来源:科学网
近几年来,全球生物制药公司(注:此处生物制药公司包括传统制药公司、生物技术公司以及两者的混合型)不约而同的向美国波士顿/剑桥地区聚集,和此趋势相对应的是,波士顿/剑桥地区今年被多个媒体或网站评为生物制药或生命科学领域的冠军,其中影响最大的是GEN在今年3月份推出的“Top 10 U.S. Biopharma Clusters”,波士顿/剑桥地区首次荣登冠军宝座,成功将加州三藩湾区PK掉。那么,这些生物制药公司在波士顿/剑桥地区到底是怎么扎堆?又是为何在该地区扎堆呢,本文试图解答这两个问题,也希望波士顿/剑桥地区的成功经验对我国众多的生物制药开发区建设有所启示。
首先在波士顿/剑桥地区(包括大波士顿地区)的众多生物制药公司不仅仅是美国本土的公司,而是来自世界各地,其中也包括中国的公司尤其是欧洲的公司。这些大公司以不同方式、不同地点和布局方式在波士顿地区存在着,大公司在剑桥市最为集中:如在剑桥扎根多年、总部也在此的百键(Biogen);总部也在剑桥并在波士顿地区有多家分公司的健赞(Genzyme, 现属法国的赛诺菲); 在剑桥经营多年瑞士的诺华和美国的辉瑞(Pfizer, 包括此前收购的惠氏); 刚从百特(Baxter)拆分出不久的Baxalta(尽管百特的总部在伊利诺伊州);2018年将在剑桥开始运营其研发中心的百时美施贵宝(BMS);收购了千禧药业的日本武田(Takeda)。另外还有位于波士顿市的默沙东(Merck), 波士顿近郊还有一些大公司通过收购成立的一些分公司(有些小型公司的名字已经不复存在了),如位于Billerica小城的德国默克旗下的雪兰诺(Merck Serono);位于Bedford的新基(Celgene); 位于Marlborough的罗氏(Roche); 位于Waltham的GSK和BMS, 阿斯利康(AZ)在Waltham也有分公司, 位于波士顿远郊Worcester的艾伯伟(AbbVie,从雅培拆分后改名),尽管Worcester是整个新英格兰地区第三大城市。所以毫不夸张的说,世界Top20制药公司大多数不是已在波士顿地区,就是正在进军波士顿尤其是剑桥的路上。
当然除了这些大公司外,中小型生物制药公司就更多了,其中包括中国的至少两家公司:药明康德(包括此前收购的Nextcode和今年新开张的办公室,不过药明已经算是大公司了)和百济神州(也仅仅是办公室,新任CFO已在此走马上任)。美国大约占整个世界药物市场的一半,另外,美国的药物市场的监管也最为严格,被FDA批准上市的新药几乎可以被认为是免检产品,绝大多数都陆续在世界其它各国获批。所以毫不夸张地说,对于全球制药公司而言,得美国者得天下,而要想得美国,剑桥现在已经成为了首选之地,可以预见:剑桥将更是众多有志进军美国的世界生物制药公司的兵家必争之地。
众所周知,波士顿地区的房价已经很高,尤其是剑桥的实验室和办公室租金更是高的离谱,但是为何又有这么多制药公司不顾高企的成本,在该地区扎堆呢?本文主要侧重谈谈在剑桥扎堆的原因。限于笔者的眼界和知识面,本文意在抛砖引玉,期待能引起业内人士的对这两个问题的关注和讨论。
药企在剑桥扎堆的一个显而易见的原因是那两所世界顶级大学的存在,但是哈佛和MIT已经在剑桥存在N年,缘何近几年扎堆明显?!想必还有其它重要原因。笔者认为至少还有如下几个原因:
波士顿的世界顶级医疗资源:波士顿有三所医学院(哈佛、波士顿大学和Tufts)和两所药学院,尤其是哈佛医学院下属的三大综合性医院和波士顿儿童医院以及Dana–Farber癌症研究所最为出名,这些医院基本集中在波士顿市的Longwood医疗区。麻省总医院(MGH)虽不在这个医疗集中区,但在综合性医院中,根据最新权威排名它是全美第一名。尤其值得一提的是波士顿儿童医院,多年来一直是美国最好的儿童医院。现在用于治疗罕见病的孤儿药越来越成为欧美制药公司研发和投资的重点,而大多数罕见病是遗传性的,会伴随终身,而有大约30%的罕见病儿童会在5岁前离开人世。因此儿童是罕见病的重要人群,而各种罕见病儿童病人全世界最为集中的地方恐怕就是波士顿儿童医院了,该医院的国际中心每年接诊来自全球100多个国家的儿童病人,所以,对于发愁病人入组困难的罕见病临床实验而言,波士顿儿童医院是很理想的地方。波士顿儿童医院也位于Longwood医疗区,但在该区的大药厂只有默沙东一家。大公司为何只对剑桥独有情钟呢?也许,波士顿超强的医疗资源并非根本原因。
近几年,由于多种原因(如不断攀升的药物研发成本、专利悬崖和有限的社会支付能力)导致整个制药行业利润率不断下降,这也使得大药厂原来遍地开花、全线作战的模式难以为继,迫使这些公司至少在两个方面压缩战线:分公司的地点和数量以及药物研发的治疗领域。不太重要或者位置不理想的分公司和自己公司不太擅长的治疗领域通过关、停、并、转得以整合,从而实现两个聚焦:研发中心地点的聚焦/集中和治疗领域的聚焦。在研发中心地点的选择上,在生物药日益重要的今天,剑桥地区显然是首选之地。另外,今天的大药厂更加依赖中小创新型公司来丰富、调整自己的研发管线(参见美中药源另一分析文章:收购是比创新更有效的增长手段吗?),而剑桥拥有为数众多的创新型制药公司,而这一点也是笔者个人认为的大公司在剑桥扎堆最为重要的原因,为何这么说,下面稍微展开说说。
剑桥的创新型制药公司不但为数众多(至少上百家,主要集中在Kendall广场,名单参见文末附表),更重要的是这些公司的水平和质量之高更为惊人。水平高,不是笔者自己吹的,下面仅仅通过一组数据,以管窥豹。著名业内媒体Fierce每年都会从全球范围内评选出15家初创的创新型生物制药公司,即Fierce 15, 这都是经过业内专业人士和管理人员选出来的精英公司,很大程度上代表了制药领域未来5-10年甚至更长时间的发展趋势和可能取得重大突破的方向。自开始评选的十余年来,剑桥地区的公司占比都相当惊人,仅以最近3年来的数据为例,波士顿地区的占比每年都超过了三分之一,如果只计算剑桥,这一数字则为15家(参见下面入选的公司英文名单,没有列地点的公司均位于剑桥市),也就是说,只有区区10万人的剑桥小城,在这个榜单中占了世界的三分之一,这个成绩全球没有其它任何一个城市可以出其右。
2014 Fierce 15 (6)
DimensionTherapeutics
Editas Medicine
