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Celtic Therapeutics, a private equity firm formed to acquire and invest in a diversified portfolio of 10 to 15 novel therapeutic product candidates, has received a $100 million investment commitment from PPD Inc. (Nasdaq: PPDI).

PRESS RELEASE

PPD, Inc. (Nasdaq: PPDI) today announced it has signed an agreement to invest $100 million in Celtic Therapeutics Holdings L.P., an investment partnership organized for the purpose of identifying, acquiring and investing in a diversified portfolio of 10 to 15 novel therapeutic product candidates. Celtic Therapeutics will focus on mid-stage drug development candidates that have progressed through human proof-of-concept studies and are targeted to address unmet medical needs, seeking to advance development of these candidates to the next key product milestone, usually the beginning or end of Phase III.

This investment in Celtic Therapeutics is intended to set the stage for a strategic alliance between Celtic Therapeutics and PPD. Both organizations are committed to forging a new framework for timely, cost-efficient drug development. As a result, PPD believes these efficiencies will lead to higher quality data and overall markedly reduced timelines. The goal of the alliance is to bring the best products to market more quickly to meet unmet needs of patients. PPD believes it will benefit Celtic Therapeutics’ mid-to-late stage pipeline across the board.

“Built upon the leadership and track records of Stephen Evans-Freke and Peter B. Corr, Celtic Therapeutics has a team of seasoned drug development professionals we believe is capable of building one of the most highly valued late-stage portfolios in the global biomedical industry,” said Fred Eshelman, executive chairman of PPD. “As pharmaceutical companies continue to face extraordinary regulatory and market-related challenges in creating and expanding their drug development pipelines, Celtic has developed an innovative, product-focused investment model to address these challenges.” 

Stephen Evans-Freke, Celtic Therapeutics’ co-founder and general partner, said, “It is our great pleasure to welcome PPD as a partner. In particular, we are delighted one of the most forward-thinking clinical research organizations has chosen to join forces with us.”

Peter B. Corr, Celtic Therapeutics’ co-founder and general partner, added, “The present approach to drug development has become too expensive and time consuming. We look forward to working innovatively with PPD on new approaches for rapid planning, decision-making and execution of our drug development programs worldwide. We are delighted Fred Eshelman and his team will be working with us in this endeavor.”

PPD anticipates it will account for this investment under the equity method of accounting.
 
PPD is a leading global contract research organization providing discovery, development and post-approval services as well as compound partnering programs. Our clients and partners include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government organizations. With offices in 38 countries and more than 10,000 professionals worldwide, PPD applies innovative technologies, therapeutic expertise and a commitment to quality to help its clients and partners maximize returns on their R&D investments and accelerate the delivery of safe and effective therapeutics to patients. For more information, visit our Web site at http://www.ppdi.com.

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The Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding 37 research grants totaling $151 million for cutting-edge concepts such as bacteria that will produce gasoline, enzymes that will capture carbon dioxide to counter global warming, and batteries cheap enough to power solar energy through the night. Most of the radical proposals will probably fail, but a few could have “a transformative impact,” according to DOE Secretary Steven Chu. The money will go for projects at all stages of development, including some that exist simply as good ideas, Chu says. The grants to small businesses, educational institutions, and a few corporations may support some ideas until VCs or major companies pick them up. The effort, directed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), is modeled on the Department of Defense (DOD) program DARPA, which helped commercialize microchips and the Internet and helped develop body armor and other high-tech products. DARPA is known for quick decisions and long-shot bets — an approach seldom associated with the DOE.

In the initial round, the grants average $4 million. One is going to researchers at the University of Minnesota who are developing one organism that uses sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into sugars and another that converts the sugars to gasoline and diesel. The two can live in a “co-culture” in a thin latex film, according to Lawrence P. Wackett, professor of biochemistry at U-Minn, although much research remains. “A venture capital group might say it’s a little early for them,” Wackett says. “It’s not all worked out, but that’s the spirit of ARPA-E.” A second grant is going to a group led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that is seeking to develop an all-liquid metal battery. The technology could smooth out the intermittent flow of power from sources like windmills and solar cells — displacing sources that emit heat-trapping gases like coal, oil, or gas. The DOE sifted through 3,600 preliminary proposals and selected 300 to be developed into fuller proposals before choosing those to finance in the first round. With only about 1% of the proposals receiving money, the DOE might decide to arrange a “fair” at which VCs could assess other proposals, Chu says.

