Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALNY]]), the Cambridge, MA-based developer of RNA interference drugs, said today it has filed a legal response and counterclaim against Vancouver, BC-based Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, which accused Alnylam last month of misappropriating trade secrets. Alnylam president Barry Greene said in a statement that the company plans to “fully defend itself.”
Author: Luke Timmerman
Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
EnerG2 Moves Into ‘Execute Mode’ to Enhance Batteries, Natural Gas Cars
Every startup, at some point in its maturation, needs to put up or shut up. EnerG2 is starting to enter that phase when it’s time to find out if it can really do what it said it was going to do. The Seattle-based company, founded in 2003 with technology from the University of Washington, started … Continue reading “EnerG2 Moves Into ‘Execute Mode’ to Enhance Batteries, Natural Gas Cars”
Complete Genomics Makes 29 Genomes Public
Complete Genomics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GNOM]]), the Mountain View, CA-based company that sequences entire human genomes for researchers, said today it has agreed to put 29 new genomes into its public repository for scientists and students. That brings the total of genomes in its public repository to 69, following a public release of 40 genomes on Feb. … Continue reading “Complete Genomics Makes 29 Genomes Public”
Halosource Unveils New Water Products
Halosource, the Bothell, WA-based maker of low-cost technology for purifying water in the developing world, said it has introduced a new line of clean water products that consumers can use in their homes. The new products—called Waterbird, Waterbird Premium, and Waterbird Elite—will come in the form of powered water pitchers, or a gravity-based water container … Continue reading “Halosource Unveils New Water Products”
Anne DeGheest on Where the Action is Heading in Healthcare: Delivery, Delivery, Delivery
Talking with the angel investor Anne DeGheest the other day was humbling. After all, I sweat out long days and nights digging up news and features on what I think often represents the leading edge in healthcare capitalism—new drugs, medical devices, diagnostics, etc. All that innovation is worthy of attention—she apparently didn’t want to hurt … Continue reading “Anne DeGheest on Where the Action is Heading in Healthcare: Delivery, Delivery, Delivery”
Optimer Wins FDA Panel Nod, Still Wrestling With Language to Describe Benefit
San Diego-based Optimer Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OPTR]]) won the blessing of an FDA advisory panel today for its novel antibiotic, but now the big issue will likely be how the benefit of the drug will be communicated to doctors and patients. Advisors to the FDA at a meeting in Silver Spring, MD voted 13-0 in favor … Continue reading “Optimer Wins FDA Panel Nod, Still Wrestling With Language to Describe Benefit”
Optivia Gets $1.8M For Drug Interaction Study
Optivia Biotechnology, a Menlo Park, CA-based company studying how various drugs interact in the body, said today it has secured a $1.85 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Small Business Innovation Research program. The grant will support research into proteins that transport drugs across cell membranes and either enable or block their effectiveness. … Continue reading “Optivia Gets $1.8M For Drug Interaction Study”
Merck Buys Inspire for $430M
Merck (NYSE: [[ticker:MRK]]) said today it has agreed to acquire Raleigh, NC-based Inspire Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ISPH]]) for $430 million. Merck agreed to pay $5 a share, or about a 26 percent premium above Inspire’s last closing stock price before the deal was announced. Inspire markets azithromycin ophthalmic solution (Azasite) for the treatment of eye infections.
Sangamo Partners With CHDI
Sangamo Biosciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SGMO]]), the Richmond, CA-based drug developer, said today it has formed a collaboration with the New York-based CHDI Foundation to develop a new treatment for Huntington’s disease. Sangamo will use its targeted zinc-finger protein technology to aim at a gene that causes Huntington’s. Financial terms of the partnership weren’t disclosed.
