It is now normal to call biotech and small pharma the innovation engines for the pharmaceutical industry. IPO and ICOs abound, as dollars from venture capital truly flood the ecosystem. In 2018, biopharma investment is having a moment. Any big fluctuation, even a positive one, makes stakeholders nervous. Some of the investors might be tourists—Amazon, Google, Apple, IBM, JP Morgan, Berkshire Hathaway and a half dozen others are new entrants, whose long term goals remain unclear. Particularly disturbing are the health insurance and supply chain changes that make headlines, such as this one.

Urgency for an Antidote to Elephantitis

We talked about the possibility of your next smartphone being a carbon-based life form here and in great depth here. 

The sheiks of the semiconductors cartel have held a monopoly on the silicon patents, trade secrets, manufacturing know-how, distribution channels and business alliance confidence due to an increasingly gigantic barrier to entry for any potential new players. When Nantero first put its feet into these turbid waters, the cartel numbered 12 major manufacturers. Now there are only four.

What amazed historians about the fall of the USSR, was that it had stayed together so long. The same can be said of Nantero.