The biggest biomedical news on this coast, that coast, or any coast this week is the death of Prince Rogers Nelson, 57, a man who did more to promote cardiovascular fitness than any drug maker could ever hope to do. How much of your life have you spent dancing to his music, or, ahem, engaged … Continue reading “West Coast Bio Roundup: Prince, Theranos, Second Genome, CytomX & 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.
Leslie Alexandre Is New CEO of Washington State’s Biotech Trade Group
Life Science Washington has named Leslie Alexandre as its new president and CEO. Her previous jobs include CEO of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Known until recently as the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association, the trade group works in a state where government has been unfriendly of late to its constituents. The legislature last year … Continue reading “Leslie Alexandre Is New CEO of Washington State’s Biotech Trade Group”
Probing Gut Microbiome, Second Genome Nabs $43M To Push Colitis Drug
[Corrected, 4/20/16, 2pm. See below.] Second Genome, a South San Francisco, CA-based biotech using microbiome research to develop traditional small-molecule drugs, has tapped an unusual group of private investors for nearly $43 million in a Series B round of financing. The cash should take Second Genome through a Phase 2 trial for its lead drug, … Continue reading “Probing Gut Microbiome, Second Genome Nabs $43M To Push Colitis Drug”
Ready Or Not: Next Alzheimer’s Drugs Might Strain Health Systems
By 2029, more than 20 percent of people in the United States will be over the age of 65. That’s why the race to find effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease feels urgent. A few drugs, approved well over a decade ago, can slow patients’ mental decline for some time. But everything else that has reached … Continue reading “Ready Or Not: Next Alzheimer’s Drugs Might Strain Health Systems”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: Theranos, Medivation, Juno, and More
Sean Parker, who made billions of dollars investing in Napster and Facebook, hosted a big party this week with Lady Gaga, John Legend, and a lot of movie stars. Oh, and Parker pledged $250 million to create a cancer immunotherapy center in his own name that will coordinate research between six academic centers spread across … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Theranos, Medivation, Juno, and More”
Gritstone Oncology Taps Pfizer Veteran Karin Jooss As Its First CSO
Emeryville, CA-based Gritstone Oncology named Karin Jooss as its chief scientific officer. Jooss was previously Pfizer’s head of cancer immunotherapeutics and immunopharmacology. She joins Gritstone six months after the company launched with a $102 million commitment from Versant Ventures, the Column Group, and several other investors.
CRISPR Developer Intellia Deals With Regeneron, Jumps Into IPO Queue
Intellia Therapeutics, a developer of human medicines based on the gene editing technology CRISPR-Cas9, has thrown its hat in the IPO ring. It’s also shooting directly at the liver. The Cambridge, MA-based company filed paperwork to go public today. It also announced a deal with Tarrytown, NY-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:REGN]]) to develop a therapy … Continue reading “CRISPR Developer Intellia Deals With Regeneron, Jumps Into IPO Queue”
Advisory Panel Backs Intercept’s Liver Drug, FDA Ruling up Next
A panel of FDA advisors gave a thumbs-up today to obeticholic acid, a drug from New York-based Intercept Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ICPT]]) that the agency is considering as a treatment for a rare autoimmune liver disease. The outside advisors, mainly medical specialists from around the U.S., recommended that the FDA approve obeticholic acid, or OCA, by … Continue reading “Advisory Panel Backs Intercept’s Liver Drug, FDA Ruling up Next”
West Coast Bio Roundup: Pfizer’s BBC Ghosts, Gilead’s NASH, HLI’s Cash
The roundup was on hiatus last week for a little R&R in the California desert, which is an endless panorama of reminders that even the biggest slabs of rock eventually turn to sand. We returned this week to find the mountain otherwise known as the Pfizer-Allergan merger crumbling before our eyes under pressure, not from … Continue reading “West Coast Bio Roundup: Pfizer’s BBC Ghosts, Gilead’s NASH, HLI’s Cash”
Local Minds, Global Impact At Seattle’s Life Science Disruptors May 2
We’re a month away from our annual life sciences forum in Seattle, the agenda is posted, and it’s time to fill in some color on our speakers and topics. Seattle is remarkable for having a lot of varied expertise packed into a small footprint. People from private biopharma, public global health, academic discovery, and many … Continue reading “Local Minds, Global Impact At Seattle’s Life Science Disruptors May 2”
As Rivals Make News, Intercept Heads To Daylong Hearing For Liver Drug