Oncothyreon Starts Phase 2 Trial
Oncothyreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ONTY]]), the Seattle-based cancer drug developer, said today it has begun a mid-stage clinical trial for patients with relapsed forms of brain cancer—glioblastoma multiforme. The company is testing whether its treatment, PX-866, is able to help shrink tumors in about 30 patients at seven clinical sites in Canada. The drug is designed to … Continue reading “Oncothyreon Starts Phase 2 Trial”
Millennium, Sunesis Form Deal
Sunesis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SNSS]]), a South San Francisco-based drug developer, said today it has formed a new collaboration with Cambridge, MA-based Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company. The partnership involves development of an orally-delivered pill that inhibits a cancer target called RAF, and another drug made to block an undisclosed cancer target. Sunesis has received a … Continue reading “Millennium, Sunesis Form Deal”
Tom Maniatis, Molecular Biology Pioneer, Seeks to Help Build a Kendall Square in NYC
Tom Maniatis doesn’t fit the profile of a typical New York economic booster, who is usually a politician or big-time businessman. Maniatis is one of the pioneers of modern molecular biology, who wrote a definitive how-to manual on genetic engineering in the early 1980s. He spent 30 years at Harvard University and co-founded one of … Continue reading “Tom Maniatis, Molecular Biology Pioneer, Seeks to Help Build a Kendall Square in NYC”
CollabRx Snags ASCO Partnership
Palo Alto, CA-based CollabRx, a developer of web-based applications to help connect cancer patients and researchers, is announcing today it has formed a partnership with the largest association of cancer physicians—the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Under the collaboration, ASCO will provide CollabRx with access to all its published content, and make CollabRx’s Targeted Therapy … Continue reading “CollabRx Snags ASCO Partnership”
Biotechies Need to Get Serious About Antibiotics, Where There is Money to Be Made
There are lots of exceptions to the rules in the biotech business, and a big one jumped out me this past week, related to antibiotics. One day, Reuters ran a story about the overall abysmal state of the world’s pipeline of new antibiotics. Next day, there were reports about how San Diego-based Optimer Pharmaceuticals appears … Continue reading “Biotechies Need to Get Serious About Antibiotics, Where There is Money to Be Made”
Dendreon Faces Internet-Fueled Shareholder Uprising, Led by a Little Guy in Kansas
Seattle-based Dendreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]) has a passionate base of fans and detractors all over the web, but now it has a new and potentially volatile issue on its hands—an Internet-driven shareholder uprising that aims to shake up the company’s board of directors. Battles for control of corporate boardrooms that hit the press are usually waged … Continue reading “Dendreon Faces Internet-Fueled Shareholder Uprising, Led by a Little Guy in Kansas”
UW Adds Five Entrepreneurs
The University of Washington’s Center for Commercialization (C4C) said today it has named five new business leaders as entrepreneurs-in-residence. The group includes: Lars Johansson, Ron Berenson, Terri Butler, Henry Berg, and Stephanie Amoss. You can see their bios here. Separately, the UW announced a new program in which entrepreneurial faculty will mentor colleagues, advise C4C … Continue reading “UW Adds Five Entrepreneurs”
Meet Xconomy’s New Social Media Marketing Intern, Omri Mor
We have another new member of the team at Xconomy Seattle that I’m happy to introduce. Starting today, Omri Mor is the new social media marketing intern at Xconomy. Omri is a junior at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, where he is part of the prestigious Lavin Entrepreneurial Program. He comes to … Continue reading “Meet Xconomy’s New Social Media Marketing Intern, Omri Mor”
AVI Biopharma Adds $30M
AVI Biopharma (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AVII]]), the Bothell, WA-based developer of RNA-based therapies, said today it has raised $30 million through a stock offering. The company sold 20 million new shares at $1.50 apiece. The price represented a 19 percent discount to yesterday’s stock market closing price of $1.86. The underwriters of the deal—Lazard Capital Markets, Piper … Continue reading “AVI Biopharma Adds $30M”
Gilead Antes Up for Cancer, Genentech Eye Drug Passes Big Trial, Bigger Isn’t Better, & More Bay Area Life Sciences News
This was a light news week in SF biotech, but it still flew by, as we get ready to make some small media biz news at our own little startup here on Monday. Stay tuned. —South San Francisco-based Genentech said its hit drug for eye diseases, ranibizumab (Lucentis) passed the second big pivotal trial in … Continue reading “Gilead Antes Up for Cancer, Genentech Eye Drug Passes Big Trial, Bigger Isn’t Better, & More Bay Area Life Sciences News”
Omeros Fails in Pivotal Trials With Drug for Knee Surgery, Stock Crashes
[Updated: 3:45 pm] Omeros, the Seattle-based biotech company, went public back in the fall of 2009 partly on optimism that it had found a novel way to help people recover from knee surgery. Today, the company is reporting that the program was essentially a bust. Omeros stock fell 40 percent on the news in after-hours … Continue reading “Omeros Fails in Pivotal Trials With Drug for Knee Surgery, Stock Crashes”
Editor’s Picks: Xconomy Seattle’s Top Stories of the First Quarter
It’s time to close the books on the first quarter of 2011. As the editor around here, that means it’s time to look back at the journalism we did that broke new ground, shed some new light, or otherwise exemplified what we think is the best stuff we did to serve our readers the past … Continue reading “Editor’s Picks: Xconomy Seattle’s Top Stories of the First Quarter”
