CVS Teams with Microsoft, Epix Makes Another Bid at Approval, Thermo Ups RNAi Ante, & More Life Sciences News

OK, “& more” is stretching it this week. But with the long weekend looming, Boston-area life sciences firms can be forgiven if they’re taking things a little easy.

—The biggest prescription drug provider in the United States, Woonsocket, RI-based CVS Caremark, teamed up with Microsoft (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MSFT]]) to offer consumers Web-based health information management tools.

—Hopkinton, MA-based Alseres Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALSE]]) raised $5 million in convertible debt from Robert Gipson, a general partner at Ingalls & Snyder Value Partners, and a former director of the company, which develops neurological drugs and diagnostics.

—Epix Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EPIX]]) of Lexington, MA, made another push to get what would be its first U.S. product to market by resubmitting its application for the blood-vessel imaging agent Vasovist to the FDA. The company first filed for approval of the agent in 2003, but has faced several delays.

—Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: [[ticker:TMO]]) of Waltham, MA, expanded its RNAi efforts by acquiring Open Biosystems of Huntsville, AL, for an undisclosed sum. Open Biosystems had $14 million in revenues last year.

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.