Syndax Pharmaceuticals has spent eight years trying to show it can make existing cancer drugs work better by switching off certain enzymes implicated in tumor mutation. Now, it has landed enough cash to see if its first drug testing that concept can clear its biggest hurdle yet—a late-stage clinical trial. Waltham, MA-based Syndax is announcing … Continue reading “Syndax Pockets $26.6M For Final Stage Push With Cancer Drug”
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.
East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Mana, Medivizor, Regado, & More
With Boston’s biotech scene enduring a bit of a lull as the summer winds down, healthcare IT startups in New York grabbed some of the spotlight this week. That and more below: —New York City-based Mana Health won a contract from the New York eHealth Collaborative to design a patient portal—an online application for patients … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Mana, Medivizor, Regado, & More”
Join Us, and Boston’s “Life Science Disruptors,” on Oct. 2
If you want to be successful in biotech, incremental gains aren’t the way to go—you’ve got to shoot higher. One of Celgene’s top executives, George Golumbeski, said it best when I spoke with him recently: the company is always on the prowl for something ‘disruptive.’ Disruptive science capable of shaking up the biotech world. Disruptive … Continue reading “Join Us, and Boston’s “Life Science Disruptors,” on Oct. 2”
Medivizor Takes on WebMD, Dr. Google, With Customized Health Service
When people are diagnosed with a disease, the first move they, or their family members typically make is to book a long appointment with Dr. Google or WebMD. A New York-based startup named Medivizor thinks they’re making a mistake. Now it will get its shot to prove it. Yesterday, the one-year old startup began offering … Continue reading “Medivizor Takes on WebMD, Dr. Google, With Customized Health Service”
Adimab Teams Up With Celgene, Innovent, in Latest Partnership Deals
Adimab turned a corner in July when two big drugmakers agreed to license the technology surrounding its yeast-based process for discovering antibodies, and bring it in-house. While the Lebanon, NH-based company isn’t duplicating those results today, it is bringing two new names into its growing list of partners who have agreed to at least “kick … Continue reading “Adimab Teams Up With Celgene, Innovent, in Latest Partnership Deals”
Regado Biosciences Downsizes IPO, Seeks $42M
Apparently not everyone is having success pitching a biotech IPO to investors these days. Basking Ridge, NJ-based Regado Biosciences, the startup developing a two-pronged anticoagulant to be used in coronary procedures, is slashing the price of its IPO considerably. Regado initially aimed to raise $75 million by offering investors 5 million shares at between $14 … Continue reading “Regado Biosciences Downsizes IPO, Seeks $42M”
With NYeC’s Help, Mana Health Revs Up Big Apple Patient Portal
Mana Health has spent the past year successfully pitching its user-friendly patient portal to various healthcare constituencies in New York. Now, with the backing of an Oracle executive and a key New York non-profit, it has to find a way to turn that product into the foundation of a successful business. The New York City-based … Continue reading “With NYeC’s Help, Mana Health Revs Up Big Apple Patient Portal”
East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Epizyme, Rodin, Ophthotech, & More
The action-packed summer in biotech slowed down a bit on the East Coast this week, but we’ve still got all your required biotech reading—including the real key to pulling off a successful IPO—below: —Cambridge, MA-based Epizyme (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EPZM]]) could’ve ended up as acquisition fodder for Big Pharma, but instead it inked a partnership with Summit, … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Epizyme, Rodin, Ophthotech, & More”
Ophthotech Eyes $85M IPO With Late-Stage Clinical Trial in Sight
Fresh off a big financing round in May, Ophthotech is looking for more cash to run a big late-stage clinical trial for its eye drug, which it hopes to market as Fovista. And like a horde of other biotechs of late, it’s tapping the public markets to get it. The New York-based biotech has filed … Continue reading “Ophthotech Eyes $85M IPO With Late-Stage Clinical Trial in Sight”
Epizyme Execs Share the Secret to a Successful IPO: PowerBars
The IPO that set the biotech world afire hit the Nasdaq in May, but it really began way back in April 2012. Cambridge, MA-based Epizyme (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EPZM]]) had already spent five years building itself brick by brick when it faced the decision that looms for every startup biotech: whether to groom itself for a sale … Continue reading “Epizyme Execs Share the Secret to a Successful IPO: PowerBars”
Sage Taps Former Shire Exec to Lead CNS Drugs Into Clinical Trials
