Dyax, Adimab, Mersana, & More Boston Life Sciences Newsmakers

Partnerships and funding news came out of New England biotechs, particularly a few working on antibody technology.

—Newton, MA-based Alcresta, a startup developing nutritional supplements from enzymes, nabbed $10 million from Third Rock Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Frazier Healthcare Ventures. Alcresta will share office space and a management team with Allena Pharmaceuticals, an enzyme drug startup also funded by that trio of firms.

—Burlington, MA-based Dyax (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DYAX]]) sold San Diego-based Eclipse Therapeutics an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize antibodies using its phage display technology for certain types of cancer, the companies announced. Dyax will get an upfront fee, development and sales milestones, and royalties on sales resulting from commercialized products.

—My colleague Arlene took a closer look at the regenerative medicine wins that have been happening around town, with Pervasis Therapeutics being acquired by Shire, and InVivo Therapeutics optimistic that the FDA will give it clearance to begin human trials of its technology for healing spinal cord injuries.

—A year after raising a $6 million debt-based round, Mersana Therapeutics has bumped that offering up to $10 million, a new SEC filing shows. The Cambridge, MA-based startup is developing drugs that last longer in the blood stream.

—Lebanon, NH-based Adimab, a developer of antibody discovery technology, added Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GILD]]) to its list of collaborators, which includes firms like Novartis, Merck, Merrimack, and Genentech. Adimab will work to discover therapeutic anitbodies against two targets picked by Gilead. The dollar value of the deal was not revealed.

Author: Erin Kutz

Erin Kutz has a background in covering business, politics and general news. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University. Erin previously worked in the Boston bureau of Reuters, where she wrote articles on the investment management and mutual fund industries. While in college, she researched for USA Today reporter Jayne O’Donnell’s book, Gen Buy: How Tweens, Teens and Twenty-Somethings Are Revolutionizing Retail. She also spent a semester in Washington, DC, reporting Capitol Hill stories as a correspondent for two Connecticut newspapers and interning in the Money section of USA Today, where she assisted with coverage on the retail and small business beats. Erin got her first taste of reporting at Boston University’s independent student newspaper, as a city section reporter and fact checker and editor of the paper’s weekly business section.