Talk to anyone involved in the New York biotech ecosystem, and it’s clear what’s missing: startups. The big city is just too expensive, entrepreneurs and their backers say—just try finding an affordable one bedroom apartment in Manhattan, let alone lab space—so a number of promising biotech ideas either stay untapped or get snatched up by … Continue reading “To Take On New York, Accelerator Makes Big Changes”
Author: Ben Fidler
Ben is former Xconomy Deputy Editor, Biotechnology. He is a seasoned business journalist that comes to Xconomy after a nine-year stint at The Deal, where he covered corporate transactions in industries ranging from biotech to auto parts and gaming. Most recently, Ben was The Deal’s senior healthcare writer, focusing on acquisitions, venture financings, IPOs, partnerships and industry trends in the pharmaceutical, biotech, diagnostics and med tech spaces. Ben wrote features on creative biotech financing models, analyses of middle market and large cap buyouts, spin-offs and restructurings, and enterprise pieces on legal issues such as pay-for-delay agreements and the Affordable Care Act. Before switching to the healthcare beat, Ben was The Deal's senior bankruptcy reporter, covering the restructurings of the Texas Rangers, Phoenix Coyotes, GM, Delphi, Trump Entertainment Resorts and Blockbuster, among others. Ben has a bachelor’s degree in English from Binghamton University.
Novartis Helps Pour $16M Into Seventh Sense for Pain-Free Blood Tests
What’s the worst part of getting your blood drawn? For many people, it’s thinking about the big needle or the finger prick that comes with it. Seventh Sense Biosystems is trying to replace those methods with something quick and painless. And while it’s still a long way from selling its first product—let alone supplanting the … Continue reading “Novartis Helps Pour $16M Into Seventh Sense for Pain-Free Blood Tests”
Tokai, Chasing the Field in Prostate Cancer, Files For IPO
Tokai Pharmaceuticals has been chasing after the big players in the prostate cancer field with the idea of combining some of the best features of their drugs into a single pill. Now, with that lead drug candidate, galeterone, on the precipice of a late-stage trial, it’s taking that pitch to Wall Street. Cambridge, MA-based Tokai … Continue reading “Tokai, Chasing the Field in Prostate Cancer, Files For IPO”
Standing on a Ledge Once Again, Amicus Holds Breath for Latest Study
When a biotech’s lead drug candidate fails in a clinical trial, it’s often the death knell for the company. But Cranbury, NJ-based Amicus Therapeutics has eluded the biotech version of the Grim Reaper not just once, but twice, with two different drugs. With each failure, Amicus had to keep things together, downsize, conserve cash, and … Continue reading “Standing on a Ledge Once Again, Amicus Holds Breath for Latest Study”
T2 Biosystems Sputters Through IPO Queue, Raises $57M
If the question was how a diagnostics company would fare in a sputtering IPO market, the answer for T2 Biosystems was: not too well. The Lexington, MA-based company priced well below its projected range, raising about $57.2 million before paying its underwriters. T2 aimed to raise as much as $68 million by selling 4 million … Continue reading “T2 Biosystems Sputters Through IPO Queue, Raises $57M”
With $310M and Public Investors Aboard, Is a Juno IPO Next?
We won’t know for some time whether the cancer immunotherapies under development at high-powered Seattle startup Juno Therapeutics are the real deal. But there are plenty of investors willing to bet on them. Juno announced today that it has raised a $134 million Series B round from all of its “major” prior investors—the company didn’t … Continue reading “With $310M and Public Investors Aboard, Is a Juno IPO Next?”