Navitor Pharmaceuticals
Seres Health
Spero Therapeutics
Voyager Therapeutics
2013Fierce 15 (6)
Acetylon Pharmaceuticals (Boston)
Jounce Therapeutics
Kala Pharmaceuticals (Waltham, MA)
Moderna Therapeutics
Nimbus Discovery
Visterra
2012Fierce15 (7)
Alkeus Pharmaceuticals
Bluebird Bio
Enanta Pharmaceuticals (Watertown, MA)
EnVivo Pharmaceuticals(Watertown, MA)
Foundation Medicine
Mersana Therapeutics
Seaside Therapeutics
在这些小公司中,基本都有自己的绝活,有不少已经成为各自领域的明星企业,如入选2012年度的蓝鸟(Bluebird), 是现在风头正劲的基因治疗领域的领军公司,也是美国5家已经上市的基因治疗公司中市值最高的,很多人都预测这只蓝鸟会飞的更高(参见: 飞翔的蓝鸟:BluebirdBio镰刀状细胞贫血基因疗法LengiGlobin在第一例病人显示疗效)。另外还有基于mRNA技术的Moderna Therapeutics,以及基因编辑技术的Editas Medicine(参见:英雄配宝马:比尔盖茨投资Editas)等。
尽管小型创新制药公司在剑桥不断涌现,这些小公司的存在也是大公司在剑桥扎堆的重要原因,但Kendall 广场不断快速增长的房租使小公司不堪重负,这最终也可能使得小公司无法在剑桥生存,小公司不存在了,而大公司也就失去了存在的土壤,这也是寸土寸金的剑桥被人诟病的重要一点。
当然生物制药在波士顿/剑桥地区的扎堆的原因当然不仅仅是上面罗列的这些,而更在于在该地区形成的生物科技创新生态系统。这个系统就如同根深叶茂的梧桐树,在不断的吸引金凤凰来此筑巢。药明康德的首席运营官杨青博士曾在两年前从宏观角度详细分析了一个健全有活力的生物科技创新生态系统的几个要素:“结构丰富互补,价值链完整开放,人才多样相关联,资金充足并能承担风险,政策稳定透明。”这五大要素波士顿/剑桥地区都具备而且表现突出(尤其是人才和风投资金方面),在人才方面:波士顿被人半开玩笑地称为“博士屯”,不是浪得虚名,本地不但有H & M等名校源源不断培养高素质的毕业生,更有成千上万的有经验的科研人员,华人是其中的中坚力量,在生物制药领域波士顿地区就活跃着两个华人协会:美中医药开发协会纽英伦分会(SAPA-NE) 和美中生物医药协会(CABA)。在风险投资方面,文末附表也包括了几家风险投资公司其中包括著名的Fidelity Biosciences。
附录:美国麻州剑桥市的生物医学机构(Biomedical organizations at Cambridge, MA) |
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# |
Name |
Category |
1 |
Acceleron Pharma, Inc. |
Drug Development |
2 |
Addgene, Inc. |
Non-Profit Organization |
3 |
Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc |
Drug Development |
4 |
Agilis Biotherapeutics |
Drug Development |
5 |
Agios Pharmaceuticals |
Drug Development |
6 |
Aileron Therapeutics, Inc. |
Drug Development |
7 |
Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. |
Drug Development |
8 |
Alantos Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
Drug Development |
9 |
Alexion Pharmaceuticals |
Drug Development |
11 |
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
Drug Development |
12 |
ALS Therapy Development Institute |
Disease Foundation |
13 |
Amgen, Inc. |
Drug Development |
14 |
Anutva Services Inc. |
Drug Development |
15 |
Apeiron-Synthesis, Inc. |
Contract Research & Manufacturing |
16 |
ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
Drug Development |
17 |
Ariana Data Intelligence, Inc. |
Bioinformatics |
18 |
Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
Drug Development |
19 |
Aura Biosciences |
Drug Development |
20 |
AuxoCell |
Research Products & Instrumentation |
21 |
Avastus Preclinical Services |
Contract Research & Manufacturing |
22 |
Aveo Oncology |
Drug Development |
23 |
Axios Biosciences |
Drug Development |
