To get ready for the annual post-Labor Day market revival, three Boston-area biotechs have put their IPO plans on the front burner. Syndax Pharmaceuticals has come back to the table after postponing its plans earlier this year, while Rhythm Pharmaceuticals and Civitas have declared their intentions for the first time. In pipeline news, Alkermes has … Continue reading “East Coast Biotech Roundup: Biogen, Civitas, Rhythm, Alkermes, & More”
Author: Alex Lash
I've spent nearly all my working life as a journalist. I covered the rise and fall of the dot-com era in the second half of the 1990s, then switched to life sciences in the new millennium. I've written about the strategy, financing and scientific breakthroughs of biotech for The Deal, Elsevier's Start-Up, In Vivo and The Pink Sheet, and Xconomy.
West Coast Biotech Roundup: ARCH, Ebola, ViaCyte, Calithera & More
Lots of news this week up and down the coast and up and down the biotech food chain. We’ve got a new twist (or fold, if you prefer) on academic Ebola research at the University of Washington, and new workspace for tiny startups in Palo Alto and San Diego. We’ve got fresh venture capital for … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: ARCH, Ebola, ViaCyte, Calithera & More”
New Ebola Vaccine Tests Could Provide Early Results End of 2014
The National Institutes of Health has the green light to begin testing a new Ebola vaccine in humans, and data showing the vaccine’s safety and ability to provoke an immune response should be available by the end of the year. Whether those data are enough to make health officials confident to give the vaccine to … Continue reading “New Ebola Vaccine Tests Could Provide Early Results End of 2014”
StartX, QB3 Join Forces To Open A Palo Alto Bio Lab
The Palo Alto, CA-based nonprofit tech accelerator StartX has already grown a biomedical arm, called StartX Med. Now it’s adding laboratory space to its new headquarters in a joint effort with Bay Area incubator network and seed funder QB3. The new wet lab, dubbed StartX-QB3 Labs, is officially open this week and adds to the … Continue reading “StartX, QB3 Join Forces To Open A Palo Alto Bio Lab”
ARCH Venture Exploits IPO Window To Raise $400M Fund, Its Eighth
Amid a boom in life science venture funding, ARCH Venture Partners has closed its eighth fund with more than $400 million in commitments, the firm announced Wednesday, and at least half of it is earmarked for one of the trickiest areas of innovation: emerging biomedical technology and therapeutics. The fund matches ARCH’s previous vehicle of … Continue reading “ARCH Venture Exploits IPO Window To Raise $400M Fund, Its Eighth”
Coelacanths And Other IPO Thoughts Before The Autumn Markets Return
Ah, the final week of summer. Would that it could go on forever. And thanks for reading this on your mobile device with your toes in the sand. Just don’t forget to take a dip or toss a Frisbee when you’re done. No doubt many would like the current biotech IPO climate to stretch on … Continue reading “Coelacanths And Other IPO Thoughts Before The Autumn Markets Return”
Roche To Pay $8.3B For Intermune: Who’s Next In Pulmonary Fibrosis?
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche said Sunday it would buy Intermune (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ITMN]]) of Brisbane, CA, for $8.3 billion. It’s by far the high water mark of a growing wave in recent years of deals for drugs to treat pulmonary fibrosis, a deadly scarring of the lungs that often has no known cause. The idiopathic version—meaning … Continue reading “Roche To Pay $8.3B For Intermune: Who’s Next In Pulmonary Fibrosis?”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: Ebola, Mapp, Tekmira, ViaCyte & More
Big news this morning: two Americans treated with an experimental Ebola treatment have recovered and are now out of the hospital. (A third person, a Spaniard, who received the treatment unfortunately did not recover.) Meanwhile, the Ebola epidemic continues—more than 1,300 people have died—and with it comes fear and rage. In the U.S., potential cases … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Ebola, Mapp, Tekmira, ViaCyte & More”
From Autism to Diabetes to HIPAA, Rock Health Seeds 8 More Startups
