New England’s life sciences firms unveiled some big deals and big plans this week.
—Satori Pharmaceuticals raised $22 million from investors including InterWest Partners, Prospect Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, and PureTech Ventures (which launched the firm). The Cambridge, MA-based startup told Luke about its vision of becoming the first company to stop the progressive loss of memory and cognition caused by Alzheimer’s disease.
—Lexington, MA-based Cubist Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CBST]]) agreed to pay Cambridge, MA-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALNY]]) $20 million, plus up to $82.5 million down the road in milestone-based payments, for the right to market RNAi-based drugs that Alnylam is developing to treat respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.
—New Haven, CT’s Kolltan Pharmaceuticals closed a Series A round of venture financing worth over $35 million; the funding will help the startup develop cancer treatments based on the work of Yale University Medical School’s Joseph Schlessinger, a cofounder and director of the firm and its chief scientist.
—Marlborough, MA-based Exact Sciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EXAS]]) received—and rejected—a takeover offer from San Diego-based Sequenom (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SQNM]]). The deal, in which Sequenom proposed to give $1.50 worth of its own stock in exchange for each share in the Massachusetts maker of cancer diagnostics, valued Exact at about $41 million.
—An FDA advisory panel recommended that the agency approve
