IPOs, CFOs, Clinicals, and More

The last few days have been surprisingly busy, given the nice weather and the impending holiday. Here are a few items you might have missed:

—In a tie with San Jose, the Boston area topped the list for most VC-backed IPOs (6) in the second quarter of 2007.

—Boston Scientific launched a new neuromodulation device for treating chronic pain.

—Biogen lost its CFO to Merck, bought back $3 billion in stock, and teamed up with Philadelphia’s Cardiokine to develop a heart-failure drug.

—ViaCell also named a new CFO.

—Alkermes and Millennium both reported positive findings from clinical trials.

—The Mass Technology Leadership Council announced the first batch of finalists for its 2007 Technology Leadership Awards. (Winners will be announced in October.)

Author: Rebecca Zacks

Rebecca is Xconomy's co-founder. She was previously the managing editor of Physician's First Watch, a daily e-newsletter from the publishers of New England Journal of Medicine. Before helping launch First Watch, she spent a decade covering innovation for Technology Review, Scientific American, and Discover Magazine's TV show. In 2005-2006 she was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. Rebecca holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Brown University and a master's in science journalism from Boston University.