Gilead Inks $100M Deal With Yale
Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GILD]]), the world’s largest maker of HIV drugs, said it has formed a new cancer research collaboration with Yale University. Under the deal, Foster City, CA-based Gilead will provide $40 million to support research over the first four years, and has the option to extend the collaboration for 10 years, and a … Continue reading “Gilead Inks $100M Deal With Yale”
RXi Buys Apthera, Names New CEO
RXi Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:RXII]]), the Worcester, MA-based developer of RNA interference therapies, said today it has agreed to acquire Scottsdale, AZ-based Apthera, a developer of peptide immunotherapies for cancer. Apthera shareholders will get 4.8 million shares of RXi under the deal, plus future considerations based on how Apthera’s NeuVax performs. RXi’s shares were valued at … Continue reading “RXi Buys Apthera, Names New CEO”
Dendreon Wins Medicare Coverage, Clarisonic Tops $100M in Sales, Sage Partners Up, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
This was a pretty quiet news week for Seattle biotech except for one big decision that affects the hot cancer drug company in town. —Seattle-based Dendreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]) has produced enough evidence to win full reimbursement from Medicare for its $93,000 prostate cancer drug, sipuleucel-T (Provenge). This move was widely expected since Dendreon passed muster … Continue reading “Dendreon Wins Medicare Coverage, Clarisonic Tops $100M in Sales, Sage Partners Up, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
Dendreon Wins Full Reimbursement From Medicare for $93K Prostate Cancer Drug
Chalk up another victory for Seattle-based Dendreon—it has persuaded Medicare officials to provide full reimbursement to doctors who prescribe its new $93,000 prostate cancer drug. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency that runs the federal health insurance program for the elderly, said today in a draft memo that “the evidence is … Continue reading “Dendreon Wins Full Reimbursement From Medicare for $93K Prostate Cancer Drug”
Regulus Gets License From NYU
Regulus Therapeutics, the San Diego-based developer of microRNA therapies, said today that it has obtained exclusive rights from New York University to develop treatments against a couple of microRNA targets (miR-33a and miR-33b) which are thought to have potential to affect athersclerosis and metabolic syndrome. Financial terms of the license weren’t disclosed.
Sage Starts Takeda, CHDI Work
Sage Bionetworks, the Seattle-based nonprofit seeking to spark an open source movement for biology, said today it has begun work for a couple of partners—Japan-based Takeda Pharmaceutical and the CHDI Foundation. Both projects involve building computational models for neurological diseases. Takeda said it November that it agreed to pay $3.6 million over four years to … Continue reading “Sage Starts Takeda, CHDI Work”
Clarisonic Cracks Big-Time With $100M Sales, Riding Rave Reviews From Lady Gaga, Oprah
One of Seattle’s hottest tech startups has nothing to do with the sizzly Internet trends you read about a lot—social media, location-based marketing, or mobile apps. It has everything to do with making more than 2 million women so far—Lady Gaga and Oprah among them—look good and feel good about themselves. Unless you read fashion … Continue reading “Clarisonic Cracks Big-Time With $100M Sales, Riding Rave Reviews From Lady Gaga, Oprah”
Sposato Invests in GeekWire
Jonathan Sposato, the CEO of Picnik, a Seattle-based photo editing company acquired by Google a year ago, said today he made an investment in GeekWire, the online media company founded by technology journalists John Cook and Todd Bishop. GeekWire isn’t disclosing the amount of the investment, or how long of a cash runway it provides, … Continue reading “Sposato Invests in GeekWire”
Frazier Buys Carefusion Unit
San Diego-based Carefusion (NYSE: [[ticker:CFN]]), said today it has completed the sale of its Onsite Services business to affiliates of Seattle-based Frazier Healthcare Ventures. OnSite offers medical instrument repair and instrument management programs to hospitals. The new company will have 240 employees, Carefusion said in a statement. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Arena Adds $35.5M
Arena Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARNA]]) said today it has raised $35.5 million through a stock offering. The San Diego-based company, which failed to win FDA approval of a new obesity drug in October, said it will use about half the money to pay off debt to Deerfield Management that comes due in June 2013. Earlier this … Continue reading “Arena Adds $35.5M”
Epizyme, Riding High on Two Big Pharma Deals, Zeroes in on Personalized Cancer Therapy
Big Pharma companies are not exactly known for being nimble, but they have made a couple of quick bam-bam moves in succession to land deals with Cambridge, MA-based Epizyme. The company made news in January when it pocketed $20 million upfront, and lined up another $630 million in development milestones, through a drug discovery partnership … Continue reading “Epizyme, Riding High on Two Big Pharma Deals, Zeroes in on Personalized Cancer Therapy”
AVI Biopharma Adds Chief Scientist
AVI Biopharma (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AVII]]), the Bothell, WA-based developer of RNA-based therapies, said today it has hired Peter Linsley as its chief scientific officer. Linsley, 59, had previously been the chief scientist at San Diego-based Regulus Therapeutics, a company formed by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Isis Pharmaceuticals to develop microRNA treatments.