Source: The New York Times

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Vitamin Shoppe Inc (VSI.N) shares soared in their first trading session after the health supplement retailer’s IPO priced above expectations and became the first U.S. retailer to go public in two years.

Its shares were up 16 percent to $19.67 on the New York Stock Exchange, after rising as much as 19 percent shortly after the opening bell.

Vitamin Shoppe sold 9.1 million shares for $17, more than the expected range of $14 to $16. The chain will get net proceeds of $121 million from the IPO which it will use for the redemption of preferred shares and paying down some of its debt.

Vitamin Shoppe, a North Bergen, New Jersey-based operator of 434 health supplement stores in the United States, became the first brick-and-mortar retailer to go public since the Oct. 2007 IPO by beauty products chain Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc (ULTA.O).

Vitamin Shoppe’s sales rose at an annual clip of 11.3 percent between 2005 and 2008, when they reached $601.5 million. During that time, it opened 171 new stores, according to its prospectus. The company has been profitable since 2006.

In its prospectus, Vitamin Shoppe estimated it could eventually reach 900 stores in the United States.

The Vitamin Shoppe IPO is being managed by JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays Capital. The underwriters will have the option of buying another 1.4 million shares from Vitamin Shoppe’s selling shareholders. (Reporting by Phil Wahba; Editing by Derek Caney)

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Hundreds of scientists, including six Nobel prize winners, are campaigning against plans in the U.K. to rate and fund university research according to its potential economic impact. The researchers say that many groundbreaking discoveries achieved in the past would not have survived the new test set in the plan, known as the Research Excellence Framework (REF), which was recommended by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. Under the plan, 25% of research funding would be awarded on the basis of economic and social impact, and the panel of 14 members who would examine research plans would include only three academics. More than 200 chemists, physicists, and other scientists say the measures will deny funding for the kind of “blue-sky thinking” that led to the discovery of DNA, X-rays, and penicillin. “The REF proposals are founded on a lack of understanding of how knowledge advances,” according to a statement signed by the scientists. “It is often difficult to predict which research will create the greatest practical impact. If implemented, these proposals risk undermining support for basic research across all disciplines and may well lead to an academic brain drain to countries such as the United States that continue to value fundamental research.” The statement adds, “We, therefore, call on the U.K. funding councils to withdraw the current REF proposals and to work with academics and researchers on creating a funding regime which supports and fosters basic research in our universities and colleges rather than discourages it.”

Source: Times Online

(Reuters) – Three bidders remain in the auction of German web hosting firm Strato, which has been put up for sale by German phone company freenet AG (FNTGn.DE), two banking sources said on Wednesday.

Freenet said in June it hopes to raise between 300 million euros ($445.1 million) and 400 million from the disposal.

Private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital is still in the frame along with two trade buyers, the bankers said.

German daily Financial Times Deutschland earlier reported without citing sources that Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGn.DE), freenet shareholder United Internet AG (UTDI.DE) and Bridgepoint were among those bidding.

A bank meeting was held earlier in October about a possible club loan financing to back a deal.

Strato is a well known company in Germany and banks are willing to provide financing, one of the sources said.

Freenet wants to conclude the sale this year and is aiming to sign the deal by the end of November, Freenet’s CEO Christoph Vilanek told Reuters in an interview. [ID:nLR448795]

Strato’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are able to support leverage of around three times, a banking source said previously.

Freenet became Germany’s third-largest mobile phone operator after taking over Debitel for 1.63 billion euros in April 2008, in line with a strategic focus on its mobile business. (Reporting by Alasdair Reilly & Zaida Espana; Editing by David Holmes) ($1=.6740 Euro)

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LONDON (Reuters) – Private equity firms are vying to get on a shortlist of potential buyers for discount retailer Matalan, which could fetch up to 1.5 billion pounds ($2.46 billion), sources familiar with the matter said.

European buyout house CVC kicked off interest in the retail empire majority-owned by founder John Hargreaves and has since been followed by other private equity suitors, including TPG and Cinven, sources said.

Advent International, whose investments include British budget store chain Poundland and German fashion retailer Takko, is also hoping to make it on the shortlist, another source said.

The buyout firms and Matalan declined to comment.

Matalan has not kicked off a formal process but has asked long-term adviser PWC to investigate a possible sale, which could see a short field of potential buyers assembled.

“(PWC) wants to invite people into quite a tight process,” said a source, adding he expected a sale to kick off this quarter.