In a year of booming digital health investment, incubator and investor Rock Health has padded its portfolio with eight more startups, two of which are still in stealth. The San Francisco firm, which since its launch in 2011 has become a major catalyst in the digital health space, has provided seed funding or grants to … Continue reading “From Autism to Diabetes to HIPAA, Rock Health Seeds 8 More Startups”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: Onyx, Calico, Otonomy, Dendreon & More
[Corrected 8/14/14, 8:11pm. See below.] When Amgen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMGN]]) bought South San Francisco-based Onyx Pharmaceuticals last year for $10.4 billion, it expected great things from Onyx’s multiple myeloma treatment carfilzomib (Kyprolis), which won its first approval in 2012 in a limited patient population. Those expectations went a bit sideways this week, as Amgen said late … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Onyx, Calico, Otonomy, Dendreon & More”
While Protesters Rage Against Tech Giants, Biotech Drives Quietly By
Not long ago, biotech made a lot of people angry. Up until 2005 or so, the annual Biotechnology Industry Organization conference attracted large street protests, which in turn attracted cops in riot gear in some cases (see San Francisco, 2004) as well as the attention of the industry’s top brass. Here’s then-BIO president Carl Feldbaum … Continue reading “While Protesters Rage Against Tech Giants, Biotech Drives Quietly By”
With $2M Seed, Perlstein Lab Tests Unorthodox Rare-Disease Plan
DIYBio is a hot term these days, as more so-called citizen scientists gain access to biotechnology tools and “biohacker” lab spaces. But how about DIY drug discovery? Independent scientist Ethan Perlstein is trying to prove it’s possible. After a year bootstrapping an ambitious project to find treatments for diseases too rare to attract drug industry … Continue reading “With $2M Seed, Perlstein Lab Tests Unorthodox Rare-Disease Plan”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: Amgen Layoffs, Avalanche, Venter & More
Summer in Seattle is usually a joyous season, but with the big West Coast news this week, a gloom more typical of the city’s winter months settled over the biotech community. Amgen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMGN]]) said it would shut down its research facility in town and a manufacturing plant in the suburb of Bothell. The closures … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Amgen Layoffs, Avalanche, Venter & More”
Seattle Jobs? Big Biotech Gives And Takes Away (Mostly The Latter)
Reporting a 25 percent jump in profits, Amgen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMGN]]) also dealt a blow to Seattle’s biotech job market today. The Thousand Oaks, CA-based biotech drug maker announced a huge round of job cuts, 12 to 15 percent of its staff worldwide, and a shuttering of research and manufacturing groups in Washington state and Colorado. … Continue reading “Seattle Jobs? Big Biotech Gives And Takes Away (Mostly The Latter)”
To Solve Alzheimer’s Mystery, Better Biological Clues Sorely Needed
The other day, I found a video on the website of the Alzheimer’s Association, a nonprofit foundation. It was part of an HBO documentary series produced a few years ago by Maria Shriver to educate the public about Alzheimer’s disease. The first couple minutes showed people going into scanners, doctors gently examining patients, color-contrasted brain … Continue reading “To Solve Alzheimer’s Mystery, Better Biological Clues Sorely Needed”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: Genentech, CareDx, and More
The week started amid anticipation of a new round of public debuts, with six of the 11 companies queued up coming from the life sciences, according to Renaissance Capital. Then on Tuesday, the Federal Reserve singled out two sectors as overvalued: social media and biotechnology. The biotech indices dropped nearly 4 percent the next two … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Genentech, CareDx, and More”
Seres Makes Push for First Drug, and IPO, of Microbiome Era
[Corrected 7/17/14, 10:46am. See below.] The first regulated therapy to emerge from the recent explosion of microbiome research is one step closer. And the company developing it, Seres Health, is stepping toward the first microbiome startup IPO, Xconomy has learned. The Cambridge, MA startup announced today that its lead product, made from a mix of … Continue reading “Seres Makes Push for First Drug, and IPO, of Microbiome Era”
Who Needs Biotech VCs, Anyway?