Enumeral Raises $21.5M, Heads to the OTC Via Reverse Merger
(Updated, 8/5/14, 9:10 am ET) Enumeral Biomedical started up a few years ago around a new way to help scientists measure how the body responds to infection and disease. Today, with a few partnerships and in-house drug candidates under its belt, the Cambridge, MA, and New York-based startup is heading into the public markets to … Continue reading “Enumeral Raises $21.5M, Heads to the OTC Via Reverse Merger”
East Coast Biotech Roundup: Emulate, Accelerator, Retrophin, & More
A new high-profile startup, an evolving biotech soap opera, and a long-awaited new entrant to New York City’s life sciences scene dot the roundup this week—all as we say goodbye to a volatile July and Thursday’s market carnage, which saw many biotech indexes plummet. Those stories and more below: —After about five years of incubation … Continue reading “East Coast Biotech Roundup: Emulate, Accelerator, Retrophin, & More”
Avalanche Bio Rolls Onto Nasdaq After Upsized, $102M IPO
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals placed a bet on Avalanche Biotechnologies earlier this year with a wide-ranging partnership. Now, it appears public investors are jumping on the Menlo Park, CA-based company’s bandwagon too. Avalanche, which is developing gene therapies for severe eye diseases, has raised a whopping $102 million in its IPO by pricing 6 million shares at … Continue reading “Avalanche Bio Rolls Onto Nasdaq After Upsized, $102M IPO”
Accelerator Bags $51M, Makes Long-Awaited Move to NYC
Seattle’s Accelerator has talked for a long time about expanding into other relatively untapped life sciences clusters, aiming to offer a helping hand to early-stage biotech entrepreneurs where there aren’t already a bunch of venture capitalists devoted to the task. Today, Accelerator’s finally making that jump. It’s raised a whole bunch of cash and opened … Continue reading “Accelerator Bags $51M, Makes Long-Awaited Move to NYC”
Emulate Scores $12M to Shake Up Drug Testing With Organs on Chips
It’s an age-old problem with drug development: no matter how good a drug looks when tested in animals or petri dishes, there’s no guarantee it’ll have the same effect on a person. That unpredictability has delayed or doomed countless drug prospects—and drives up the cost, and time, it takes to make a successful therapeutic. A … Continue reading “Emulate Scores $12M to Shake Up Drug Testing With Organs on Chips”
G1, Out to Shield Body From Chemo, Heads to First Clinical Test
Chemotherapy is like nuking the body with chemicals. It kills good and bad cells alike, which is why cancer patients undergoing treatment get fatigued and suffer through a whole host of side effects. A little startup built around research at the University of North Carolina called G1 Therapeutics thinks it’s got an answer to some … Continue reading “G1, Out to Shield Body From Chemo, Heads to First Clinical Test”
Sarepta Abruptly Fires CSO and RNA Vet Krieg
Sarepta Therapeutics is already one of the most controversial, volatile stocks in the biotech sector. And the Cambridge, MA-based company is in for another rocky day today, as a regulatory filing revealed that the company has axed chief scientific officer and longtime biotech veteran Art Krieg—who’d only been on board since January. Sarepta (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SRPT]]) … Continue reading “Sarepta Abruptly Fires CSO and RNA Vet Krieg”
J&J Immunology Exec on Investing at the Crossroads of the Microbiome
When Roger Pomerantz, the CEO of Cambridge, MA-based Seres Health said last week that he’s preparing to take his company public off of a promising, early study, it wasn’t just the natural next step for a biotech startup. It also marked a key transition point for an entire field of scientific research. After a lot … Continue reading “J&J Immunology Exec on Investing at the Crossroads of the Microbiome”
Gilead Edges Into Cancer Field With FDA OK of Calistoga Drug
Gilead Sciences snapped up a Seattle company called Calistoga Pharmaceuticals a few years back as part of a plan to treat cancer, not just HIV, as it’s long been known for. Today, the Foster City, CA-based company will get that chance, because it just got clearance to begin selling the cancer drug that attracted it … Continue reading “Gilead Edges Into Cancer Field With FDA OK of Calistoga Drug”