24 |
Baxalta Incorporated |
Drug Development |
25 |
BIND Therapeutics |
Drug Development |
26 |
BioAnalytix Inc. |
Agricultural / Industrial Biotechnology |
27 |
BioAxone BioSciences Inc. |
Drug Development |
28 |
Biogen |
Drug Development |
29 |
Bio-Pact |
Drug Development |
30 |
bluebird bio |
Drug Development |
31 |
Blueprint Medicines |
Drug Development |
32 |
Boston Biochem, Inc. |
Research Products & Instrumentation |
33 |
Boston Biomedical Inc. |
Drug Development |
34 |
Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard |
Non-Profit Research Institute |
35 |
Cambridge BioLabs |
Drug Development |
36 |
Cambridge Community Development |
Government |
37 |
Cancer Research Technology Inc. |
Disease Foundation |
38 |
Catabasis Pharmaceuticals |
Drug Development |
39 |
Celexion LLC |
Drug Development |
40 |
Cellay Inc |
Medical Device |
41 |
Cerulean Pharma Inc. |
Drug Development |
42 |
Compass Therapeutics LLC |
Drug Development |
43 |
Constellation Pharmaceuticals Inc. |
Drug Development |
44 |
CRISPR Therapeutics, Inc. |
Drug Development |
45 |
Cydan Development, Inc. |
Drug Development |
46 |
Cytel Inc. |
Drug Development |
47 |
DecImmune Therapeutics |
Drug Development |
48 |
Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, LLC |
Drug Development |
49 |
Diagnostics For All, Inc. |
Human Diagnostic Development |
50 |
Dicerna Pharmaceuticals |
Drug Development |
51 |
Dimension Therapeutics, Inc. |
Drug Development |
52 |
Edimer Pharmaceuticals |
Drug Development |
53 |
Editas Medicine |
Drug Development |
54 |
Eleven Biotherapeutics |
Drug Development |
55 |
Emulate, Inc. |
Research Products & Instrumentation |
56 |
Ensemble Therapeutics Corporation |
Drug Development |
57 |
Enumeral Biomedical Holdings Inc |
Human Diagnostic Development |
58 |
Epiva Therapeutics |
Human Diagnostic Development |
59 |
Epizyme, Inc. |
Drug Development |
60 |
Era7 Bioinformatics Inc |
Bioinformatics |
61 |
Eutropics Pharmaceuticals Inc. |
Drug Development |
62 |
Evelo Therapeutics |
Drug Development |
63 |
Exosome Diagnostics |
Human Diagnostic Development |
64 |
Feinstein Kean Healthcare |
Marketing / Communication |
65 |
Fidelity Biosciences |
Investment & Capital Firms |
66 |
Flagship Ventures |
Investment & Capital Firms |
67 |
Foundation Medicine |
Human Diagnostic Development |
68 |
Fuld & Co. |
Business & Financial Consulting |
69 |
Gen9, Inc. |
Research Products & Instrumentation |
70 |
Genocea Biosciences, Inc. |
Drug Development |
71 |
Genometry Inc |
Contract Research & Manufacturing |
72 |
Genosco |
Drug Development |
73 |
Genzyme Corporation |
Drug Development |
74 |
GNS Healthcare |
Bioinformatics |
