Omnicare moving to Cincinnati

Omnicare is leaving Kentucky and heading to Cincinnati. The leader in Geriatric PBMs has decided to move across the river for the tax benefits package provided to the company for doing such. For more information, please review this article: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110919/BIZ01/309190041/1001

Johnson & Johnson's troubled times

Johnson & Johnson's troubled times

Check out the link above for interesting news in the world of OTC Pharma....

New Financial Management Software

We all know that Software as a Service(SaaS) is a hot topic, but I wanted to share some news about one company in particular. Host Analytics, a young company out of California, has recently announced the closing of its series C round of financing at 15 million dollars. SaaS software allows executives, managers, or finance personnel at any company to log in and see any report on any computer at anytime, making it very nice in today's portable office environment. It also allows for faster system wide upgrades, decreased internal IT management, and lower capital costs for implementation and upgrades. This software will allow users to manage their financial performace better, and in the process will save them money by using this particular software instead of their high priced competitors like SAP, SAS, or Oracle. Not bad for a company whose trying to help clients boost their bottom line!

Capex Reductions Have Boosted Profits

For my finance colleagues: http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/14494409/c_14495857?f=home_todayinfinance
I agree with the bottom paragraph of the article as well. Those lucky enough to have "packed" away some cash are poised to buy some new fixed assets or even some under valued companies to diversify their offerings or remove competition in their market. Looking forward to it!

The Continued Evolution of the Covance-Lilly Deal

The Covance-Lilly deal of 2008 was a huge milestone cleared in the evolution of big-pharma and the drug development cycle. In 2008 it had became obvious to everyone involved in the industry that certain synergies could be made between CROs and the larger pharmaceutical companies of the world, and thus the 1.6 billion dollar covance-lilly deal was born. Now, more than one and a half years later the relationship between the two organizations is still growing. According to an article from the CenterWatch website dated March 15,2010, the two have decided that Lilly will award Covance a three year biotechnology services contract, that includes the addition of a new 15 million dollar facility, hiring the 20 Lilly employees from the current division, and adding several others over the next few years.
This news is only proof that the relationships that CROs and Pharma have are still in their infancy. Continued development of the existing and yet to be discovered opportunities will only lead to faster development, testing, and approval for drugs and devices of all types. Better products which are delivered down the pipeline faster will only prove more profitable for all involved. More profits for the companies and better products for consumers is a "win-win" for everyone.

Corporate Image

I'll be the first to admit that personal image is everything but how much does image matter to a corporation? Lately I've been following Ford Motor Co. and I've begun to understand that there must be something to a company's image. Ford has recently gained market share in both the US and Europe and posted its first annual profit in 4 years. They achieved all this without having received any government bailout money last year. What does this mean for Ford's image? What will happen as a result of it? I think this will boost Ford's image, and we will continue to see both increased market share domestically and internationally and stronger profits for the company. I also think individuals pay attention to what is going on at a company and if the image is overall positive, they may be influenced to go with one product over another. What are your thoughts?

Tomorrow's VC

Since this is my first post in 2010, let's start off by saying "Happy New Year!"
Now back to the regularly scheduled broadcast....

I decided about a week ago to begin to look at entrepreneurship from the investment side. Often times we spend lots of time focusing on developing entrepreneurs, but I rarely hear or see of any push to educate or mold younger individuals into smart, alternative investment professionals. Don't get me wrong, there are some programs out there, but there aren't very many nor any that I am aware of that focus on training within the south. It dawned on me that if we could educate younger individuals on both sides of the spectrum that we all might benefit as an entrepreneur and/or as a Venture Capitalist or other alternative investment professional. I've taken it upon myself to find and develop a group of individuals who can help lay out the guide lines for a program aimed at molding tomorrow's VC in the southern and midwest United States.

Stay tuned to this blog for more information on this group as it develops. If you have any comments or suggestions, I'm all ears. I look forward to this exciting development.

Elevator Pitch Contest

I was just invited to be a judge for the University of Kentucky's Entrepreneurs Club's Elevator Pitch Contest this Thursday. Should be fun. The elevator pitch is a crucial component to obtaining venture funding. I'm sure there will be lots of great ideas for me to learn about!

A Chance For A New Kentucky Economy

I was in Chicago this past weekend for a little R&R. Andrea and I were out to dinner when I struck up a conversation with a couple of nice ladies from Columbus, OH at the table next to us. I learned that one of them was an architectural engineer who, just a few months ago, had been in Lexington, KY and completed some work for the new University of Kentucky Hospital building. I know, it's a small world! So to make a long story short, what I heard from this individual was that Kentucky was unique and poised to build a new economy for itself. "Hmmmm...." What did this mean? How did she know this? I dug deeper. It turns out that she used to live in the state of Kentucky 20 years ago and that her mother was a graduate of the University of Kentucky so she was very familiar with the "old" economy. She gathered from reading about recent developments in the state that Kentucky will emerge from this recession with new ideas, new technologies, and new jobs that will reshape the Kentucky economy as we know it today. She went on to end our conversation by saying she believes there is something going on here and that if it continues we could be the become the premier, central hub for innovation between the east and west coasts.

WOW! That was powerful. I was so glad to hear something like that. I consider myself fairly connected to what's going on in the state in terms of economic development, but to hear it from someone so far away from home means the work being done here is paying off. Maybe there is something going on in the midwest region and we have the opportunity to continue the momentum. But how do we keep it rolling?
My thoughts are this:
1. Focus on providing new and existing seed capital to fresh ideas and young companies
2. Develop a national marketing plan promoting what is going on here
3. Challenge every individual in the state to "think outside the box"

Those bullet points in combination, is how we will continue to gain this momentum, continue having people from outside our state learn about us, and ultimately change our economy. If by some strange chance I run into this great lady again I want our next conversation to focus on success and how Kentucky did it.

My Introduction

Greetings to Everyone,
My name is Jason A. Fackler and this is my blog! I intend to use this blog to voice my opinion on hot topics, relay messages I feel that people should be aware of in today's world, and to share more about my passions and interests. I'm new to the blogging world but I think I'll catch on rather quickly and hope to stay as active as possible on the site.
I'll never know how you stumbled across my blog in the first place, but whatever the case may be, I'm glad you are here. I hope to share what's going on in my head and in return learn just as much from others who are willing to share their thoughts/knowledge with me. Stay tuned and follow me down what I hope is going to be an awesome journey.

JAF