Stories That Shocked the BioPharma World in 2018

2018 saw a number of important triumphs in the biopharma industry – increased numbers of drug home loan approvals and near record-shattering IPOs, but the industry also saw its share of blemishes and black eye from various corners of the globe.

As 2018 involves a close, BioSpace takes a check out some of the various reports that garnered important coverage throughout every season.

Martin Shkreli : Pharma’s bad boy Matn Shkreli’s was sentenced to prison in March for his part in a criminal securities fraud structure related to his time as a hedge account manager. Shkreli’s was found guilty last year, but was not sentenced until this past spring. The particular indictments against Shkreli come from a five-year period from 2009 to 2014when he was in demand of the hedge money MSMB Capital and MSMB Healthcare. He was found guilty of leading to his investors suffer a damage of more than $11 million. Shkreli, of course, is far more notorious for his tenure as head of Turing Pharmaceutical drugs wonderful brash defense of a 5, 000 pct price-hike for Daraprim than for his schemes that landed him in penitentiary. Since his sentencing, Shkreli has found time to blog about the biopharma industry from prison.

Theranos : The long-awaited ending to the Theranos saga emerged with a whimper this year. In September the company closed its doors for good because the company fell from the ranks of unicorn with a value of about $9 billion dollars, to an empty storefront with the cobwebs of scandal and criminal scam charges against the company founder Elizabeth Holmes and former president Sunny Balwani. Holmes has already arranged to pay a $250, 000 fine for scam to the U. H. Securities and Exchange Percentage for earlier charges introduced against the two. Balwani is fighting the charges brought against him.

Novartis – Swiss pharma large Novartis has been at the center of any scandal that went to the halls of power in Washington, D. C. This specific spring it was uncovered that Novartis, under the leadership of its previous CEO, had entered into a contract with Jordan Cohen, the law firm in close proximity to President Donald Trump who pleaded guilty to multiple counts of tax forestalling and campaign finance scam earlier this year. Novartis had contracted with Cohen for $100, 000 per month for a one-year period in what has already been equated to a “pay-to-play” payment for unsanctioned the lobby with the legal professional who had been known as the president’s “fixer. ” Novartis said it made a mistake stepping into an agreement with Cohen and concluded shortly after it signed an agreement with him that he would be unable to provide the services he offered. Regardless of that conclusion, Novartis taken care of that it was still obligated to pay Cohen’s $1. 2 million fee.

Biohacker Dies -- Aaron Traywick, the 28-year-old main executive officer of Lignage Biomedical, and a questionable member of the biohacker community, was found lifeless in a Washington, Deb. C. sensory deprivation reservoir at the ending of April. Traywick’s death came several months after he brazenly injected himself with an alleged experimental herpes simplex virus vaccine before a congested biohacker conference in Texas. While there were a number of theories circulating around his death, it was ruled that Traywick drowned in the tank with the drug ketamine, a powerful sedative, in his system.

BIO Party ~ Because the #MeToo movement was at its height, another biotech-associated party featured nude women emblazoned with the body-painted-on logos of several biotech companies. The twelve-monthly Party at Bio Not necessarily Associated with Bio (PABNAB) in Boston was decried as tone-deaf and deficient awareness in the awaken of the concern over gender equality throughout the pharma and biotech industry. PABNAB bills itself because the “anti” party at BIOGRAPHY. The party, which was widely condemned by BIO, was reminiscent of the LifeSci Advisors party at J. P. Morgan in 2016. That party included a number of “scantily-clad” women who were hired to mingle with the mostly male attendees.

Article Retractions – Transparency has become a substantial concern in the biopharma world. Several noted as well as pharma publications were forced to retract a total of 31 articles written by Dr. Piero Anversa, a pioneer in neuro-scientific cardiac research. The article were retracted over concerns of falsified claims made in this article about something called cardiac stem tissue. The move was made by Harvard following an internal investigation that generated Harvard and Brigham and Women’s Hospital agreeing paying a $10 million settlement over allegations of research misconduct involving Anversa and members of his team. Anversa’s work centered on the concept the heart includes stem cells that could regenerate cardiac muscle. Typically the team claimed that it had discovered cells known as c-kit cells that were liable for that regeneration. Although various teams have tried, the results of Anversa’s work could hardly be produced.

Bribery and Kickbacks – In September Sanofi settled corruption charges with the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission with a $25 million check. That was alleged that company employees in the Middle East and Kazakhstan made corrupt payments in order to win business. Sanofi wasn’t alone in allegations of kickbacks. In 03 Medtech company Abiomed, Incorporation. paid the U. T. government $3. 1 billion dollars to settle allegations that the company sought to influence doctors to use the company’s line of heart pumps in a kickback scheme. Illinois-based AbbVie was under fire from California’s Insurance Commissioner over allegations of the kickback plan to support sales of blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis treatment Humira in the state. In line with the complaint, AbbVie engaged in a “far-reaching scheme” that included both traditional kickbacks, such as compensation in the varieties of cash, meals, drinks, gifts, journeys and patient referrals.