Stanley Gives Broad Institute $650M Gift For Psych Research
The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, MA, has struck a number of industry partnerships over the past few years to try to discover new drugs for cancer, bacterial and viral infections, and other diseases. Today, it’s landed one of the largest research gifts ever to try to unearth treatments in the notoriously … Continue reading “Stanley Gives Broad Institute $650M Gift For Psych Research”
Synlogic Gets $30M From Atlas, NEA to Turn Smart Bugs Into Drugs
Synthetic biology has become something of a biotech buzz-phrase—lots of lab experiments and hype, yet little tangible impact on patients to show for it. Still, new ideas keep coming out of the startup world to finally harness the potential that comes with genetically engineering biological parts and systems, with the promise of making a huge … Continue reading “Synlogic Gets $30M From Atlas, NEA to Turn Smart Bugs Into Drugs”
East Coast Biotech Roundup: Acceleron, Seres, Sage, & More
The megamerger resurfaced this week, as Dublin’s Shire, a rumored acquisition target on and off for years that has 1,500 employees in Lexington, MA, agreed to be bought by North Chicago, IL-based AbbVie in a $55 billion tax inversion deal. Biotech stocks, meanwhile, underwent a massive sell-off after Federal Chairwoman Janet Yellen called the sector … Continue reading “East Coast Biotech Roundup: Acceleron, Seres, Sage, & More”
Sage, Despite Industry-Wide Pullback, Scores $90M in Upsized IPO
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen managed to sink much of biotech this week when she called the sector overvalued in front of Congress. Yet Sage Therapeutics managed to float very well indeed, making its market debut with a better-than-expected initial public offering. Cambridge, MA-based Sage priced its IPO Thursday at $18 per share, at the … Continue reading “Sage, Despite Industry-Wide Pullback, Scores $90M in Upsized IPO”
How a Little Serendipity Led Acceleron to a Crippling Blood Disease
How maddening is drug development? Sometimes, all the scientific literature in the world leads you one way, and your own data take you another. That’s why even experienced drug hunters often need a little luck to succeed. Just ask longtime industry veteran John Knopf, who had no idea his Cambridge, MA-based Acceleron Pharma, would end … Continue reading “How a Little Serendipity Led Acceleron to a Crippling Blood Disease”
NYCEDC Eyes VC Partners to Back Medtech, Diagnostics Startups
[Updated with comments from NYCEDC] Over the past year, the New York City Economic Development Corp. has been trying to find a venture firm to help bankroll a big fund that would spur biotech innovation in the Big Apple. While that search is still ongoing, the agency has upped the ante and is now looking … Continue reading “NYCEDC Eyes VC Partners to Back Medtech, Diagnostics Startups”
East Coast Biotech Roundup: Regeneron, Sarepta, Jounce, & More
Data that impressed. Data that disappointed. Regulatory strangleholds. Dramatic swings in stock prices. All of it made for just another wild week in East Coast biotech. We’ve got the details below. —Tarrytown, NY-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:REGN]]) made a big splash last year with an experimental antibody drug, dupilumab, it believes could hit the root … Continue reading “East Coast Biotech Roundup: Regeneron, Sarepta, Jounce, & More”
New Jounce CEO Aims to Place the Right Immuno-Oncology Bets
Jounce Therapeutics’ founding idea—to simultaneously tackle several different immune-system-based approaches for treating cancer—could be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, the Cambridge, MA-based startup could unearth a number of programs Big Pharma could find attractive enough to partner, and bring in some big dollars. On the other, Jounce could spread itself too … Continue reading “New Jounce CEO Aims to Place the Right Immuno-Oncology Bets”
Jounce Taps Merck Vet to Lead Cancer Drug Push