Tuesday morning, FDA scientists published a thick document describing their view of the drug obeticholic acid as a treatment for a rare form of liver disease called primary biliary cirrhosis. With that document in mind, a panel of outside advisors will spend Thursday grilling the drug’s maker, New York-based Intercept Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ICPT]]), and recommend … Continue reading “As Rivals Make News, Intercept Heads To Daylong Hearing For Liver Drug”
Making the Price Right: Ideas To Change Drug Costs Gain Momentum
If the U.S. presidential primaries continue their current trajectories, the two contenders come autumn will have at least one thing in common: a stated desire to do something about high drug prices. Maybe you believe them, and maybe you think they’re blowing smoke up our nether regions. But momentum is momentum. With consumers, doctors, and … Continue reading “Making the Price Right: Ideas To Change Drug Costs Gain Momentum”
$220M Richer, Human Longevity Ups Ante In Genomics Business Race
Human Longevity, the private San Diego startup aiming to turn DNA from tens of thousands of people into a range of new businesses, said this afternoon it has reeled in $220 million in venture cash. The Series B money brings Human Longevity’s fundraising to $300 million, a stunning sum for a biotech with an unproven … Continue reading “$220M Richer, Human Longevity Ups Ante In Genomics Business Race”
CRISPR And Beyond: UCSD-Doudna Work Attracts Paul Allen’s Millions
CRISPR-Cas9 is well known, by people who follow science and some who don’t, as the new DNA editing tool that one day might cure genetic diseases or lead to designer babies. Or both. Whether those headline-grabbing scenarios come true, or CRISPR-Cas9 just remains a useful tool for all kinds of biological research, one thing is … Continue reading “CRISPR And Beyond: UCSD-Doudna Work Attracts Paul Allen’s Millions”
With $25M, Science Exchange’s Marketplace Is No Longer An Experiment
Internet companies like Airbnb, Uber, and TaskRabbit have helped people turn the extra capacity in their homes, cars, and personal downtime into a revenue stream, then taken their cut of it. Palo Alto, CA-based Science Exchange has brought the sharing economy to biomedical labs, letting scientists in academia, government, and all sizes of companies shop … Continue reading “With $25M, Science Exchange’s Marketplace Is No Longer An Experiment”
Former Faster Cures, Poliwogg Exec Greg Simon To Lead Cancer Moonshot
The “cancer moonshot” initiative that Vice President Joe Biden has been promoting for several months now has an executive director. First reported in the New York Times, Biden has named Greg Simon to lead the $195 million project, which is meant to coordinate and speed up cancer research. Simon was most recently CEO of the … Continue reading “Former Faster Cures, Poliwogg Exec Greg Simon To Lead Cancer Moonshot”
West Coast Bio Roundup: Gilead Onco Woes, Adaptive Expansion & More
DiCE Molecules of Redwood City, CA, revealed itself this week with a new drug discovery scheme and a business model straight out of 2010. DiCE CEO Kevin Judice, a veteran of California biotechs that have produced anti-infective drugs, told Xconomy that DiCE would initially fund itself through two big pharma partnerships; the first, a five-year … Continue reading “West Coast Bio Roundup: Gilead Onco Woes, Adaptive Expansion & More”
Amgen Bests Sanofi-Regeneron In PCSK9 Patent Case, Losers Vow Appeal
After battling to be first to market with their next-generation cholesterol-fighting drugs, Amgen is fighting rival Sanofi and its partner Regeneron Pharmaceuticals over the patents behind the drugs. Round one just went to Amgen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMGN]]). A jury in a U.S. district court in Delaware has ruled that alirocumab (Praluent), from Sanofi (NYSE: [[ticker:SNY]]) and … Continue reading “Amgen Bests Sanofi-Regeneron In PCSK9 Patent Case, Losers Vow Appeal”
Racing Zika: For Every Short Cut, There’s An Open Question
[Updated 3/15/16, 7:16pm; corrected 3/16/16, 7:00pm. See below.] In the Luganda language, zika means “overgrown.” It’s also the name of the Ugandan forest where, in the mid-20th century, researchers discovered the now-notorious virus. Dense forest is an appropriate and vivid image for the latest global health threat. So much about the virus and its effects … Continue reading “Racing Zika: For Every Short Cut, There’s An Open Question”
West Coast Bio Roundup: Illumina, CRISPR, Orexigen, Ambry & More
El Niño-driven storms returned to California this week to fill up reservoirs and snarl commutes, although we’ve got nothing to compare with what’s happening down South. A few biotech parades were rained on out West. The two rival parties battling for CRISPR patent rights tried to undermine each other’s cases, filing documents to kick off … Continue reading “West Coast Bio Roundup: Illumina, CRISPR, Orexigen, Ambry & More”