Third Rock Ventures has spent close to two years refining the strategy for startup Sage Therapeutics. Now it’s found the management team to execute it. Cambridge, MA-based Sage announced today that Jeffrey Jonas, the former head of Shire’s (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SHPG]]) regenerative medicine unit, has been named its new CEO, taking over for Kevin Starr, the … Continue reading “Sage Taps Former Shire Exec to Lead CNS Drugs Into Clinical Trials”
Buoyed by Partnerships, Bind Therapeutics Floats $80.5M IPO Plan
(Updated, 2/7/14, 12:39 pm ET) Bind Therapeutics started off its 2013 with a flurry of big partnerships and a name change designed to show it’s serious about making its own drugs. Now it’s trying to cap it off by joining the parade of biotech companies lining up for the public markets. The Cambridge, MA-based company … Continue reading “Buoyed by Partnerships, Bind Therapeutics Floats $80.5M IPO Plan”
Atlas Startup, Rodin, Hopes to Rewire Neurons to Improve Memory
Epigenetics isn’t new. But so far, the growing scientific understanding of gene regulation has largely been used to make cancer drugs. What if you could use the same concept to reprogram neurons to combat neurological disorders? This is the plan that Atlas Venture has shaped for its new startup, Rodin Therapeutics. Named after Auguste Rodin, … Continue reading “Atlas Startup, Rodin, Hopes to Rewire Neurons to Improve Memory”
East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: KiiLN, Celgene, Acceleron, & More
[Updated, 11:26 a.m. ET] The New York metropolitan area, for a change, dominated the landscape of life sciences news coming out of the East Coast. This week, big plans for Manhattan startup incubators were unveiled, a new healthcare IT company got its sea legs, and one of biotech’s savviest dealmakers continued doing what it does … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: KiiLN, Celgene, Acceleron, & More”
Maxwell Raises $2M, Rolls Out User-Friendly Health Insurance Service
It’s the time of year that makes employees’ skin crawl—the moment you know you have to re-enroll for health insurance. A clunky, time-consuming, headache-inducing search between various plans ensues. Maxwell Health is trying to make it easier—and reward you for staying healthy to boot. Maxwell, a startup based in Cambridge, MA, and New York City, … Continue reading “Maxwell Raises $2M, Rolls Out User-Friendly Health Insurance Service”
Celgene Partner Acceleron Files For IPO; Plans to Raise Up to $75M
Add another biotech with a big Celgene (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CELG]]) partnership to the IPO queue. Cambridge, MA-based Acceleron Pharma, a company developing drugs for certain types of blood cancers and orphan diseases, has filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission outlining plans to go public and raise up to $74.75 million. Acceleron, which aims to … Continue reading “Celgene Partner Acceleron Files For IPO; Plans to Raise Up to $75M”
Regeneron Targets New Market for Blockbuster Eye Drug
Regeneron (NASDAQ: [[ticker:REGN]]) may have a whole new crop of patients for its breakout eye drug, aflibercept (Eylea), a year ahead of schedule. The Tarrytown, NY-based biotech today announced the results of two large late-stage trials testing aflibercept in patients with diabetic macular edema, a common complication of diabetes in which blood vessels leak fluid … Continue reading “Regeneron Targets New Market for Blockbuster Eye Drug”
Ensemble Reels in Novartis to Develop Oral, Mid-Sized Inflammation Drugs
Ensemble Therapeutics has attracted a number of Big Pharma companies who want access to its library of synthetic mid-sized drugs, which are supposed to be able to hit molecular targets that other drugs can’t. For the first time, however, Ensemble has struck a deal to go beyond the discovery stage, and see how far it … Continue reading “Ensemble Reels in Novartis to Develop Oral, Mid-Sized Inflammation Drugs”
A Band of Postdocs Pursues a New York Biotech Dream in Harlem
For years, life science innovators in New York City have pounded tables in frustration at the Big Apple’s inability to form a biotech cluster despite all of its financial and institutional might. The problem, they’ve been saying for years, is there just isn’t an inexpensive, convenient way for entrepreneurs to conduct lab experiments in one … Continue reading “A Band of Postdocs Pursues a New York Biotech Dream in Harlem”
East Coast Biotech Roundup: Cubist, Acetylon, Foundation, & More
With the IPO market sizzling and biotech valuations riding high, M&A in the sector hasn’t exactly run rampant this year. Even so, a few companies on the East Coast managed to pull out their checkbooks this week. We’ve got that and much more below: —Lexington, MA-based Cubist pulled the rare biotech twofer this week, agreeing … Continue reading “East Coast Biotech Roundup: Cubist, Acetylon, Foundation, & More”
Dicerna Snags $60M as RNAi Heats Up Again
