second study are expected in late 2017… Shares of Retrophin (NASDAQ: [[ticker:RTRX]]) climbed more than 27 percent after a drug for the rare kidney disease focal segmental glomerulosclerosis—which was licensed by controversial former CEO Martin Shkreli—succeeded in a Phase 2 study… Shares of Cambridge-based Karyopharm Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:KPTI]]), meanwhile, went the other way, falling 15 percent despite a mid-stage trial of a multiple myeloma drug that analysts deemed positive. TheStreet.com has more here.
—Cambridge-based messenger RNA drug developer Moderna Therapeutics joined the race to make a vaccine for the Zika virus, announcing an $8 million U.S. biodefense grant that could expand to $125 million if the vaccine progresses. Moderna also confirmed that it raised a $474 million financing round, news of which emerged in a regulatory filing last week.
—Other funding news: Cambridge-based Neurophage Pharmaceuticals raised a $47 million Series E round and changed its name to Proclara Biosciences. The cash will help Proclara begin the first study in human patients of an experimental Alzheimer’s disease treatment… Pfizer, Orion Equity Partners, and JDRF put $4 million in seed funding into AnTolRx of Cambridge, to develop drugs for type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune disorders…
—San Diego-based Fate Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:FATE]]) said it will team with scientists at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to develop “off the shelf” cell therapy products for cancer from engineered stem cells.
—Two months after its experimental prostate cancer drug failed a crucial Phase 3 trial, Boston-based Tokai Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TKAI]]) has begun to evaluate strategic alternatives, including a potential sale or reverse merger.
Moon by Bob Familiar via Creative Commons.
