislature created a new kind of company: the Flexible Purpose Corporation. This is the latest effort to create a corporation targeting social purposes alongside shareholder value. The traditional corporate form does not prevent companies from pursuing social goals; the… Continue Reading
California Goes Nontoxic: The state passes an unprecedented green initiative
Posted on from MoFo Tech Spring/Summer 2012Continuing its tradition of cutting-edge environmental reform, California is close to releasing a series of regulations for the use of toxic chemicals in everyday consumer products. The state has chosen to build an ambitious new system from the ground up that will call on manufacturers, importers, retailers, and others to limit or even ban certain… Continue Reading
Power to the People: Saving energy by sharing information
Posted on from MoFo Tech Spring/Summer 2012Social media adoption is increasing rapidly. So why not leverage this trend to realize a desired social outcome, like energy savings? That’s the inspiration behind a joint effort between San Francisco-based startup Opower, Facebook, and the National Resources Defense Council’s new app that empowers people to reduce their use of energy. Leveraging the Facebook platform,… Continue Reading
Biotech’s Reprieve: A federal panel rules that isolated DNA really are different
Posted on from MoFo Tech Fall/Winter 2011The biotech industry has been built on three decades of gene patenting, so it was thrown for a loop a year ago when a federal judge ruled that DNA isolated from the body were “products of nature” and therefore could not be patented. On July 29 a federal appeals court overturned that ruling against Myriad… Continue Reading
Could seaweed be the ideal biofuel source?
Posted on from MoFo Tech Fall/Winter 2011For decades, biofuel companies have turned to food crops, especially corn, to make the bioethanol that is added to gasoline to power trucks and cars. But the resulting price pressures on food, coupled with the large tracts of land needed to produce the fuel in a meaningful way, has led to a hunt for next-generation… Continue Reading