Despite the flurry of interest from buyout houses, some were sceptical the business could achieve the 1.5 billion pound valuation. A source close to one of the potential bidders said the figure was too high.

Bankers expect Blackstone (BX.N) and KKR will be interested in the business. Both firms declined to comment.

PWC confirmed it was working on a possible sale but declined to comment on the process. (Additional reporting Victoria Howley; editing by Jon Loades-Carter) ($1=.6107 Pound)

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Our Distance Learning Division has two high-value audioconferences scheduled back-to-back on November 11 and November 12, and is offering a $100 discount until the end of the month for those wishing to hear both presentations. Home Run Strategies: Finding, Nurturing, and Securing Maximum Revenues from Disruptive University Technologies (click here for details), featuring Dr. Rainer Iraschko, Vice President of Research for TRLabs, will be held Wednesday the 11th, and Shifting Your TTO from Market Push to Market Pull: Finding the White Space (click here for details), featuring Lina Ramos, president of Emerging Growth Enterprise, is scheduled for Thursday the 12th. Both occur from 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EST, or can be accessed at any time after the live event on MP3 or digital CD. The cost is $197 for each session (with unlimited attendance), and purchasers of both events save $100. CLICK HERE to take advantage of the combination offer.

Coming in December:

• Tech Transfer Partnerships: Establishing Effective Legal and Operational Structures for Long-Term Success, December 8th
• Post-License Monitoring and Support: Performance and Revenue Enhancement Strategies (And When All Else Fails, How to Pull the Plug and Take Back Your IP!), December 16th

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have invented a TeraHertz-ray, or T-ray, laser that uses nanostructures based on semiconductors with special properties. The new device will provide 400 times higher gain than THz quantum cascade lasers — the only functional T-ray technology — allowing practical use of T-ray-based cameras and spectrometers for security and medical imaging. T-rays are electromagnetic waves with a shorter wavelength than microwaves but longer than infrared. They’re attractive for imaging applications because they can penetrate substances ranging from clothing to walls, they are harmless, and they can detect various chemicals — especially explosives. Despite these advantages, T-rays are rarely used due to the scarcity of T-ray emitters that are capable of generating powerful, coherent, and adjustable TeraHertz waves. The Hebrew U invention overcomes these limitations, says Yaacov Michlin, CEO of Yissum Research Development Company, the university’s TTO.

In another development, Yissum also signed a long-term multi-project research and license collaboration with pharmaceutical giant Roche of Basel, Switzerland. According to the agreement, Roche has selected six promising research projects in the fields of stem cells, biomarkers, and novel molecules for the treatment of metabolic diseases. Each collaborative research project is one to three years in duration. Roche will have exclusive license to commercialize the results in return for the payment of transfer fees, milestone payments, and royalties. The projects include a new pathway and strategies to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity; technologies to minimize the risk of tumor development and decrease the risk of immunogenic rejection when using stem cells to treat human disease; technologies to convert embryonic and induced stem cells into liver cells; identification of new biomarkers for progressive stages of vascular complications, such as ischemic heart disease; new methods to differentiate stem cells into beta cell lineages for organ transplants using proprietary scaffolds; and the use of cannabinoids to treat type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Sources: Reuters and PharmaLive

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has licensed a technology for analyzing automotive engine oil to Da Vinci Emissions Services Ltd., a San Antonio, TX, firm that specializes in a suite of combustion engine lubrication and emissions testing services and equipment. UT-Battelle, which manages ORNL for the U.S. Department of Energy, facilitated the agreement. Researchers James E. Parks and William P. Partridge of the Fuels, Engines, and Emissions Research Group in ORNL’s Energy and Transportation Science Division developed the licensed invention, known as “Laser-Induced Fluorescence Fiber Optic Probe Measurement of Oil Dilution by Fuel.”

The oil-dilution diagnostic device uses fluorescence spectroscopy to determine the amount of fuel dilution in engine oil. This condition can occur as fuel-efficient engines are operated in advanced combustion modes to meet lower emissions regulations. Fuel dilution thins the oil, lowers the lubricating ability, and can lead to higher engine wear, increased oil consumption, and engine failure. Fuel dilution also is associated with modern diesel particulate filters, injection systems, and use of biodiesel fuels. The ORNL-developed fluorescence measurement system provides real-time feedback on the fuel level in oil so engineers can develop fuel-efficient and low-emission engine calibrations to prevent oil dilution. ORNL’s technique is faster, cheaper, and capable of detecting fuel contamination in lower amounts than other methods. Conventional techniques require sampling and sending the oil to an analytical lab, resulting in delays of up to two days to produce results.