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALNY]]) has spent the last couple of years amassing clinical trial evidence it needs to show that RNA interference just might work against diseases that can’t be treated by conventional pills or protein drugs. And Alnylam’s rising tide is apparently helping lift at least one more RNAi boat. Watertown, MA-based Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, … Continue reading “Dicerna Snags $60M as RNAi Heats Up Again”
Sage Wins $10M Grant to Push Fragile X Treatment Into Clinic
Sage Therapeutics’ identity shift towards edgier central nervous system disorders is now paying dividends—as much as $10 million in grant money, to be exact. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech landed a National Institutes of Health grant to help it push forward a treatment for some of the social problems—fear and anxiety, for instance—experienced by patients with … Continue reading “Sage Wins $10M Grant to Push Fragile X Treatment Into Clinic”
NEA, Genzyme Join $18M Round For Rare Disease Startup Edimer
Edimer Pharmaceuticals has been bracing for this moment for four years. Its challenge? Enrolling infant patients—newborns just a week or two old—in a mid-stage clinical trial of its experimental drug, which is designed not only to fight an ultra-rare inherited disease known as X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia, or XLHED, but beat it. The logistics are … Continue reading “NEA, Genzyme Join $18M Round For Rare Disease Startup Edimer”
Aegerion Shares Soar on New Numbers For Rare Disease Drug
Investors appear to be pretty happy with Aegerion Pharmaceuticals’ (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AEGR]]) latest results for its rare disease drug, lomitapide (Juxtapid). Shares of the Cambridge, MA-based biotech jumped about 14 percent, to $88 apiece, in pre-market trading as Aegerion released its second-quarter earnings and showed that sales of lomitapide are tracking ahead of its estimates. Aegerion … Continue reading “Aegerion Shares Soar on New Numbers For Rare Disease Drug”
Foundation Medicine Lays Groundwork For $86M IPO
The appetite for biotech IPOs is as rabid as it has been in a decade. Will that good fortune seep into diagnostics? Now that Foundation Medicine has become the latest to step into the IPO queue, we’ll soon find out. Cambridge, MA-based Foundation, a cancer diagnostics company backed by big names such as Bill Gates … Continue reading “Foundation Medicine Lays Groundwork For $86M IPO”
New Data Could Open Vertex’s CF Drug to 400 More Patients
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VRTX]]) is losing steam in the treatment of hepatitis C, but it continues to churn out good news for cystic fibrosis patients. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech released new data from a late-stage clinical trial today showing that its CF drug, ivacaftor (Kalydeco), improved the lung function of patients aged six and older … Continue reading “New Data Could Open Vertex’s CF Drug to 400 More Patients”
Celgene Nabs Option to Buy Acetylon for More Than $1.7B
In early 2012, Celgene (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CELG]]) made a seemingly innocuous investment in Acetylon Pharmaceuticals in a deal that didn’t give it any rights to the company, but rather, left it with a non-invasive observer’s seat on the Boston-based biotech’s board of directors. Apparently, Celgene liked what it saw, because it’s prepared to throw around $1.7 … Continue reading “Celgene Nabs Option to Buy Acetylon for More Than $1.7B”
East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Sarepta, Agios, Gerngross, & (Much) More
It was earnings week for a few of the big biotech staples on the East Coast, but that was far from all that happened. In case you’ve been stuck under a rock, we’ve got the highlights, lowlights, and everything in-between wrapped up below. —Cambridge, MA-based Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SRPT]]) plans to submit a new drug … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Sarepta, Agios, Gerngross, & (Much) More”
Adimab Turns Cash Flow Positive With GSK, Biogen Tech Transfer Deals
Tillman Gerngross has always had a two-step business model in mind for his Lebanon, NH-based drug discovery startup, Adimab. First, lure several big pharmaceutical companies to test out its efficient, yeast-based process for discovering antibodies. Then, wait for them to write a big check to license that technology and bring it in-house, providing big returns … Continue reading “Adimab Turns Cash Flow Positive With GSK, Biogen Tech Transfer Deals”
Biogen’s Oral MS Drug Tops Estimates, Brings in $192M in First Quarter
The hype for Biogen Idec’s (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) oral pill for multiple sclerosis, dimethyl fumarate (Tecfidera), was deafening when the FDA gave the biotech the green light to begin selling the drug in March. Though Biogen didn’t blow the doors down today with its first look at the drug’s sales, the Cambridge, MA-based company still beat … Continue reading “Biogen’s Oral MS Drug Tops Estimates, Brings in $192M in First Quarter”
Agios Rockets to $29 Per Share in Market Debut