Failed Alzheimer’s Drug To Get Another Shot, If Investors Pony Up
Alzheimer’s disease has been a pharmaceutical minefield the past decade, with several experimental drugs backed by pharmaceutical giants such as Pfizer, Roche, Eli Lilly, and Johnson & Johnson blowing up after being tested in thousands of patients. The first of those failures, nearly a decade ago, was a drug called tramiprosate. But now, after a … Continue reading “Failed Alzheimer’s Drug To Get Another Shot, If Investors Pony Up”
Illumina CEO Flatley To Step Aside, deSouza To Take Reins in July
Illumina helped usher in the genomic age. Now the company has a new leader. Illumina (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ILMN]]) today said CEO Jay Flatley would step aside in July after 17 years at the helm, but he will stay active as executive chairman. His successor is president Francis deSouza (pictured), who joined the San Diego-based company in … Continue reading “Illumina CEO Flatley To Step Aside, deSouza To Take Reins in July”
West Coast Bio Roundup: UCLA Cashes In, BioMarin Tries Again & More
The prostate cancer drug enzalutamide (Xtandi), from San Francisco’s Medivation, has had a long, legally tangled history. Its inventors can also call it lucrative: a New York finance group that specializes in drug sales royalties has bought royalty rights from the University of California, Los Angeles, and others for more than $1 billion. Reversals of … Continue reading “West Coast Bio Roundup: UCLA Cashes In, BioMarin Tries Again & More”
Spurned in Duchenne, BioMarin Will Seek Approval For Batten Drug
BioMarin Pharmaceutical, a developer of treatments for rare diseases, struck out in a recent attempt to have a drug approved for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Now it’s taking another swing with a drug for a different genetic disease, one that strikes children a couple years after birth, debilitates their bodies and minds, and proves deadly by … Continue reading “Spurned in Duchenne, BioMarin Will Seek Approval For Batten Drug”
Seattle’s Life Science Disruptors Take The Stage on May 2
We’re gearing up for Xconomy’s annual Seattle life sciences forum. It’s happening on the afternoon of Monday, May 2, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and we’ve already got some big names, fresh faces, and cutting-edge ideas to share with you. Seattle’s dense confluence of biotechnology, medicine, information technology, and public health expertise, all … Continue reading “Seattle’s Life Science Disruptors Take The Stage on May 2”
On Comeback Trail, Exelixis Reels In $200M Deal For Cancer Drug
Cancer drug developer Exelixis continued its comeback, announcing Monday a deal with Ipsen that will pay the South San Francisco, CA-based biotech $200 million upfront. Ipsen, of Paris, will receive rights to the Exelixis drug cabozantinib (Cometriq) around the world except in the U.S., Canada, and Japan. Ipsen will also pay Exelixis $60 million if … Continue reading “On Comeback Trail, Exelixis Reels In $200M Deal For Cancer Drug”
Stanford Spins Out Immunotherapy Work Funded By CIRM’s Millions
A new cancer immunotherapy company has spun out of Stanford University with backing from a quartet of venture investors and a big hand from the taxpayers of California. The Palo Alto, CA-based firm, dubbed Forty Seven, emerged Wednesday with a program already in clinical trials, a rarity for an academic spinout. Stanford researchers led by … Continue reading “Stanford Spins Out Immunotherapy Work Funded By CIRM’s Millions”
West Coast Bio Roundup: CRISPR Patent, HCV Data, Verily Digs & More
Pouring rain? Hailstorms? Record-setting heat? Freakin’ gnarly wipeouts on killer waves? Desert blooms stretching for miles? Bald eagles stuck in trees? Yeah, we got those. Welcome to February on the West Coast, where the biotech news is nearly as varied as the weather and its effects. The developments of the past seven days included a … Continue reading “West Coast Bio Roundup: CRISPR Patent, HCV Data, Verily Digs & More”
Caribou Bio’s New CRISPR Patent Isn’t About Gene Editing
If you ask people who don’t follow biotech too closely what they know about CRISPR, you might get two answers: genetic editing and a big patent fight. But a new CRISPR patent highlights a lower-profile potential use for the biotechnology: genetic detection and analysis. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the patent Tuesday to … Continue reading “Caribou Bio’s New CRISPR Patent Isn’t About Gene Editing”
Biotech’s Recent Headlines, Reimagined In Verse and On Stage
Dear Theranos, I noticed recently that you’re looking for a writer to work in your Palo Alto office. Please don’t tell my bosses at Xconomy, but I’m throwing my hat in the ring. In your job posting, the final requirement in particular made me think I’d be a good fit: Bold experimentation in different … Continue reading “Biotech’s Recent Headlines, Reimagined In Verse and On Stage”
