IPO analysis, drug development partnerships, and new financing deals have emerged from New England’s cohort of life sciences companies.
—Three of 2012’s nine biotech IPOs come from the Boston area, and the entire class is performing much more steadily than the new tech big shots on the public market, Xconomy national biotech editor Luke Timmerman reported in this week’s BioBeat column. The Boston-area players are Verastem, Tesaro, and Merrimack Pharmaceuticals.
—Northeastern University officially found a home for its Seattle extension, which will offer graduate degree programs in areas like cybersecurity, computer science, health informatics and engineering.
—Biogen Idec and San Diego-based Regulus Therapeutics announced a new partnership to analyze microRNAs as biomarkers of how patients are doing with multiple sclerosis, Biogen’s big disease focus. No financial terms were disclosed, but Weston, MA-based Biogen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) will make an investment in Regulus, and provide upfront cash and additional future payments if the R&D program hits certain milestones.
—And a couple local life sciences companies revealed via SEC filings that they have raised new funding: Raynham, MA-based Medrobotics with $8 million in a debt- and rights-based round, and Newton, MA-based Life Image with $4 million in a combination of equity, debt, and options-based financing.