Welcome to In Translation, and thanks for reading. As a companion to Xconomy’s regular life sciences coverage, this new column provides me with a chance to dive a little more deeply into strategic, cultural, and scientific topics around the biotech world, and bring more of my own point of view to bear. I welcome and … Continue reading “Who Needs Biotech VCs, Anyway?”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: Scripps, Trounson, Versant, Gilead, & More
The big news out west this week revolves around institutional drama. In San Diego, the faculty at The Scripps Research Institute has taken issue with merger talks that the president and board have had with the University of Southern California. The Union-Tribune advanced the story late last week, and Scripps acknowledged Wednesday that the talks … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Scripps, Trounson, Versant, Gilead, & More”
Oh Canada! Versant’s Strategic Shifts Lead to $300M Fund
Versant Ventures, based in the San Francisco Bay Area but growing in Europe and especially Canada, is a few million dollars away from closing a new US$300 million fund, according to a regulatory filing. The fund, the fifth for the life science specialists, has been in the works for several years, with more than the … Continue reading “Oh Canada! Versant’s Strategic Shifts Lead to $300M Fund”
Langer, Led Zeppelin, and Hookups: Three Days Behind the BIO Scenes
Don’t let the blind men groping the elephant fool you. No one can get their arms around the massive, 15,000-attendee BIO conference, the industry’s annual flagship convention, and tell you what the real zeitgeist is. It’s all selection bias: If, say, you’ve been keenly following cancer immunotherapy the past couple years, you probably went to … Continue reading “Langer, Led Zeppelin, and Hookups: Three Days Behind the BIO Scenes”
East Coast Biotech Roundup: Vertex, Cubist, Editas, Polaris, & More
There was a lot of activity back East the past seven days, most of it in Boston and Cambridge, biotech’s ground zero. Vertex released excellent Phase 3 data, and Cubist got a green light from the FDA. Gene editing startup Editas Medicine found a new CEO, while the more advanced gene therapy firm Dimension Therapeutics … Continue reading “East Coast Biotech Roundup: Vertex, Cubist, Editas, Polaris, & More”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: Affymax, K2, Roche/Stratos, & More
It’s BIO week, and later on we’ll post a separate roundup of news and notes from our perambulations around the biotech industry’s largest annual convention. But beyond the networking, panels, parties, and boldface names gathered in San Diego, there was plenty of other news up and down the West Coast: new San Diego biotechs with … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Affymax, K2, Roche/Stratos, & More”
King of BIO: The Chairwoman of Biotech’s Top Trade Org Talks Policy
Rachel King is CEO of GlycoMimetics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GLYC]]), a Gaithersburg, MD-based drug developer, and the current chairwoman of the Biotechnology Industry Organization. As a heavily regulated industry, biopharma’s interactions with politicians and policy makers are crucial, and BIO has grown in recent years to become a Washington, DC power broker. Look no further for proof … Continue reading “King of BIO: The Chairwoman of Biotech’s Top Trade Org Talks Policy”
Katrine Bosley, Former Avila CEO, Takes Helm at Editas
Out on the cutting edge of gene therapy, Editas Medicine nabbed a huge round of early funding. Now it has nabbed one of the highest profile CEOs of the Boston biotech scene. Katrine Bosley and Editas said today she is the Cambridge, MA-based firm’s new chief executive, her first full-time role since she led Avila Therapeutics … Continue reading “Katrine Bosley, Former Avila CEO, Takes Helm at Editas”
Under Legal Cloud, Burrill Backs Out of BIO
BIO attendees in San Diego, including this reporter, have one fewer item on their packed calendars. Biotech venture capitalist G. Steven Burrill, accused of fraud and wrongful termination by a former employee in a civil lawsuit, has cancelled his annual speech at the industry’s biggest convention, which is being held here this week. A spokeswoman … Continue reading “Under Legal Cloud, Burrill Backs Out of BIO”
Tapping UCSF Invention, Roche and Versant Dive Into Myelin Repair
When mice chew through the insulation that protects a house’s wires, an electrician can repair the wires. People with multiple sclerosis, whose immune systems malfunction and attack the insulation of their own neural wires, don’t have that option. Helping them could be a very big deal in MS care. Swiss drug giant Roche, tapping into … Continue reading “Tapping UCSF Invention, Roche and Versant Dive Into Myelin Repair”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: Burrill, Topol, Aduro, Receptos, & More
The ultimate West Coast biotech roundup is happening next week in San Diego. It’s the international BIO convention, which one biotech veteran described to us as a “sharknado” when we asked if he would be there. (He won’t be there.) Xconomy will definitely be there, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We’ve got the past … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Burrill, Topol, Aduro, Receptos, & More”
SF Biotech Venture Vet Steve Burrill Dumped by LPs, Sued for Fraud