Score one for the venture backers of Agios Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AGIO]]). Cambridge, MA-based Agios debuted on the Nasdaq this morning and public investors dove right in, immediately sending the cancer metabolism specialist’s shares roaring up to $29 apiece, giving it an opening market capitalization of more than $800 million. Shares pulled back slightly shortly thereafter … Continue reading “Agios Rockets to $29 Per Share in Market Debut”
Sarepta to Seek FDA Approval For Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Drug
[Updated, 10:20 am ET] It has been perhaps the biggest biotech debate of the year: whether Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SRPT]]) can file for, and win approval from the FDA based on a tiny, but very promising data set showing that its drug for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy just might reverse the effects of the crippling disorder … Continue reading “Sarepta to Seek FDA Approval For Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Drug”
Agios Prices Upsized IPO Above Range, Preps For Nasdaq Debut
Agios Pharmaceuticals is about to find out how willing public investors are to throw their dollars behind the promise—if not the clinical data—of cancer metabolism. If the early signs are any indication, they’re up for the risk. Cambridge, MA-based Agios priced its IPO late Tuesday, selling 5,888,888 shares at $18 apiece for a raise of … Continue reading “Agios Prices Upsized IPO Above Range, Preps For Nasdaq Debut”
Tillman Gerngross’ Plan to Revamp Tech Transfer at Dartmouth
For all its cache as an Ivy League school and a beacon of research in New England, the Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH has an innovation problem. It’s looking now to one of the area’s most successful biotech entrepreneurs to solve it. It isn’t that the ideas aren’t there. It isn’t that the university isn’t … Continue reading “Tillman Gerngross’ Plan to Revamp Tech Transfer at Dartmouth”
SynapDx Raises $15.4M From Google Ventures, Others, For Big Autism Study
The underlying biology behind autism is largely a mystery, and you need look no further than how it’s diagnosed for the evidence. A child has to go through a series of behavioral evaluations before a team of experts label him or her with the disorder and begin treatment. Unfortunately, statistics from the Centers for Disease … Continue reading “SynapDx Raises $15.4M From Google Ventures, Others, For Big Autism Study”
Alcresta Grabs Another $10M to Boost Nutritional Supplements
People with stomach cancer often have trouble keeping their weight up. Despite taking nutritional supplements like Boost or Ensure, patients just can’t properly digest and absorb the needed calories and nutrients. But what if you could boost a Boost to fix the problem? This is the type of answer that Alcresta, a Newton, MA-based startup, … Continue reading “Alcresta Grabs Another $10M to Boost Nutritional Supplements”
East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Alkermes, Ensemble, Sinai, & More
A wave of sweltering heat may have enveloped the I-95 corridor this week, but life sciences companies kept churning out news on the East Coast anyway. Money raises, partnerships, and much more hit the wires the week. We’ve got it all below: —Cambridge, MA-based Alkermes (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALKS]]) unveiled three new drug programs at its R&D … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Alkermes, Ensemble, Sinai, & More”
Ensemble Adds to Cast of Partners With Alexion Deal
Ensemble Therapeutics can add Alexion Pharmaceuticals to the list of believers in its drug discovery engine. Cheshire, CT-based Alexion (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALXN]]), the company that has made a fortune off of the super-expensive rare disease drug eculizumab (Soliris), has become the latest company to tap into Cambridge, MA-based Ensemble’s library of synthetic macrocycles—molecules intended to combine … Continue reading “Ensemble Adds to Cast of Partners With Alexion Deal”
Alkermes Adds Cancer, MS Drugs To Growing Portfolio
When you say the words multiple sclerosis treatment or cancer immunotherapy, Alkermes (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALKS]]) isn’t the first company that comes to mind. But the Dublin and Waltham, MA-based biotech is trying to change that today as it rolls out a few key programs it has been keeping under wraps. At its R&D day today, Alkermes … Continue reading “Alkermes Adds Cancer, MS Drugs To Growing Portfolio”
East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Celgene, Dunsire, Forma, & More
[Updated, 9:30 am ET] What summer vacation? Biotech was booming on the East Coast this week. Big partnerships, clinical trial results, R&D days, and new executive hires were all announced. We’ve got those details and much more below: —Over the past few years, Summit, NJ-based Celgene (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CELG]]) has formed early-stage partnerships with innovative biotechs … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Celgene, Dunsire, Forma, & More”