Source: The Oak Ridger

Researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, have created the spinout company Ohmedics, Ltd., to commercialize their wound management product. The wound monitor allows doctors and nurses to check whether a wound is moist — the optimum condition for healing — without removing the dressing. The technology uses a tiny, disposable sensor attached to the gauze of a dressing. A handheld meter attached to the sensor displays whether the dressing is moist and can be left alone or is too wet or dry. The technology can be used in hospitals and outpatient settings and adapted to any kind of chronic or acute wound. The technology reduces pain and skin trauma to the patient, limits opportunities for infection, and saves staff time by eliminating unnecessary dressing changes. “With chronic leg ulcers alone affecting 10 out of every 1,000 adults in the Western world at some time in their lives, the need for effective wound care is clear,” says Trish Connolly, professor in the university’s Institute of Medical Devices and CEO of Ohmedics, which was launched following a successful clinical trial in Glasgow. The company plans to begin producing the wound monitor this fall.

Sources: medtechinsider and Science Busines

Part of managing your online reputation involves your strategy for handling the negative commentary that you acquire. If you write articles on the Internet, use Facebook, Twitter, or other social media outlets, or simply have a prodcut that people talk about, there is a very good chance you will encounter comments somewhere on the web that are less than favorable.

That’s just the nature of the game. Some people choose to go on the defensive and immediately get caught up in a so-called "flame war." Others just ignore them. You may do a mixture of the two. The right call really depends on the nature of the comment and its potential impact on your brand or product.

Negative commentary has been discussed throughout the industry a lot lately. It was a common theme at the recent BlogWorld Expo. Rebecca Kelley, Director of Social Media for 10e20, has written a humorous post on the subject for Jeremy Schoemaker’s ShoeMoney blog.

"The fact of the matter is that the Internet is like a great big public bathroom stall," she says.  "Sometimes it’s clean, unassuming and well-stocked with supplies, but most of the time there’s piss on the floor, a deuce in the toilet, no toilet paper, and various atrocities scrawled onto the walls."

"Some people avoid them at all costs, electing to hold it until they get home," she adds. "Others put up with them, going in and out to do their business and not letting it affect their day-to-day lives."

Clearly Kelley looks upon the subject with a good deal of amusement. She’s not alone. Have you heard of The Bloggess? She’s a popular blogger and shares this sentiment:

I think it’s safe to say that both of these women have been pretty successful on the Internet, so it may be worth paying attention to the fact that they do not take negative commentary too seriously.

There’s no question that online reputation management is an important aspect of online marketing and keeping a favorable reputation to facilitate future business. That said, it’s generally not worth getting too worked up over somebody’s name calling or differing points of view. Sometimes you just have to choose your battles. Worry about the ones that have the greatest chance of damaging your brand.

Related Articles: 

> Baby Food Recall Shows Reputation Management Done Right

> Killing Bad Search Results with Reputation Management

> Fighting a Bad Online Reputation & Keeping a Good One

China, of course, is famous for massive censorship of the internet. Google, on the other hand, is well known for fighting censorship in many cases. Even in China, where it was required to block some searches, Google tried to take as permissive an approach as possible, even letting users know when a site was being blocked (yes, this was quite controversial, but the company did more than many other search engines). So, it does seem a bit surprising to see a headline claiming that China is accusing Google of censorship. Isn’t that backwards?

It isn’t “China” so much as it’s the Chinese Communist Party’s main newspaper (so, basically, the paper of record from the government) claiming that Google is not finding a report it put out suggesting that Google’s book searching project might violate Chinese authors’ copyrights. Of course, that claim is a bit amusing as well, given China’s general attitude towards copyright over the last couple of decades… but that’s another story.

Google claims that it did no censorship at all, and that there was an automated block put on the site via its StopBadware service, which makes sense. Google has long used StopBadware to try to protect users from malware sites, and the service does sometimes make errors. While it seems unlikely that Google would purposely block the report, that doesn’t make it any less strange for a Chinese government publication to accuse Google of censorship. Given the government’s happy embrace of censorship, how does it have any sort of moral claim here?

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Dr Alan I. Leshner, Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Executive Publisher of the Journal Science, is giving the inaugural JRC Annual Lecture this evening in Brussels.

