Inhalable Insulin Market Looking Brighter for MannKind

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In the arena of inhalable insulin, now there are two. And local contender MannKind Inc.’s prospects may be brightening in the eyes of investors.

Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk A/S, the world’s largest insulin maker, last week said it was halting development of its AERx pulmonary insulin product. The decision came after New York-based Pfizer Inc. pulled its Exubera inhaler off the market in October after sales failed to take off.

That means Valencia-based MannKind, whose experimental TechnoSphere inhaler will be its first product, will now only have to contend with Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and its partner, Alkermes.

Lilly’s product likely will hit the market before MannKind’s, which is in late-stage clinical trials and may not file with U.S. regulators until late this year at the earliest. But company founder Al Mann has long contended that TechnoSphere’s way of delivering insulin offers therapeutic benefits beyond simple convenience.

Analyst Thomas Russo at Robert W. Baird & Co. said that judging from the 4 percent bump in MannKind’s share price following Novo’s Jan. 14 announcement, investors spooked by Pfizer’s failure may start to come back. Shares rose to $7.95 before settling down later in the week to around $7.50.

“The news means more than just one less competitor,” said Russo, who has a neutral recommendation on MannKind shares with a $9 price target. “It’s validating the view that pulmonary insulin will need to offer more than the inhaled route of administration to be successful. That message may be starting to sink in.”


Women in Bioscience


What’s it worth in professional development dollars for a competitive bioscience company to ensure a healthy pipeline of female executives, well versed in both science and business?

Apparently at least $4,975 a head, plus transportation costs, to a well-attended week-long leadership forum last week, co-sponsored by Claremont College’s Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences and Smith College.

The event drew 36 professionals from across the country who spent the week being coached both by academics and fellow female executives who already had risen high on the biotech corporate ladder. Among the presenters was Kate Farrell, who was Thousand Oaks drug maker Amgen Inc.’s director for global clinical supply chain management until she took early retirement in November.

Farrell, a 16-year Amgen veteran who was a research scientist before being recruited to her first management job eight years ago, said she was fortunate to have great mentors and support from her company as she climbed the management ladder. Her most important tip to attendees: Get really, really good at hiring, and then supporting, your subordinates.

“Building your team is the most important thing you’ll do,” said Farrell, who’s considering making teaching a second career.

Event organizer Diana Bartlett, Keck’s director of corporate partnerships, and institute President Shelly Schuster, say the strong interest by companies ensures the forum will become an annual event. The institute already is known for its innovative master of bioscience degree program and a companion Ph.D. program, both of which combine science and business management training in a team-based environment.

“Women have been underrepresented in (biotech), particularly in leadership positions, and we need everyone, in order as a country, to stay competitive in the world in this industry,” Schuster said.


A Researcher’s Angel


There’s potential life-saving medical research going on that’s way too early for commercialization, and even too risky to make it through the traditional government grant process.

But at least one biologist at Pasadena’s California Institute of Technology has received a crucial assist from a retired Silicon Valley venture capitalist who is employing the same level of risk-taking in his philanthropy as he did during his investment career.

Sarkis Mazmanian, a CalTech assistant professor, is receiving $450,000 from Benchmark Capital co-founder Andrew Rachleff to further his research on the relationship between intestinal bacteria and colon cancer. The grant, one of three announced last week, is being administered by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation.

Mazmanian needs to do more animal studies to test his thesis that the inflammation that can result from an overgrowth of harmful bacteria in the intestine plays a significant role in tumor growth and possibly in its initiation.

“It’s very exploratory research of the kind that the National Institutes of Health would never fund these days,” said Mazmanian. “This opportunity is almost unique. (Rachleff) was really looking for something very risky, which never would have gotten funded by traditional mechanisms.”


Staff reporter Deborah Crowe can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 232, or at

[email protected]

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