Top Engineer Behind Google’s Rise Will Lead Grail In Cancer-Test Quest
Grail wants to develop a blood test that detects early stage cancer in seemingly healthy people, an ambitious and daunting proposition that I wrote about in detail last week. After a month in the public spotlight without an official CEO, the new biotech company has named to the top spot not a cancer expert, but … Continue reading “Top Engineer Behind Google’s Rise Will Lead Grail In Cancer-Test Quest”
One Year Post-Launch, Yumanity Lands $45M For Yeasty Discovery
Yumanity Therapeutics has reeled in a $45 million Series A round as it uses nontraditional ways to find drugs that might treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The Cambridge, MA-based startup is based upon a drug discovery system created by its cofounder Sue Lindquist, a member and former director of the Whitehead Institute … Continue reading “One Year Post-Launch, Yumanity Lands $45M For Yeasty Discovery”
West Coast Bio Roundup: Tessier-Lavigne, Twist, Unity, Grail & More
The biggest news on the West Coast this week came from Stanford University. The school has lured decorated neuroscientist Marc Tessier-Lavigne away from New York’s Rockefeller University to be the 11th president on The Farm, as Stanford is often known. It’s a return to the West Coast for Tessier-Lavigne, who had risen to chief scientific … Continue reading “West Coast Bio Roundup: Tessier-Lavigne, Twist, Unity, Grail & More”
Blood Simple? Grail’s Cancer Screening Quest Faces Tough Questions
[Corrected, 2/4/16, 2:05pm. See below.] Three weeks ago the world’s biggest genomic sequencing company, Illumina (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ILMN]]), unveiled a spinout called Grail to make blood tests that could spot all kinds of cancer in seemingly healthy people, perhaps as soon as 2019. If you know anything about the history of screening healthy people for cancer, … Continue reading “Blood Simple? Grail’s Cancer Screening Quest Faces Tough Questions”
Unity Bio Wants To “Lengthen Health Span,” But 1st Goals More Modest
Live longer? How about starting with healthier knees or clearer eyesight? That’s the proposal from Unity Biotechnology, unveiling itself today with drug programs based upon research into a biological process that, when left undisturbed, seems to hasten aging. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Unity wants to interrupt that process—not to tap into a … Continue reading “Unity Bio Wants To “Lengthen Health Span,” But 1st Goals More Modest”
Madison’s Deltanoid Names New CEO, Replacing UW Legend DeLuca
Madison, WI-based Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals has named former Genzyme executive Douglas Jermasek as its new CEO. Jermasek will replace Hector DeLuca, who has spent his life researching Vitamin D and building companies based on the compound. Xconomy profiled DeLuca and Deltanoid in late 2014. DeLuca becomes Deltanoid’s chairman, president and COO.
Adicet Joins the Immunotherapy Fray With $51M and Mystery Cells
Adicet Bio is launching today with $51 million in Series A cash to make immunotherapies derived from human cells as a treatment for cancer and other diseases. Unlike experimental, personalized products using a patient’s own engineered T cells, which have had early success in blood cancer trials, Adicet wants to make “off the shelf” products, … Continue reading “Adicet Joins the Immunotherapy Fray With $51M and Mystery Cells”
As Markets and Controversies Swirl, Editas Aims For $100M CRISPR IPO
Editas Medicine is pushing ahead with plans to go public. An IPO for the Cambridge, MA-based company would make it the first among the handful of biotechs that are betting on the groundbreaking CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system to develop human therapeutics. In a regulatory filing posted today, Editas said it would aim to sell 5.9 … Continue reading “As Markets and Controversies Swirl, Editas Aims For $100M CRISPR IPO”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: StemCells, Five Prime, Qualcomm & More
Bad weather has brought parts of the South and the Eastern seaboard to a halt today, but out west, we’re wearing our gumboots and splashing onward. While the rain drums steadily down, the news flow this week includes trade secret theft accusations, Senate drug-price investigations, big cash payouts to departing executives, big FDA approvals, and … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: StemCells, Five Prime, Qualcomm & More”
Love ‘Em? Hate ‘Em? No Matter. The Drug Industry Gets What It Wants.
Anyone reading this column should be familiar with the fight over drug prices. Many of you would argue that drug makers are too easy a target in political debates and the media, getting little credit for developing lifesaving drugs. Others of you believe that prices have gotten out of hand, and that price gouger Martin … Continue reading “Love ‘Em? Hate ‘Em? No Matter. The Drug Industry Gets What It Wants.”