There’s more turmoil for G. Steven Burrill, the former accountant who has run a San Francisco biotech finance group under his own name for two decades. Burrill, known for his natty suits and pink shirts, is being sued for fraud by a former colleague for allegedly taking cash meant for investment and diverting it to … Continue reading “SF Biotech Venture Vet Steve Burrill Dumped by LPs, Sued for Fraud”
“We Have to Find Our Way”: Eric Topol of Scripps on Connected Health
Eric Topol wears many hats. He is a practicing cardiologist, genomic researcher, chief academic officer of Scripps Health, and the head of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, one of more than 60 biomedical centers supported through an ambitious National Institutes of Health program created nearly 10 years ago to move basic medical research into the … Continue reading ““We Have to Find Our Way”: Eric Topol of Scripps on Connected Health”
With $22M, True North Points Toward Rare-Disease Clinical Trials
True North Therapeutics has topped off a $22 million round of Series A funding, the company said Tuesday, and will push its lead drug candidate into clinical trials next year. The South San Francisco, CA-based startup is a sequel, of sorts. It started out as a second research program at iPierian, which, after a tumultuous … Continue reading “With $22M, True North Points Toward Rare-Disease Clinical Trials”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: Dendreon, Venter, Orexigen, & More
What did we learn out west the past seven days? Orexigen will have to wait at least three more months to learn if it can market its obesity drug. Four companies in our coverage cities inched closer to the public markets. Dendreon CEO John Johnson decided to step down, and Peter Thiel’s Breakout Labs decided … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Dendreon, Venter, Orexigen, & More”
As Its Investors Reap Returns, venBio Aims for a Bigger Second Fund
San Francisco life sciences venture firm venBio is making news these days with entrances and exits. Since its $180 million inaugural fund closed in 2011, two of its portfolio companies have become splashy acquisitions, including one last week. Thanks to those exits, venBio’s investors have more than broken even, and the group is now eyeing … Continue reading “As Its Investors Reap Returns, venBio Aims for a Bigger Second Fund”
Lou Tartaglia Leaves Third Rock to Run High-Drama RNAi Startup
[Updated 6/9/14, 3:55 pm. See below.] Solstice Biologics is announcing a new CEO today, and it’s a testament to the San Diego startup’s rollercoaster ride to say the news is one of the least dramatic events in Solstice’s short 18-month existence. New CEO and president Lou Tartaglia (pictured) has left Boston’s Third Rock Ventures, one … Continue reading “Lou Tartaglia Leaves Third Rock to Run High-Drama RNAi Startup”
Post-IPO Biotechs Have News, But Big Pharma Drives the ASCO Boat
As often happens, industry news from the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting, which ended Wednesday in Chicago, was dominated this year by Big Pharma. It’s not surprising—even with the advent of targeted cancer therapies that promise more precise treatment of smaller patient populations, clinical trials require big budgets. No drug giant had … Continue reading “Post-IPO Biotechs Have News, But Big Pharma Drives the ASCO Boat”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: NanoString, Sequenom/Agena, CIRM, & More
In the life sciences, much of the attention was focused in the past week on the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago. We’ll have a separate roundup of that news, starring West Coasters and everyone else in Xconomy’s coverage areas. Happily for this roundup, however, there was plenty of non-ASCO activity in San … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: NanoString, Sequenom/Agena, CIRM, & More”
Its First Drug in Clinic, Kineta Keeps Raising Cash from Odd Sources
Seattle biotech company Kineta keeps adding to its fundraising pool in unexpected ways. The firm announced Thursday it has raised the first part of a $10 million round [corrected 6/5/14, 4:55 pm] from a group of companies that also happen to be its drug development partners. Kineta has leaned on nontraditional investors and other funding … Continue reading “Its First Drug in Clinic, Kineta Keeps Raising Cash from Odd Sources”
Microbiome Startup Seres Health Tabs Pharma Vet Pomerantz as CEO
Seres Health said Monday that Roger Pomerantz, an infectious disease expert who spent several years as a top Merck & Co. executive, is the startup’s new CEO, replacing David Berry. Cambridge, MA-based Seres is one of just a few venture-backed firms pursuing treatments based on emerging research on the human microbiome, the collection of trillions … Continue reading “Microbiome Startup Seres Health Tabs Pharma Vet Pomerantz as CEO”
What Price Technology? At NYT Health Confab, It’s a Loaded Question
The role of data and technological innovation in health care was front and center at a conference of top health experts from academia, industry and government, convened by the New York Times at the University of California, San Francisco yesterday. Voices of both optimism and caution were plentiful, but the discussion of technology was consistently … Continue reading “What Price Technology? At NYT Health Confab, It’s a Loaded Question”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: Volcano, Twist, Calibr, ARMO, and More