When Jounce Therapeutics launched with a big $47 million round last year, Merck was well behind in the race do bring the newest generation of cancer immunotherapy drugs—which harness the power of the immune system to fight tumors—to the market. Since that time, Merck has caught up to the pack. And now Jounce, which is … Continue reading “Jounce Taps Merck Vet to Lead Cancer Drug Push”
Regeneron, Sanofi Drug Holds Up in Eczema Study
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals made a big splash last year with a drug prospect it believes just might hit the root cause of several allergic diseases. Today, it’s backing up that thesis with some new data showing that the drug might have a place treating one of the world’s most common skin disorders. Tarrytown, NY-based Regeneron (NASDAQ: … Continue reading “Regeneron, Sanofi Drug Holds Up in Eczema Study”
Celgene Drug Misses Mark in Spinal Arthritis Study
Celgene branched out from its blood cancer roots earlier this year when it won an FDA nod for an oral arthritis drug called apremilast (Otezla). But the Summit, NJ-based company’s plan to turn that drug into a franchise took a hit on Wednesday after it failed a late-stage trial for a form of arthritis affecting … Continue reading “Celgene Drug Misses Mark in Spinal Arthritis Study”
Regado Halts Big Heart Drug Trial, Shares Hammered
Regado Biosciences has been trying to show that it doesn’t need Big Pharma to run a massive, pricey Phase 3 study on an anticoagulant drug. But the Basking Ridge, NJ-based company suffered a setback Wednesday when it was forced to suspend the trial pending a review of potential safety problems. Regado (NASDAQ: [[ticker:RGDO]]) said that … Continue reading “Regado Halts Big Heart Drug Trial, Shares Hammered”
VenBio Scores Again as Genentech Pays $1.7B+ for Seragon Pharma
The big year for San Francisco, CA-based life sciences venture firm venBio just got bigger. Genentech, the big cancer drugmaker from the Bay Area, has agreed to buy a less than one-year-old San Diego, CA-based startup called Seragon Pharmaceuticals for a whopping $725 million up front. Seragon’s backers—the Column Group, OrbiMed Advisors, Aisling Capital, venBio, … Continue reading “VenBio Scores Again as Genentech Pays $1.7B+ for Seragon Pharma”
Synchroneuron Nets $20M to Combat Drug-Induced Movement Disorder
With a few tweaks, Synchroneuron believes it’s been able to turn an old, flawed drug for alcoholism into a new one for a completely different disorder. Now the Waltham, MA-based startup has just banked a big round of cash to go prove it in clinical trials. Synchroneuron is announcing today that it’s raised a $20 … Continue reading “Synchroneuron Nets $20M to Combat Drug-Induced Movement Disorder”
Ex-Genentecher Kelsey Grabs Reins at Moderna’s Onkaido Therapeutics
Moderna Therapeutics’ master plan is to whip up a slew of startups to help develop the messenger RNA, or mRNA drugs it creates. Today, it’s picked a former Genentech executive to lead the first of those companies, Onkaido Therapeutics. Moderna is announcing today that Stephen Kelsey has been named president of Onkaido, a startup that … Continue reading “Ex-Genentecher Kelsey Grabs Reins at Moderna’s Onkaido Therapeutics”
East Coast Biotech Roundup: Bluebird, Moderna, Navitor, & More
New gene therapy data. New startups. More IPOs. Even more deals. Plenty of news to catch up on in this week’s roundup, all before your deputy biotech editor heads out of town for a vacation. Have a great week everyone, see you in July. But before that, here are your East Coast headlines: —Gene therapy … Continue reading “East Coast Biotech Roundup: Bluebird, Moderna, Navitor, & More”
Sanofi Punts Cancer Drug Back to Merrimack
Merrimack Pharmaceuticals has been saying for some time that the Phase 2 studies of its cancer drug, MM-121, while missing their goals, have been helping it find the right groups of patients for a late-stage trial. Apparently, however, Sanofi isn’t buying that thesis. Merrimack (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MACK]]) said today that Sanofi has returned worldwide rights to … Continue reading “Sanofi Punts Cancer Drug Back to Merrimack”
Boston VC Firms, Pharmas Team up on $23.5M Series A For Navitor