Grail’s Discount, Pfizergan & Pricing Plans: Notes from the JPM Vortex
[Editor’s note: Deputy Biotechnology Editor Ben Fidler co-wrote this story] The week of the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco kicked off with a rousing, sleeves-rolled-up defense of the drug industry’s pricing policies by Ron Cohen, CEO of the multiple sclerosis drug maker Acorda Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ACOR]]) and new chair of the industry’s … Continue reading “Grail’s Discount, Pfizergan & Pricing Plans: Notes from the JPM Vortex”
In The Eyes Of VCs, Saunders Will Be The “Pfizergan” Man
There’s plenty of speculation whether Allergan CEO Brent Saunders will become CEO of Pfizer—and how quickly—after the two companies’ $160 billion tax-inversion merger, which they hope to consummate later this year. But at an early morning breakfast meeting at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco Tuesday, Saunders left little doubt in the minds … Continue reading “In The Eyes Of VCs, Saunders Will Be The “Pfizergan” Man”
Seres Inks Nestlé As Potential $2B Partner; Key Microbiome Data Soon
[Updated, 1/11/16. Corrected, 1/20/16. See below.] Microbiome company Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MCRB]]) has inked a deal with one of its top investors, Nestlé Health Science, that effectively turns the division of the Swiss food and nutrition giant into Seres’s main partner outside North America. The deal, which calls for Nestlé to pay Seres $120 million … Continue reading “Seres Inks Nestlé As Potential $2B Partner; Key Microbiome Data Soon”
West Coast Bio Roundup: Big Waves, Big Cash & a Deep Pre-JPM16 Breath
I’d say this week was the calm before the J.P. Morgan storm, except that we on the West Coast have had plenty of storms this week. Perhaps not tornadoes, but weather big enough to churn up 50 foot waves yesterday. (Not to be confused with 50 Foot Wave.) Seeing those surf pictures from Mavericks, just … Continue reading “West Coast Bio Roundup: Big Waves, Big Cash & a Deep Pre-JPM16 Breath”
Former Cubist CEO Mike Bonney Joins Third Rock Ventures
As CEO of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Mike Bonney spent a decade building a mid-cap biotech company that eventually accepted a massive buyout. Now he’ll be helping start new companies from scratch. Bonney (pictured) has joined Boston-based Third Rock Ventures, which specializes in launching startups in cutting-edge areas of biomedicine. Third Rock also tends to start companies, … Continue reading “Former Cubist CEO Mike Bonney Joins Third Rock Ventures”
Boston Scientists Tweak CRISPR Scissors For More Precise DNA Cuts
[Corrected, 1/6/16, 8:05pm. See below.] Keith Joung, a scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and his colleagues say they have come up with a way to make the gene editing system known as CRISPR-Cas9 far more precise when it enters cells to snip DNA. But as Joung, who is also a founder of Cambridge, … Continue reading “Boston Scientists Tweak CRISPR Scissors For More Precise DNA Cuts”
From Ambitions To Markets: Richard Kitney And More Synthetic Bio Views
Last week, Xconomy ran the first part of my conversation with Richard Kitney, a bioengineering professor at Imperial College London and a pioneer in the field of synthetic biology. We met in his campus office in November. Kitney has coauthored hundreds of papers and helped galvanize U.K. government support for synthetic biology. He is also … Continue reading “From Ambitions To Markets: Richard Kitney And More Synthetic Bio Views”
Formerly Atterocor, Millendo Changes Name, Strategy—And Nabs $62M
When a biotech company with one product in development misses its milestones, investors typically don’t throw more money at it. Not so with the newly renamed Millendo Therapeutics. The Ann Arbor, MI-based drug firm has reeled in a $62 million Series B round to shift from a one-product company seeking a buyer to a pipeline … Continue reading “Formerly Atterocor, Millendo Changes Name, Strategy—And Nabs $62M”
Eight Things You Might Not Have Known Until Editas Filed Its S-1
Here’s a CRISPR first: Editas Medicine of Cambridge, MA, has filed paperwork for an IPO. Its S-1 document became public today, marking the first one from a company working to turn the gene editing system CRISPR-Cas9 into human therapeutics. The reaction of the public markets to Editas, assuming it gets as far as an IPO, … Continue reading “Eight Things You Might Not Have Known Until Editas Filed Its S-1”
Historic CRISPR Patent Fight Primed To Become Head-To-Head Battle
The fight to determine who invented fundamental parts of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology appears to be headed into a long, arcane battle, the likes of which would never be seen again in the U.S. patent system. The move toward a so-called interference proceeding was signaled before the holidays by a slight change in the … Continue reading “Historic CRISPR Patent Fight Primed To Become Head-To-Head Battle”