Zoomedia Blog
Last week, I attended the Epilepsy Pipeline Update conference, provided by our client the Epilepsy Therapy Project. The Epilepsy Therapy Project exists to overcome the barriers to successful translation of promising new research insights and to make new therapies a reality for patients. ETP provides financial support, scientific and business direction to promising new therapies, and invests in programs and platforms that can reduce the time and cost of new therapy development. The Epilepsy Pipeline Update, a one day gathering in San Francisco, brought together epilepsy researchers, biotech and medical device companies, and organizations focused on driving forward new therapies for the treatment of epilepsy and broader CNS areas and markets.
The conference provided an arena to discuss how anti-epilepsy drug development provides a well-understood and structured opportunity to explore novel CNS therapeutic programs. Panelists addressed specific questions that must be explored to expand the epilepsy market and drive drug development activity. With companies such as NeuroPace developing implantable devices for the treatment of epilepsy through neurostimulation, there was much discussion on whether drugs or devices are a better investment opportunity. New devices that deliver new formulations may be the worst of both worlds in terms of approval by FDA, however the path to approval and cost of development for a device may well be more viable in the current regulatory and financial environment. How does epilepsy compare to other CNS indications as a path to product approval? Can epilepsy serve as a gateway to other indications in CNS - migraine, bipolar, anxiety, pain and provide a rapid path to expanding a company's product pipeline? Some of the companies in attendance including NeuroGenomeX, Neurologix, VistaGen, and Jazz Pharmaceuticals are exploring epilepsy therapies as part of a broader CMS pipeline, while others such as UBS, "The Epilepsy Company", Ovation Pharmaceuticals, Marinus and Neurovista are specifically focusing on epilepsy as their first indication for new drugs and devices.
As in many other therapeutic areas it can be difficult for young companies to access venture funding to move their products forward. Venture capitalists from Bay City Capital and Soffinnova were asked whether new products should take an evolutionary or revolutionary approach. Well-established development paths may provide access to the VC funds necessary to move forward but if every company or researcher continues to work in takes the does that do to innovation? Can we flip the equation and ask the VC/financial side to be innovative in how they approach the epilepsy market? How can VC work with organizations like the Epilepsy Therapy Project to make sure funding gets to the most innovative programs and companies and brings better treatments to market faster.
The conference agenda was extremely robust with back-to-back presentations of new science, new products and challenging debate. The focus and drive of the Epilepsy Therapy Project team led by Joyce Cramer, ETP's President ensured that attendees fully participated in the discussion and that we all worked hard to solve issues that will bring us closer to developing a cure for epilepsy.
For those of you interested in the progress towards a cure for epilepsy the audio and slide coverage of the conference will be available shortly on epilepsy.com.
Barbara
Tags: Patient Strategy, Clinical Strategy, Epilepsy Therapy Project