Life Science Today 078 – Benchling, Labcorp, Novo Nordisk, BioMarin, AppliedVR

Originally Published as The Niche Podcast

Introduction 

Welcome to The Niche Podcast – Your weekly rundown of the biotech, pharma, clinical research, and life science industries. I’m your host, Dr. Noah Goodson. This week, top dollar lab notes, lab consolidation, RNA sells, and two new approval areas.

Disclaimer  

The views expressed on The Niche Podcast are those of the host and guests. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any organizations or companies with which they are affiliated. 

Benchling $6B lab notebook  

We all like to think our lab notebooks contain valuable information. But no lab notebook is more valuable than Benchling. Started as a solution to plan DNA editing and drive collaboration with cloud based solution, they have now positioned themselves as a more holistic life-science solution, and there is clearly market uptake. Just 6-months after raising $200M with a $4B valuation they’ve raised another $100M with a  $6.1B valuation. Now, I happen to have experience on Benchling since my PhD lab utilized their product. I think core to the value is the collection of a bunch of gene editing tools in a single space that is relatively functional and provides tools that matter to scientists. 

Digital lab notebooks, collaboration, and cloud-based solutions have been on the rise as the data needs within a lab have changed. Benchling has a solution for this but they also have a really useful suite of solutions for anything from analyzing a genome or RNA to designing a CRISPR plasmid. Scientists are a picky group of buyers, and Benchling has done well to gain this level of market penetration. This round sees them focusing on commercial role out into Africa and Asia. 

Labcorp Acquires Toxikon 

The fundamental consolidation of the laboratory testing industry continued this week with the acquisition of Toxikon by Labcorp. Toxikon is a mid-sized target with a revenue stream of around $40M focused on drug development and testing services. There is little to say about this except that most major lab-organizations did very well through the pandemic and are attempting to leverage gains through acquisitions into wider impact. For Labcorp this gives them added assets and inroads to biotech development in the Boston region. An important move for Taxikon but business as usual for Labcorp. 

Novo Nordisk Acquisition 

There is an old sales adage “eye-level buy-level.” Well right now, companies with RNA in their tech pipeline are at eye level. Not wanting to miss the train, Novo Nordisk has announced the $3.3B acquisition of Dicerna Pharmaceuticals. Unlike other emergent RNA therapies, Dicerna’s pipeline is based on RNA interference (RNAi). RNAi therapies work by inhibiting the transformation of RNA into  proteins. An advantage of RNAi in general is that when treatment stops the impact stops. This may be a challenge for certain genetic disease but a core asset in others. In the case of Dicerna, their pipeline is focused on liver disease. An additional value is not just the RNAi and it’s targets but the delivery system. As we’ve noted many times on this show, RNA is exceptionally fragile and requires extremely careful treatment in the pipeline to be effective as a therapeutic. Any company who has a mechanism for effective targeted RNA delivery is likely to have multifunctional value to a pharma company. Obviously Novo Nordisk sees big value in Dicerna’s pipeline. 

Drug for Dwarfism 

The FDA has approved an injectable created by BioMarin to treat Achondroplasia, a common form of dwarfism. The treatment, sold as VOXZOGO was given accelerated approval based on studies showing an average growth of 1.57cm/year. However, the approval comes with the expectation for continued monitoring through a long-term follow-up study. 

This approval is not just an accelerated approval of the first therapy for this indication, but represents a new class of therapy directly targeting the cause of achondroplasia. The C-type natriurertic peptide (CNP) analog works by positively relator of endochondral bone growth. 

Now it might seem like everyone at BioMarin would be on cloud nine this week, but there legal team has been hard at work. This week they announced a lawsuit against a former engineer alleging that confidential trade secrets were stolen including more than 1800 files when the person in question left BioMarin to join the competition, Sangamo Therapeutics. The lawsuit says that employee in question downloaded a bunch of company files to a flash drive just 1.5 weeks before quitting. It’s possible this is corporate fraud or the actions of a foolish employee, but BioMarin isn’t going to sit and wait to find out. 

VR Approval  

The FDA has approved the first ever virtual reality therapeutic for the treatment of lower back pain, opening up a new class of digital therapeutics. Produced by AppliedVR the treatment involves using an immersive virtual reality experience and guided breathing, mindfulness exercises, and relaxation guidance to reduce stress and pain experience, enhance sleep, and increase well-being. Rather than totally novel, the approach integrates techniques shown to reduce pain in other contexts. The difference is the use of a VR headset and audio for a more immersive experience. Like many mindfulness oriented therapies, the treatment effectiveness generally scales with participant engagement and results from the trial were based on an average 5.4 sessions per week over 8 weeks. 

AppliedVR has major momentum with this approval and a recent $36M series B. However, a critical consideration will be patient uptake and commercialization. And regardless of how AppliedVR’s sales pipeline performs, expect the relatively low cost of entry into this therapeutic area to drive a slew of competitors and non-traditional players to attempt to capitalize on the relatively inexpensive cost of a tech startups. If you’re in VC, I’d suggest you buckle up and prepare to see a lot of slide decks noting this key approval. 

Closing Credits  

Thanks for joining me on The Niche Podcast; your weekly summary of top news in the biotech, pharma clinical research, and life science industries. You can learn more at thenichepod.com or find us on your favorite podcast app. Like, comment, subscribe, and most of all share with your friends. If you like what you hear, please rate and review, it really helps us. Once again, I’m Dr. Noah Goodson, I’ll see you next week. 

Find out more at
https://thenichepod.com

Story References
Benchling
Labcorp
Novo Nordisk
BioMarin
BioMarin 2
AppliedVR
AppliedVR 2

Music by Luke Goodson
https://www.soundcloud.com/lukegoodson


About the Show
The Niche Podcast brings you interviews with industry experts and top stories from last week in biotech, pharma, clinical research, and the life science industries. You can expect highlights about new technologies, biotech and pharmaceutical mergers and acquisitions, news about the moves of venture capital and private equity, and how the stock market responds to IPOs. The Niche also tries to highlight trends around clinical research, including the evolving patterns that determine how drugs and therapies are developed, move through clinical trials, and become approved by regulatory agencies. It’s news, with a dash of perspective, focused on these Niche industries.