SEC Comes Calling For Aveo As FDA Panel Fallout Continues
The Aveo Oncology (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AVEO]]) saga took yet another turn today as the Securities and Exchange Commission has come knocking at the cancer drug maker’s door. According to regulatory filings, the SEC has subpoenaed the Cambridge, MA-based biotech—the latest domino to fall since the company’s disastrous results before an FDA panel on May 2. The … Continue reading “SEC Comes Calling For Aveo As FDA Panel Fallout Continues”
Alnylam Shares Boom on Early Data For Subcutaneous RNA Drug
Shortly before kicking off its R&D day, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALNY]]) got a boost from investors this morning that were thrilled that it just might be able to deliver RNA-based drugs with an injection right under the skin. Cambridge, MA-based Alnylam released results from an early-stage clinical trial of ALN-TTRsc, a subcutaneous form of the … Continue reading “Alnylam Shares Boom on Early Data For Subcutaneous RNA Drug”
Dunsire Returns to Action to Tackle CNS Disorders With EnVivo
Deborah Dunsire rose to prominence in the biotech industry by leading Millennium Pharmaceuticals through its ascension as an oncology powerhouse. Now, she’s taking a stab at a whole new field—central nervous system (CNS) disorders. EnVivo Pharmaceuticals, a Fidelity Biosciences-backed, Watertown, MA-based biotech startup targeting CNS diseases, is announcing today that Dunsire is grabbing the reins … Continue reading “Dunsire Returns to Action to Tackle CNS Disorders With EnVivo”
Trusting Your Partners: A Chat With Celgene’s George Golumbeski
It’s no secret that biotech IPOs, for the first time in at least 10 years, are suddenly white hot. Companies with sparse evidence from clinical trials, or those with drugs that have failed such trials, are finding success raising cash from public investors. But take a look at some of the best performing biotech IPOs … Continue reading “Trusting Your Partners: A Chat With Celgene’s George Golumbeski”
FDA Clears New Version of Tyrx’s Infection-Fighting Pacemaker Sleeve
Tyrx climbed its first big hurdle in 2008 when it began selling its first product to hospitals in the U.S. With a key green light today from the Food and Drug Administration, the Monmouth Junction, NJ-based company has a bigger goal within its grasp—becoming cash-flow positive. The FDA today cleared the company to begin selling … Continue reading “FDA Clears New Version of Tyrx’s Infection-Fighting Pacemaker Sleeve”
Forma, CRT Deal Part of Broader Research Initiative
Forma Therapeutics has built itself brick by brick with a drug discovery engine that has caught the eye—and the dollars—of industry titans like Celgene (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CELG]]), Boehringer Ingelheim, Genentech, and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: [[ticker:JNJ]]). Now, it is putting that cash to work in a new collaboration with academic researchers. Watertown, MA-based Forma is announcing … Continue reading “Forma, CRT Deal Part of Broader Research Initiative”
East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Verdine, Vedanta, Alnylam, & More
East Coasters may have been gearing up for their July 4 barbecues this week, but they still managed to pack a ton of life sciences news into three days before they fired up their grills. Details below: —Harvard University chemical biologist Gregory Verdine has taken a leave of absence from the university to become the … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Verdine, Vedanta, Alnylam, & More”
GI Dynamics Lines Up $52M For Key U.S. Study
GI Dynamics may be based in Lexington, MA, but its device that combats Type 2 diabetes and obesity by slipping a lining into the small intestine isn’t sold here just yet. Today, GI Dynamics took one step closer to that goal by raising enough cash to support a big clinical trial in the U.S. GI … Continue reading “GI Dynamics Lines Up $52M For Key U.S. Study”
With J&J’s Help, Vedanta Marches Ahead With Microbiome Drug Cocktail
When Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: [[ticker:JNJ]]) announced it opened its Boston Innovation Center, it snuck in an unspecified investment in a PureTech Ventures-backed startup named Vedanta BioSciences. And while the exact nature of the relationship is unclear, one thing is for sure: the Cambridge, MA-based startup now has some big muscle behind it to help … Continue reading “With J&J’s Help, Vedanta Marches Ahead With Microbiome Drug Cocktail”
Harvard Professor Steps Down to Pilot Warp Drive Bio
Warp Drive Bio has been laying in the weeds ever since Sanofi, Third Rock Ventures, and Greylock partners helped form it with a $125 million financing in January 2012 and a plan to hit previously undruggable disease targets by tapping into nature. After staying out of the news for about 18 months, the Cambridge, MA-based … Continue reading “Harvard Professor Steps Down to Pilot Warp Drive Bio”