The title of the lecture is "Europe and the United States, a crucial moment for science cooperation". European Commissioner for Science & Research, Janez Potočnik and JRC Director-General Roland Schenkel are also speaking at the event, which marks the 50^th anniversary of the opening of the European Commission’s first research site in Ispra (Italy) and today’s signature of a Memorandum of Understanding between the JRC and AAAS.

Download the JRC News Release

Faculty members with novel ideas for inventions or companies are busy people with packed schedules. So as technology transfer professionals plan faculty outreach efforts, talking a decidedly informal approach — rather than attempting to cajole researchers into scheduled meetings — may improve your results. Several universities have reported successful outcomes with Entrepreneur Office Hours, designed to allow faculty to drop by the TTO for advice, to brainstorm business strategies, check out funding opportunities, and learn about commercialization resources available. “Some tech transfer people may think they can sit in their offices, disclosures will roll in and the checks will roll in. But it’s not that easy. It’s much more of a contact sport,” says Brian Darmody, associate vice president of research and economic development at the University of Maryland (UM). UM’s office hours program has been evolving and growing for five years, and now has specific results to prove the program’s value. Gayatri Varma, PhD, executive director of UM’s Office of Technology Commercialization, traces the launch of three companies directly to the Entrepreneur Office Hours program. “Life sciences here wasn’t very entrepreneurial,” Varma says. “But after the office hours program got started, we had three companies come out of life sciences — and that hadn’t happened before.”

Columbia University is running a similar program that started just six months ago. “We formalized Entrepreneur Office Hours as part of our efforts to continue to cultivate a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem at Columbia University,” says David B. Lerner, director of CTV Venture Lab, the venture arm of Columbia Technology Ventures that assists faculty and students in start-up formation. A detailed article on the office hours programs appears in the October issue of Technology Transfer Tactics. For subscription information, CLICK HERE.

TAXIS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Rutgers University, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) have signed an exclusive license for worldwide rights to develop and commercialize antimicrobial technology that addresses multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infections. The rise in the number of MDR bacterial pathogens in recent years has dramatically reduced the utility of the current arsenal of antibiotics. In particular, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have emerged as major threats to global public health. TAXIS is currently identifying and validating lead drug candidates that target MRSA and VRE with formulations the company says are superior to existing standards of care. Current efforts are focusing on developing the azachryseniums (AZCs) as a class of bactericidal agents to effectively treat infections caused by MDR pathogens. “The compounds under investigation have great potential to treat a broad-spectrum of emerging, drug-resistant pathogens that represent large and growing public health and biodefense threats,” says Gregory Mario, CEO of TAXIS. “We are excited to develop these further and move them closer to the clinic.” The antimicrobial technology was developed by Daniel S. Pilch, professor in the department of pharmacology at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Edmond J. LaVoie, professor in the department of medicinal chemistry at Rutgers’ Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. In March, the two scientists joined with Mario to form TAXIS.

Source: Bio-Medicine

The developer of breakthrough technology using the first fully programmable magnetic strip expects the innovation to enable the next-generation of credit and debit cards, providing added security for consumers while protecting retailers and financial institutions from fraud-related losses. The technology was invented by Dynamics, Inc., a Pittsburgh-based company founded in 2007 by CEO Jeff Mullen while attending the MBA program at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. In September, Dynamics secured $5.7 million in Series A funding led by Adams Capital Management, completing a big step toward commercialization of its technology. “Dynamics’ success is reflective of how an interdisciplinary-academic approach coupled with experiential learning is a recipe for successfully incubating entrepreneurial ventures,” says Art Boni, executive director of the Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business.

Dynamics developed the first prototype of its payment card technology while a tenant of Project Olympus, an initiative of Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science. Project Olympus provides incubator space, start-up advice, and micro-grants to faculty and students across campus. The core of the program is a proof-of-concept Innovation Lab, where students, graduates, faculty, and on- and off-campus partners explore the commercial potential of innovations developed at the university. Mullen and his team presented the concept for Dynamics at one of the Project’s “Show and Tell” programs, in which students and faculty present their ideas directly to regional investment and business leaders. By winning several international business plan competitions, Dynamics subsequently netted roughly $400,000. Mullen holds more than 90 patents pending or issued and received his undergraduate degree in electrical and computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon. He “leveraged the strengths of several schools and disciplines at the university” to develop, test, and refine Dynamics’ business strategy, according to Boni. “We had to solve many technical challenges, such as the compatibility of our product with the more than 60 million current point-of-sale magnetic readers,” Mullen adds. But “gaining traction in the marketplace and attracting top executives into the company takes a different skill set.”

Source: Reuters