It was a historic week in the Boston biotech field with big acquisition news, but we also saw headlines on stealthier firms and startup financings.
—Ryan took a closer look at H3 Biomedicine, a cancer research house setting up shop in Cambridge, MA, with the support of Japanese drugmaker Eisai. He compared it to the research efforts of other big drugmakers like GlaxoSmithKline, which has also created a entrepreneurial startup in Cambridge, Tempero Pharmaceuticals, to fuel new drug discoveries. Eisai is providing $200 million, access to its scientists, and research and development support to H3.
—Bedford, MA-based Hologic nabbed FDA approval for its 3-D imaging system for breast cancer screening and diagnostics, which is designed to supplement existing scanning technology. The device is said to be the first of its kind to provide 3-D images of the breast.
—Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) of Weston, MA, announced that its board of directors had given the drugmaker permission to repurchase 20 million shares of its common stock to offset stock issuances under its share-based compensation plans.
—Beverly, MA-based drug developer Cellceutix settled a compensation dispute with its former CEO George Evans. The company will buy 4.6 million shares of stock held by Evans and/or his sons over the past three years, for $1 million. Evan had previously sought $1.7 million in back salary and future compensation.
—Ryan tracked down a few more details from Tillman Gerngross, co-founder and CEO of Lebanon, NH-based Adimab, about his stealthy new spinout Arsanis. The startup is focused on using Adimab’s yeast-based antibody discovery system to find drugs that could serve as an alternative to antibiotics for infectious diseases.
—Healthcare companies accounted for a 60 percent chunk of the funding raised by Massachusetts startups in January, according to