For scheduling purposes, we’re moving the West Coast biotech roundup to Thursday. That move, plus the long Memorial Day weekend, means a short week and a fairly short roundup. It’s like hanging six or seven instead of the full ten. Next week’s roundup will catch a full wave of activity, we promise. —San Diego medical … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Volcano, Twist, Calibr, ARMO, and More”
Twist Bio Aims for Better DNA Synthesis With Silicon Engineering
[Corrected 5/27/14, 6:32pm. See Below.] Like so many other biological building blocks, genes have become just another lab material to order from a specialty shop. Several sophisticated companies can synthesize practically any sequence and ship them to customers for all kinds of experiments, but San Francisco startup Twist Bioscience thinks it has broken through the … Continue reading “Twist Bio Aims for Better DNA Synthesis With Silicon Engineering”
Navigating JOBS, Wrangling Investors: A Biotech CFO Roundtable
In biotech, the visionary scientists and serial entrepreneurs often—arguably too often—get described as “rock stars.” The financial guys… well, not so much. But in a business where cash is constantly burned at the altar of R&D, and financial engineering can be as prized a skill as drug hunting, the CFOs perhaps deserve more time in … Continue reading “Navigating JOBS, Wrangling Investors: A Biotech CFO Roundtable”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: Ligand, Ardelyx, Mango Health, and More
In the aftermath of nervewracking fires, it was a fairly quiet week for life sciences news in San Diego. In the Bay Area, venture dollars flowed and a public-market hopeful emerged as the IPO machine creaked back to life. Here’s our weekly roundup. —Nurix of San Francisco unveiled Thursday a $25 million Series B round … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Ligand, Ardelyx, Mango Health, and More”
As Expected, Nurix Taps Into $25M for New Drug Discovery
More details have emerged on Nurix, the San Francisco biotech funded by Third Rock Ventures and The Column Group. The two venture firms, which seeded Nurix with $6 million in 2012, announced Thursday they have teamed to provide a $25 million Series B round, which my colleague Bernadette Tansey anticipated last month in this report … Continue reading “As Expected, Nurix Taps Into $25M for New Drug Discovery”
After Time For Family, Reflection, VC Samuels Emerges At Venrock
After a two-year hiatus to care for her son, longtime Bay Area biotech investor Camille Samuels has returned to the venture spotlight. Samuels is joining Venrock, a diversified venture capital firm founded in 1969, with what she calls a broader remit than she’s had in the past. She’ll still scout for biopharma and consumer health … Continue reading “After Time For Family, Reflection, VC Samuels Emerges At Venrock”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: Lumena/Shire, Isis, Janssen Labs & More
A new wave of buyout fervor included the acquisition of San Diego’s Lumena Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Labs unveiled plans for a new incubator in South San Francisco, and Statos Genomics raised capital in Seattle. Here is the past week’s roundup of news up and down the left coast. —San Diego’s Lumena Pharmaceuticals, founded in 2011 to … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Lumena/Shire, Isis, Janssen Labs & More”
New Janssen Labs Incubator Could Bring Up to 50 Companies to South SF
Tiny biotech startups will have a new place to germinate in the San Francisco Bay Area. Healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Labs division is opening a new 30,000 square foot incubator in the biotech-rich suburb of South San Francisco. The flexible space, complete with common rooms, wet labs, and offices, could hold as many … Continue reading “New Janssen Labs Incubator Could Bring Up to 50 Companies to South SF”
LTI Corrals $5M to Exploit Link Between Gaucher, Parkinson’s
[Updated 5/12/14 10:30 pm. See below.] It’s been known for a while: Patients with the rare Gaucher disease are at much higher risk for Parkinson’s disease, as well. But only recently have drug makers, like Lysosomal Therapeutics (LTI), set out to turn that knowledge into a Parkinson’s treatment. LTI said Monday it has secured a … Continue reading “LTI Corrals $5M to Exploit Link Between Gaucher, Parkinson’s”
In Pursuit of Hot Autoimmune Target, GSK and Academics Team Up
Drug targets are like fashion items. When a trendsetter proves one is worth spending money on, a lot of followers pile in. That’s no knock on drug developers, necessarily: When a new target shows some promise, it’s good to have lots of researchers with different ideas and approaches trying to find a drug to hit … Continue reading “In Pursuit of Hot Autoimmune Target, GSK and Academics Team Up”
Digital Health Check-Up: More Dollars, Fewer Bracelets
[Corrected 5/12/14, 11:15 am. See below.] Digital health funding is booming, but one of the most visible areas of the nascent field is looking a little tired. Those were two of the messages brought to bear Friday by a gathering of entrepreneurs, financiers, and others at a half-day event hosted by law firm Fenwick & … Continue reading “Digital Health Check-Up: More Dollars, Fewer Bracelets”