A biotech sell-off in March has some investors jittery as the dramatic rise of stocks in the sector over the past two years has fueled talk of a biotech bubble. We spoke to Adam Feuerstein, senior columnist with TheStreet.com, about the trading activity in March, if there’s cause for concern about a bubble, and whether growing scrutiny of drug prices will bring the biotech party on Wall Street to a crashing halt.

The JOBS Act may have helped fuel the resurgence in life sciences IPOs, but Greg Simon believes it will help transform the landscape for early-stage financing. Simon, CEO of Poliwogg, is providing a new way for accredited investors, most who have never invested in private companies, to back promising startups in the sector. We spoke to Simon about Poliwogg, how it seeks to address a critical gap in life sciences financings, and why it could expand the pool of private capital directed into the sector.

Whole genome sequencing has been working its way into clinical applications, but a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests despite the dramatic drop in cost, several challenges remain to widespread clinical adoption. We spoke to Euan Ashley, associate professor of medicine and genetics at Stanford University and one of the authors of the study, about its findings, the various impediments to clinical use, and how long it will take before doctors embrace the technology as an essential tool.

Patients with the neurodegenerative disease ALS face a grim prognosis with few treatment choices. The nonprofit ALS Emergency Treatment Fund is trying to provide new alternatives to these patients through the use of so-called expanded access programs. We spoke to Jess Rabourn, managing director of the ALS Emergency Treatment Fund, about the regulations surrounding expanded access programs, how his organization gets experimental drugs into the hands of patients, and why drugmakers’ view of these programs is evolving.

Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, is a bacteria that can wreak havoc on a body, often following the use of antibiotics in hospitals. These infections can be tough to treat and life threatening, but the use of fecal transplants have been found to be an effective way to combat recurrent C. diff. Openbiome, a new nonprofit fecal bank, is offering doctors transplant material. We spoke to James Burgess, co-founder and director of OpenBiome, about the organization, the regulatory issues surrounding fecal transplants, and what it will take to move to synthetic treatments in the future.

Megamergers, according to conventional wisdom, are more likely to destroy, rather than create, value. But a new study from McKinsey & Company finds in the pharmaceutical industry, the numbers suggest otherwise. The analysis argues that these deals have been critical for the longer-term sustainability of acquirers. We spoke to Myoung Cha, principal in the Silicon Valley of McKinsey and co-author of the report, about the study, how deals aimed at consolidation fared relative to deals focused on driving growth, and why the benefits often justify the disruption these deals create.

Though the past two years represented a surge in high value drug approvals, a new report from EP Vantage suggests this year will likely produce the launch of only three drugs to become blockbusters by 2018. The report, Biggest Launches of 2014, says that could change should a new class of cancer immunotherapies speed to market this year. We spoke to Jonathan Gardner, report author and EP Vantage deputy news editor, about the study, the drugs that are generating the most excitement, and why the biggest launches are coming in therapeutic categories other than cancer.

he National Institutes of Health, along with a group of top drug companies and non profits, announced the launch of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership, an effort to join forces to identify and validate promising biological targets for drugs. The program, backed with $230 million from NIH and its partners, hopes to accelerate the development and reduce the cost of bringing needed drugs to market. The initial focus of the partnership will be on Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes, and autoimmune disorders. We spoke to NIH Director Francis Collins about the program, what it took to get competitors to collaborate, and why he hopes the benefits of this approach will extend far beyond the diseases being targeted.

The reproducability of scientific experiments has become a growing concern among drug companies, scientific journals, and academic research centers. In a recent piece in Nature, Francis Collins and Lawrence Tabak of the National Institutes of Health take up the issue. We spoke to Tabak, principal deputy director of NIH, about the agency’s concerns, the causes of the problem, and what the agency is doing to address it.

With the recent news that Illumina’s latest sequencers have broken the $1,000 genome barrier, there’s great anticipation about the acceleration of personalized medicine. We spoke to Ed Abrahams, president of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, about the significance of the milestone, the move of whole genome sequencing to the clinic, and the barriers that still need to overcome.

Regenerative medicine companies raised more than $1.3 billion dollars during 2013 and an expanding range of products continues to advance in the clinic. We spoke to Geoff MacKay, chairman of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, about the state of the industry, the growing success of the sector, and how investors and Big Pharma have changed their view of these technologies.

The world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies laid low on the M&A front in 2013 with biotech and specialty pharmaceuticals making headlines with acquisitions. The rising stock market suggests a tougher time ahead for Big Pharma as likely targets have grown more expensive and competitors for assets have grown stronger. We spoke to Jeff Greene, EY's global life sciences transaction advisory leader, about his firm’s recent report on Big Pharma M&A, how despite new drug approvals they are losing market share, and why, even with their rising market caps, they are in a worse position to do deals today.

Biotech stocks soared in 2013 and, as the industry readies for the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco January 13-16, there’s little to temper investor enthusiasm for the sector. We spoke to Adam Feuerstein, senior columnist for TheStreet.com, about the year that was in biotech, what to be watching at JPMorgan conference, and what the new year will bring for the sector.