75 |
Good Start Genetics |
Human Diagnostic Development |
76 |
H3 Biomedicine Inc |
Drug Development |
77 |
H4 Boston |
Marketing / Communication |
78 |
HiFiBiO Inc |
Drug Development |
79 |
HireMinds LLC |
Staffing Solutions |
80 |
Horizon CombinatoRx |
Contract Research & Manufacturing |
81 |
Hybrigenics Corp |
Research Products & Instrumentation |
82 |
Hydra Biosciences, Inc. |
Drug Development |
83 |
Idera Pharmaceuticals |
Drug Development |
84 |
iGEM Foundation |
Non-Profit Organization |
85 |
Immuneering Corporation |
Bioinformatics |
86 |
ImmusanT, Inc. |
Drug Development |
87 |
Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
Drug Development |
88 |
Intellia Therapeutics |
Drug Development |
89 |
InVivo Therapeutics Corporation |
Medical Device |
90 |
Ipsen Bioscience, Inc. |
Drug Development |
91 |
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
Drug Development |
92 |
Jounce Therapeutics, Inc. |
Drug Development |
93 |
Kanyos Bio |
Drug Development |
94 |
Kendall Square Association |
Non-Profit Organization |
95 |
KEW Group Inc. |
Human Diagnostic Development |
96 |
LabCentral |
Incubator |
97 |
Locust Walk Partners, LLC |
Business & Financial Consulting |
98 |
Lysosomal Therapeutics Inc |
Drug Development |
99 |
MediSapiens Inc. |
Bioinformatics |
100 |
Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
Drug Development |
101 |
Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. |
Drug Development |
102 |
Metamark Genetics, Inc. |
Human Diagnostic Development |
103 |
Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company |
Drug Development |
104 |
Mitobridge, Inc. |
Drug Development |
105 |
Moderna Therapeutics |
Drug Development |
106 |
Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
Drug Development |
107 |
MPM Capital |
Investment & Capital Firms |
108 |
Nanobiotix |
Drug Development |
109 |
Navitor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
Drug Development |
110 |
NEHI |
Non-Profit Organization |
111 |
NeoScientific |
Contract Research & Manufacturing |
112 |
NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals |
Drug Development |
113 |
Nimbus Discovery |
Drug Development |
114 |
Novartis |
Drug Development |
115 |
NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals |
Drug Development |
116 |
Novogy, Inc. |
Agricultural / Industrial Biotechnology |
117 |
OvaScience |
Research Products & Instrumentation |
118 |
Pfizer, Inc. |
Drug Development |
119 |
Planet Nutshell |
Marketing / Communication |
120 |
Potenza Therapeutics |
Drug Development |
121 |
Preceres LLC |
Agricultural / Industrial Biotechnology |
122 |
PROMETRIKA, LLC |
Contract Research & Manufacturing |
