Biotech Survival Index: Boston Life Sciences Companies Brace for Long, Hard Winter

Altus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALTU]]). This Waltham, MA-based drug developer expects to use $80 million to $90 million in cash for operations in 2008. It had $70.3 million on hand at the end of September.

Antigenics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AGEN]]). The Lexington, MA-based company had $40.9 million in cash at the end of September, and a net loss of $11.1 million in the quarter. It has clearance to market its first product, a kidney cancer treatment, in Russia, but it took months longer than expected to get an export license it needed before it could start selling.

Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARIA]]). This Cambridge, MA-based cancer drug developer burned through $36 million in cash and investments in the first nine months of the year. It had $52.7 million left at the end of September.

AMAG Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMAG]]). This Lexington, MA-based drug developer had stashed away $241 million in cash and investments at the end of September, while racking up a $23.6 million net loss. It is trying to satisfy the FDA’s questions about its application to market a drug for iron deficiency.

ArQule (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARQL]]). This Woburn, MA-based cancer drug developer had $136 million in cash at the end of September, which doesn’t count $75 million more in upfront payments it got from two partnership deals with Japan-based Daiichi Sankyo. Its net loss was $11.1 million in the third quarter.

Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]). This Cambridge, MA-based company said it had $1.23 billion in cash and investments at the end of September, and another $717 million in what it called “marketable securities.” Even if they’re not really that marketable anymore, Biogen turned a $207 million profit in the third quarter, so cash burn is not a concern.

Author: Luke Timmerman

Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.