For close to a year, Navitor Pharmaceuticals has been quietly working behind the scenes with scientists at the Whitehead Institute on an approach to hit a well-known disease target in a novel way. Now the Cambridge, MA-based startup is stepping out of the shadows to unveil its plan with a big round of financing. Today, … Continue reading “Boston VC Firms, Pharmas Team up on $23.5M Series A For Navitor”
Zafgen Hauls In $96M in Upsized IPO
Apparently, Wall Street is buying into Zafgen’s plan to cut the fat. The Cambridge, MA-based startup priced its IPO late Wednesday at the top of its projected range, selling 6 million shares—1 million more than it initially planned to sell—at $16 apiece. That means Zafgen has raised some $96 million before discounts due to underwriters, … Continue reading “Zafgen Hauls In $96M in Upsized IPO”
GenePeeks Takes on Preconception Testing With “Digital Babies”
Sperm banks only screen their donors for a handful of genetic diseases. Unfortunately, there are many more than that a donor could carry without having any telltale symptoms—and which could be passed on to a child. A startup called GenePeeks is looking to improve peoples’ odds of having a healthy baby—and beat a path towards … Continue reading “GenePeeks Takes on Preconception Testing With “Digital Babies””
Sage Therapeutics Readies IPO Pitch to Develop CNS Drugs
Sage Therapeutics made it pretty clear it was plotting an IPO when it added a group of public investment funds to its latest private financing round a few months ago. The Cambridge, MA-based company followed through today, filing papers outlining plans to tap Wall Street to develop drugs for rare neurological disorders. Sage aims to … Continue reading “Sage Therapeutics Readies IPO Pitch to Develop CNS Drugs”
Bluebird’s Gene Therapy Quickly Halts Blood Disease in Small Study
As a gene therapy company, Bluebird Bio was a surprising IPO star in 2013. After all, it’s working in a field that was kicked to the curb in the previous decade. What’s more, it made its IPO pitch on the back of the slimmest amount of data. But details from a new study released this … Continue reading “Bluebird’s Gene Therapy Quickly Halts Blood Disease in Small Study”
Moderna, Changing Its Identity, Plots Army of mRNA Spinouts
Kendall Square has found its newest biotech incubator. Moderna Therapeutics just had no idea it’d be the one running it. Moderna, the high-flying, privately held startup that raised more than $400 million through a string of deals and financings over the few years without even having a drug in the clinic yet, is moving into … Continue reading “Moderna, Changing Its Identity, Plots Army of mRNA Spinouts”
East Coast Biotech Roundup: Accelerate LI, ASCO, Akebia, & More
Fresh off Memorial Day barbecues, the life sciences world descended on Chicago last week for the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting. But it was quickly back to the grind afterward, with deals, IPO news, and much more filling up the headlines on the East Coast. —After a few years fine-tuning its investment strategy, … Continue reading “East Coast Biotech Roundup: Accelerate LI, ASCO, Akebia, & More”
Merck Scoops Up Idenix in $3.85B Buyout
Idenix Pharmaceuticals nearly became a footnote in the hepatitis C drug race a few years ago when Bristol-Myers Squibb’s buyout of Inhibitex imploded, kickstarting a series of events that led the FDA to slap clinical holds on two of the Cambridge, MA-based company’s drug prospects. Those who stayed with Idenix through the tough times are … Continue reading “Merck Scoops Up Idenix in $3.85B Buyout”
Akebia, Trading M&A For an IPO, Follows Fast in Anemia Drug Race
Akebia Therapeutics and its investors had hit a crossroads familiar to many startup biotechs last year. Its lead drug, AKB-6548, a pill for the anemia people get when their kidneys are failing, had just produced good enough data to move it into a Phase 2b study. If that went well too, the company would need … Continue reading “Akebia, Trading M&A For an IPO, Follows Fast in Anemia Drug Race”
Accelerate LI Seeds First Batch of Biotech, Cleantech Startups