123 |
Pronutria Biosciences, Inc. |
Drug Development |
124 |
Propel Careers |
Human Resources & Operations Consulting |
125 |
Proteostasis Therapeutics, Inc. |
Drug Development |
126 |
Q-State Biosciences Inc. |
Human Diagnostic Development |
127 |
Quest Diagnostics |
Other |
128 |
RaNA Therapeutics |
Drug Development |
129 |
Ra Pharmaceuticals |
Drug Development |
130 |
Retrophin, Inc. |
Drug Development |
131 |
Rubius Therapeutics |
Drug Development |
132 |
SAGE Therapeutics |
Drug Development |
133 |
Sanofi |
Drug Development |
134 |
Sarepta Therapeutics |
Drug Development |
135 |
Scholar Rock |
Drug Development |
136 |
SciFluor Life Sciences, LLC |
Drug Development |
137 |
SeLux Diagnostics |
Research Products & Instrumentation |
138 |
Selventa |
Drug Development |
139 |
Semma Therapeutics |
Drug Development |
140 |
Semprus Biosciences Corporation |
Medical Device |
141 |
Seres Health |
Agricultural / Industrial Biotechnology |
142 |
Seventh Sense Biosystems, Inc. |
Human Diagnostic Development |
143 |
Solid Biosciences |
Drug Development |
144 |
Stemgent Inc. |
Research Products & Instrumentation |
145 |
Strategic Science & Technologies |
Drug Development |
146 |
Summit Therapeutics |
Drug Development |
147 |
Surface Oncology |
Drug Development |
148 |
Symbiota, Inc, |
Agricultural / Industrial Biotechnology |
149 |
SynDevRx, Inc. |
Drug Development |
150 |
Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
Drug Development |
151 |
TargAnox, Inc. |
Human Diagnostic Development |
152 |
Tetragenetics, Inc. |
Drug Development |
153 |
The Forsyth Institute |
Non-Profit Research Institute |
154 |
TissueVision |
Research Products & Instrumentation |
155 |
Tokai Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
Drug Development |
156 |
UK Trade & Investment |
Foreign Agencies |
157 |
Unum Therapeutics |
Drug Development |
158 |
VBI Vaccines Inc |
Drug Development |
159 |
Vedantra Pharmaceuticals, Inc |
Drug Development |
160 |
Vericel Corporation |
Drug Development |
161 |
Visterra, Inc. |
Drug Development |
162 |
VL32 |
Human Diagnostic Development |
163 |
Voisin Consulting, Inc. |
Business & Financial Consulting |
164 |
Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. |
Drug Development |
165 |
Warp Drive Bio LLC |
Drug Development |
166 |
Whitehead Institute |
Non-Profit Research Institute |
167 |
WuXi AppTec Sales |
Contract Research & Manufacturing |
168 |
WuXi NextCODE |
Bioinformatics |
169 |
XRpro Corporation |
Drug Development |
170 |
Zalicus |
Drug Development |
171 |
Zimmer Etex |
Medical Device |
表格内容主要信息来源:http://www.massbio.org
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