Mark Zipkin, Author at Labiotech.eu

About

Mark Zipkin is a freelance writer and consultant for the biotech and pharma industry, and a Central Operations Analyst for safety app Citizen. He was previously a staff writer at BioCentury, and has worked for SpringerNature journals including Nature Biotechnology and Nature Neuroscience. Mark lives in New Jersey with his wife and three children. Follow Mark on Twitter @MarkZipkin.

Articles by Mark Zipkin

News and Trends 7 Oct 2021

Exscientia IPO Attracts Tech Investor Bets to AI Drug Discovery

Exscientia’s lucrative entry onto the Nasdaq last week demonstrated investors are still excited by efforts to use artificial intelligence to fuel drug discovery, with global tech investors often taking the lead. The Oxford, UK-based company Exscientia has one of the most mature artificial intelligence (AI)-focused drug discovery pipelines, alongside companies like BenevolentAI in the UK, […]

October 7, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin

Expert Advice 5 Oct 2021

How to Choose the Right Headquarters for Your Biotech Startup

Choosing where to plant your biotech company’s roots is a fundamental question driven by access to capital, talent, and infrastructure. But the pandemic is accelerating a decentralization movement, changing the way companies think about headquarters. Regions like the Bay Area and Boston in the US, or the UK’s golden triangle remain huge draws for biotech […]

October 5, 2021 - 6 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin

Expert Advice 18 Aug 2021

How to Pitch Your Biotech Startup to a Life Sciences Investor

You’ve got the idea. You’ve got the science. You’ve got the team. Now all you need is the money, but that can be a tricky step for a new biotech entrepreneur. In any field, getting in front of the right investors is a challenge of its own. Once you’re pitching, experienced investors and entrepreneurs say […]

August 18, 2021 - 9 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin

News and Trends 17 Aug 2021

Sanofi’s Translate Bio Buyout Shows Growing Hunger for mRNA Technology

Sanofi’s acquisition of its partner Translate Bio is a clear sign that pharmaceutical companies are interested in messenger RNA technologies beyond Covid-19. Based in Boston, US, Translate Bio develops mRNA therapies for a range of conditions, including respiratory, liver, and infectious diseases. The company’s €2.7B ($3.2B) buyout, announced by Sanofi earlier this month, seems a […]

August 17, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin

News and Trends 28 Jul 2021

Microbiome Medicines Could Power Up CAR-T Cell Therapies

The microbiome could pave new cancer immunotherapy inroads for European biotechs, bolstered by preclinical findings that gut bacteria metabolites may help CAR-T cell therapies penetrate and kill solid tumors. A recent study conducted by researchers at Philipps-University Marburg, University Hospital Würzburg, and the Leeds-based company 4D Pharma showed that metabolites produced by the gut bacteria […]

July 28, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin

IP intellectual property biotech startup

Expert Advice 19 Jul 2021

How to Protect Your Intellectual Property as a Biotech Startup

Biotechs always start with great scientific ideas, but if you can’t protect them, you can’t see them through to execution. Companies need to start developing long-term intellectual property strategies almost as early as they are devising the ideas that need protecting. Experts say that the right intellectual property (IP) strategy for a new biotech depends […]

July 19, 2021 - 9 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin

Expert Advice 16 Jun 2021

What Makes a Biotech Executive Stand Out?

Talented executives are always in demand in the biotech industry. Leaders who stand out in the field demonstrate flexibility to deal with change and failure, as well as a track record of hitting milestones. Successful biotechs typically progress along similar paths, moving from small scientist-driven enterprises eager to test their ideas, to established companies with […]

June 16, 2021 - 6 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin

News and Trends 28 May 2021

Startup Creator Launched to Fill Europe’s Microbiome Translational Gap

With a €49M ($60M) Series A, the French firm eureKARE debuted this month with the goal of priming the translational pump in hot areas where European academics have already made a mark, particularly the microbiome. Strong public funding in Europe often generates great science, but the relative lack of private funding resources leaves more opportunities […]

May 28, 2021 - 6 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin

Expert Advice 17 May 2021

How to Spend Your Biotech Startup’s Money

Biotech investment rounds tend to draw big headlines, but experienced players know the real work is done in between them. Avoiding some common pitfalls can make the difference between petering out and pressing on. Managing a biotech startup means always keeping an eye towards the next financing round. But piquing the next investor’s interest requires […]

May 17, 2021 - 6 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin

medical cancer checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy

News and Trends 29 Apr 2021

BMS’s Cancer Trial Showcases Potential for Checkpoint Inhibitors

Bristol Myers Squibb’s recent phase III success provided the first late-stage confirmation for a novel immune checkpoint target in nearly a decade. This could herald the next generation of checkpoint inhibitors against cancer. Last month, the antibody drug relatlimab, developed by Bristol Myers Squibb, increased the progression-free survival of melanoma patients in phase III. These […]

April 29, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin

neoantigen immuno oncology cancer therapy achilles therapeutics

News and Trends 15 Apr 2021

Achilles Therapeutics’ IPO Caps Investment Wave for Neoantigens

The close of the UK firm Achilles Therapeutics’ €146.9M ($175.5M) initial public offering last month may have been a long-delayed starter pistol for investments into neoantigen-based therapies, a family of personalized cancer immunotherapies that target proteins unique to an individual’s tumor. Neoantigen-focused companies have closed smaller initial public offerings (IPOs) in the past. Two major […]

April 15, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin

News and Trends 1 Apr 2021

Have European Investors Missed the Exosome ‘Gold Rush’?

When Oxford-based Evox Therapeutics announced its €81.1M (£69.2M) Series C round in February, it signaled that investors are taking exosome therapies seriously. But a lack of European investors in the exosome field raises the very real possibility that the best opportunities have already passed, along with the chance to build an exosome ecosystem to rival […]

April 1, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin

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Swiss biotech going strong in 2024: 18 companies to put on your radar

The ABC of biotech startup funding

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Bridge RNA: A new gene editing technique that could overcome the limitations of CRISPR

Special Olympics: How is biotechnology revolutionizing sports performance worldwide?

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