After a few years of organizing and bringing together local VC firms, picking an investment philosophy, and sifting through pitches from hopeful startups, Accelerate Long Island has selected its first companies to seed. Accelerate LI, the broad, non-profit initiative to commercialize research out of Long Island’s research institutions, and its strategic funding partner, the Long … Continue reading “Accelerate LI Seeds First Batch of Biotech, Cleantech Startups”
Labrys Turns Stalled Pfizer Program into $200M+ Teva Buyout
Labrys Biologics, a San Mateo, CA-based migraine drug company founded by a group of venture firms less than two years ago, is being snapped up by Teva Pharmaceutical (NYSE: [[ticker:TEVA]]) in a deal that could be worth up to $825 million if things break right. Teva, the Israeli generics giant, will pay $200 million up … Continue reading “Labrys Turns Stalled Pfizer Program into $200M+ Teva Buyout”
Promedior Sees Hope in Small Myelofibrosis Study
[Updated 6/2/2014. See below.] Myelofibrosis, a rare and potentially fatal type of leukemia, isn’t an easy disease to treat. The only drug that’s been approved by the FDA approval to treat it, Incyte’s (NASDAQ: [[ticker:INCY]]) ruxolitinib (Jakafi), attacks the symptoms rather than the cause, and often leaves patients needing blood transfusions. Several companies are trying … Continue reading “Promedior Sees Hope in Small Myelofibrosis Study”
Rodin Moves From Seedling to Neurology Startup With $12.9M Series A
Rodin Therapeutics started up last year with a plan to treat neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s by enhancing cognition, rather than trying to wipe out the plaques that build up in the brain. Roughly a year later, the Cambridge, MA-based startup has come far enough to warrant a big round of venture dollars. Rodin is announcing … Continue reading “Rodin Moves From Seedling to Neurology Startup With $12.9M Series A”
East Coast Biotech Roundup: Bristol, PTC, Ophthotech, & More
More immuno-oncology dealmaking ahead of the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting, more activity on the biotech IPO front, and some big stock movers on the East Coast this week. Those stories below. —Another week, another couple of immuno-oncology deals for New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: [[ticker:BMY]]). The company announced plans to pay South … Continue reading “East Coast Biotech Roundup: Bristol, PTC, Ophthotech, & More”
EU Reverses Course on PTC Drug, Shares Boom
PTC Therapeutics got an unexpected jolt this morning as European regulators reversed course and recommended approval of its Duchenne Muscular dystrophy drug, ataluren (Translarna). South Plainfield, NJ-based PTC (NASDAQ: [[ticker:PTCT]]) said this morning that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP)—an advisory panel of the European Medicines Agency (EMA)—has recommended conditional approval of … Continue reading “EU Reverses Course on PTC Drug, Shares Boom”
OncoGenex Retrenches, and Searches for Answers, After Failed Trial
There are several harsh lessons to be learned in drug development, and OncoGenex learned perhaps the most brutal one of all: a knockout Phase 2 trial doesn’t guarantee a thing in Phase 3. Earlier this year, Bothell, WA- and Vancouver, BC-based OncoGenex (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OGXI]]) thought it had everything figured out. Its RNA-based cancer drug, custirsen, … Continue reading “OncoGenex Retrenches, and Searches for Answers, After Failed Trial”
Radius Health Recharges IPO After Two Week Hiatus
Apparently, the chilly market conditions that derailed Radius Health’s IPO a few weeks ago have warmed up. Just 12 days after postponing a $75 million IPO—the second time it has pulled a stock offering since 2012—the Cambridge, MA-based company late Wednesday stepped back into the queue once again. Radius still has the same underwriters—Cowen & … Continue reading “Radius Health Recharges IPO After Two Week Hiatus”
Ophthotech, Novartis Team up on $1B Deal for Eye Drug
Ophthotech has said for some time that it’s been looking for a partner to help with international sales of Fovista, its experimental drug for age-related macular degeneration in clinical trials. Today the location New York-based company is announcing that it has found such a partner in Novartis, and has cut a deal with Swiss pharma … Continue reading “Ophthotech, Novartis Team up on $1B Deal for Eye Drug”