FULL PODCAST: The Outlook for 2008 (.MP3,14.65 Mb)
On this special New Year’s edition editor-in-chief William Patrick is joined by Steve Burrill, CEO of the San Francisco-based life science merchant bank Burrill & Co., and David Gollaher, CEO of the California Healthcare Institute. The two co-publishers of the Journal of Life Sciences discuss the year ahead in business and policy for the life sciences industry.

The Year Ahead on the Business Front (.MP3,6.58 Mb)
The biotechnology industry enjoyed a solid year in 2007. As the final trading sessions of the year approach it appeared the Burrill Biotech Index would better than double the returns of the Dow Jones Industrial Averages for the year. The industry raised nearly $46 billion and saw nearly 30 IPOs. But 2007 was also a year when the pharmaceutical industry saw concerns about safety step to the forefront and that added to the pipeline pressures already being felt as caution at the FDA helped made this year one marked by the fewest new drugs approved in nearly a decade. Steve Burrill joins Bill to take a look back and a look forward for the industry in 2008.

The Year Ahead on the Policy Front (.MP3,8.21 Mb)
Though in 2007 concerns over patent reform and efforts to create a pathway for so-called follow-on or generic biologics dominated the policy front for the industry, no resolution on these issues were reached. As we head into an election year, healthcare reform will likely take center stage, but these unresolved issues will continue to remain high on the agenda for the industry. David Gollaher joins Bill to discuss the big policy concerns of 2007 that continue to be front and center for the industry as we move forward.