Off to see Derek Trucks and wife Susan Tedeschi at the CrossRoads in Kansas City tonight. Will report back on the performance and post a few pictures. Posted Bruce Lehr June 19th 2013 Continue reading

I noticed in paper yesterday morning that a new pre- through Civil War Museum will open in end of June at Jefferson Barracks. It is housed in a newly restored ($1.7 M job) building that preserves the original history. It will open in time to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of... Continue reading

I've been away awhile and haven't been posting as regularly as in the past. Hence, I wasn't writing on the day the Supreme court issued its ruling in the AMP vs Myriad. Of course, by now you know they said that "a naturally occuring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it was isolated". This of course was in disagreement with what have been done with about 4000 genes over the prior 30 years. However, the court also ruled that "cDNA is patent eligible because it is not naturally occuring" - at least in... Continue reading

Mark Hummel and band was getting down at the Blues City Deli today on McNair Street in Soulard neighborhood. It was soulfull blues highlighted by wailing guitar riffs and some top-notch harp playing that had the crowd toe tapping and head bobbing to the music. Awesome way to spend a... Continue reading

I saw the Pro Football HOF Exhibit at the Missouri History Museum today and enjoyed it. First off, the $10 admission price was quite reasonable. I liked the mix of printed and audio exhibits. There were video highlights for the Top 10 finishes - plays like the Immaculate Reception, The... Continue reading

I saw reports in PharmaGossip and Fierce Biotech on a new study published in Health Affairs that says new drugs are becoming less and less effective against disease as judged by their relative effectiveness versus a placebo. Wow. This isn't good. The Myth of the New . The authors looked at 315 placebo-controlled clinical trials (across many diseases) that were published in 4 major journals between 1966 - 2010. They found drugs in the 70's were 4.5x beter than a placebo, somewhat less than 4x in 80's, only 2x by the 90's and in the most recent decade only 36%... Continue reading

Luke Timmerman published this morning, an accountng of IPO performance of biotech firms to date in 2013. It looks more promising than in recent times to say the least. In 2013, of the 17 biotech IPOs, 12 have stock values that are higher than the initial offering, one is exactly the same, and 4 are down but none disasterously. It appears that IPOs are once again becoming a viable mechanism for some biotechs to raise cash. It may or may not last. We'll have to keep following. But, its been a while since someone even suggested it was viable. See... Continue reading

I picked on KV Pharma a lot for its handling of the Makena product introduction a coupel years ago -- particularly for its greedy pricing decisions. The decision was basically so egregious that it caused the FDA to continue to allow compounders to compete with Makena -- even though they were now making non-approved formulations of an approved drug. KV ultimately was forced to file for bankruptcy as a result. And I thought that would be the end of them. Yes, they sued FDA for allwoing this situation. Not unpredictably, they lost that too. I thought -- aha -- their... Continue reading

Richard Pazdur, oncology chief at FDA, says he plans to push the breakthrough drug program hard. He says the staff at FDA view this as a potentially game changing mechnism to get new therapies on the market and change lives -- provided the drugs show their stuff early in clinical programs. Pazdur says he is prepared to make this a priority in his division and the FDA will partner with companies with breakthrough status to conference early and often to help shepard drugs through the agency. This could shave a couple years off a program's reaching the market. The agency... Continue reading

This is the ticket that could have been my remembrance of Michael Wacha's first major league victory. It still is the ticket that I can save (if I want) to remember that I was there at his first major league start. It is also a reminder of his first major... Continue reading

What is the basis of the perfect food? How about a food that combines peanut butter and bacon? You'll find peanut butter-bacon brittle at Ka-ka-o. A wonderful chocolate and sweet shop locally owned and operated at locations on Jefferson Street downtown (at Shenandoah St) and on Manchester in Maplewood. The... Continue reading

I just wrote about Il Tabaroo and Pagliacci. In the latter, I referred to the aria Vesti la Giubba (Ridi Pagliaccio). Now, if you are reading this blog. You are likely one of my friends and don't know a damned thing about opera. But you will have heard some opera... Continue reading

