Finance

Many biotech management teams fail to reach out to investors in a clear and appealing way.

Despite the initial intent of charitable foundations to be not-for-profit, some of them tend to morph into organizations with bigger aspirations.

Investing in biotech companies is a capital-intensive and risky business, and it’s no secret that more money and less risk-averse investors are available in the US than in Europe. To keep innovations, companies, and their economic benefits from being transferred to regions outside Europe, many national and international European initiatives are in place. The question remains whether this is sufficient to fundamentally improve Europe’s currently underfunded biotech ecosystem. The biotech investment specialists of V-Bio Ventures take us through Europe’s biotech investment landscape.

Grail has vowed to change the field of cancer diagnostics via simple blood tests and ctDNA analysis. Their Big Data approach, in which the company will build an atlas of DNA found in the blood, convinced major investors, such as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, of the technology’s potential. A whopping $1 billion was gathered in the company’s series B financing round. Yet, do Grail and its technology deserve this huge ticket?

The University Hospital Center in Liège is expanding. The new comprehensive cancer center will be ready in 2018. The center focuses on high quality integrated care, and a large part of the building will be dedicated to outpatients in consultation and day-care without overnight hospitalization. The center will offer multidisciplinary care, focused on the overall wellbeing of the patient.