That brings us to our second wife cheats on husband, husband kills her lover and his wife in a jealous rage opera. Or as we call it: Family Night at the Opera. Pagliacci is also the story of an unhappy marriage. This time the husband (Canio)-wife (Nedda) pair are members... Continue reading

I went to the opening of Opera Theater of St Louis' (OTSL) dual tragedies - Il Tabaroo (Puccini) and Pagliacci (Leoncavello). Both are stories of husband and wives in poor marriages, the wives take lovers, and the cuckholded husbands take matters into their own hands -- by offing the wives... Continue reading

I went to the Cards game on Thursday to specifically see Michael Wacha's debut performance against those [still] pathetic KC Royals. I was excited. The park had the buzz of opening day. I haven't seen that ever that I can remember for a rookie performer before. I also can't believe... Continue reading

I think everyone should go see a Shakespeare play once. Part of the beauty of a play is the lyricism of the spoken language -- Elizabeth English. Seeing it acted, I think helps you understand the gist. Unfortunately, it doesn't always let you understand the nuance. Especially with the comedies,... Continue reading

It was a great night in the Shakespeare Glen at Forest Park this past Tuesday night. I was there for the performance of 12th Night at the 15th annual Shakespeare Festival. What a beautiful night! It was 82 F with a breeze and the humidity was down. I had a... Continue reading

SAFC announced today that it will be presenting at several major investor conferences in June 2013. See attached for the whole scoop. Download June Conferences 2013 Posted by Bruce Lehr May 29th 2013. Continue reading

I saw this today in Pharmalot. Apparently, J&J, after a seeming unending stream of gaffes, manufacuring problems and ethical slip ups, is asking its employees do some "soul searching" and examine the 70+ year old corporate credo. The health care giant is asking employees to take time to "reflect, reaffirm, question, challenge and share" their thoughts credo and then take a survey for the purpose of “identifying opportunities for improvement and action.” Wow! Who'd thunk? It's like all the physician's in the world sitting down to "think about the Hippocratic Oath". When I was in business school in the late... Continue reading

Sort answer. It's the Bottom Line, Stupid! I guess that gives away the punch line. Regardless, here's an interesting post on the topic from Stewart Lyman in this morning's Xconomy. In it, he notes that the average tenure for a top R&D exec in pharma is only 7 years. Think about that when comparind the average length of time it takes to get a drug on the market -- usually reported in 10-15 year range. It doesn't take a math major to figure out that the your average R&D head won't actually be around for new product he/she (mostly hes... Continue reading

Japanese Pharma companies have traditionally not participated in the support of product development for the emerging world. They've typically chosen to allocate R&D funds to their own market and faster growing Western economies. Apparently this is about to change. Five Big Pharma's in Japan, along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are pledging to spend $100 M over the next 5 years to make a dent versus HIV, malaria, TB and other tropical diseases. The Japanese government will kick in as well. The spending will come in the form of research grants and will also provide access to company... Continue reading

I hope to go to the Opera Theater of St Louis (OTSL) performances of Pagliacci and IL Tabarro next weekend. So if you have interest in opera, be on the look out for that! I also want to get down to the 12th Night performance at the annual Shakespeare's festival... Continue reading

Burritos are Mexican fare right? Not necessarily. Actually, come to think of it. I had a good marinated pork and pineapple burrito at Las Vallensana at 2801 Cherokee St 63118. But that's not the premise I was following when I started this post. OK. So I digress. The two best... Continue reading

I got's to get me down to the Tivoli more often. I love the Tivoli and U City Loop generally. I went down yesterday afternoon to se the Iceman. I bought my $9 ticket (reasonable to me) to see a film that I probably won't see anywhere else in St... Continue reading

I loved the FREE Blues Festival just held in St. Louis this past Memorial Day weekend. It was a great downtown event. Not only was the music very good -- and it highlighted St Louis' continued support for LIVE music downtown. Don't take that for granted. I've lived in other... Continue reading