Bigger Isn’t Better: It’s Time for Big Pharma to Break Up Into Little Pharma
Fresh headlines cross my desk almost weekly about the crisis in the pharmaceutical business. Jaw-dropping sums of money, about $65 billion a year, flow into the pursuit of new medicines. Yet every year we hear the same old refrain—a pathetic number of new FDA-approved drugs, just 21 last year—come out the other end. This highly … Continue reading “Bigger Isn’t Better: It’s Time for Big Pharma to Break Up Into Little Pharma”
Genentech Eye Drug, Under Scrutiny, Passes Study in Diabetic Patients to Open Up New Market
Genentech put out some good clinical trial news today which suggests it has a chance to expand the market of its franchise drug for eye diseases, right at the moment the drug is facing a lot of pressure. The South San Francisco-based unit of Roche said today that its targeted drug for eye diseases met … Continue reading “Genentech Eye Drug, Under Scrutiny, Passes Study in Diabetic Patients to Open Up New Market”
SV Feels Lonely at the Top, Canaan Finds Biotech Groove, Portola Gets Drug Back, & More in Bay Area Life Sciences News
This week seemed like as good a time as any to run a couple features on biotech VCs who are seeking to stay relevant as their business faces a serious identity crisis. —SV Life Sciences, the $2 billion diversified healthcare fund with offices in San Francisco, Boston, and London, is feeling pretty flush with a … Continue reading “SV Feels Lonely at the Top, Canaan Finds Biotech Groove, Portola Gets Drug Back, & More in Bay Area Life Sciences News”
Canaan Strings Together Some Good News, Just as the Pressure Mounts on VC Model
Every time I walk into a venture capitalist’s office these days, I essentially ask a polite but pointed variation of the same question, which boils down to this: Are you toast? Or are you becoming toast? Luckily for the folks at Canaan Partners, they have had some incremental good news from their portfolio, which suggests … Continue reading “Canaan Strings Together Some Good News, Just as the Pressure Mounts on VC Model”
Portola Gets Drug Back From Merck
South San Francisco-based Portola Pharmaceuticals said today that Merck has agreed to return the full commercial rights to betrixaban to Portola. The drug is designed to stop excessive blood clotting to prevent strokes in patients with an abnormal heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation. Merck said it made the decision to part ways with the drug … Continue reading “Portola Gets Drug Back From Merck”
SeaGen Strikes Abbott Deal, Omeros Passes Study, Alnylam Fires Back at Tekmira, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
Another week, another deal for Seattle Genetics. This company is clearly on a roll. —Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SGEN]]) raked in another $8 million upfront payment this week from a big drugmaker that wants to use its technology for linking targeted antibodies to toxins that make them more potent. This time, Abbott Laboratories shelled out for … Continue reading “SeaGen Strikes Abbott Deal, Omeros Passes Study, Alnylam Fires Back at Tekmira, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
Omeros Combo Drug Passes Cataract Surgery Study
Omeros has some news out this morning on one of the lesser-known members of its drug development pipeline. The Seattle-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OMER]]) said today that its experimental treatment for patients undergoing eye surgery to correct cataracts was safe, able to maintain pupil dilation during the procedure, and reduce postoperative pain and irritation. The … Continue reading “Omeros Combo Drug Passes Cataract Surgery Study”
Tethys Snags U.S. Air Force Support for Big Diabetes Prevention Study
Tethys Bioscience is making a big bet as a company that it can help prevent people from getting diabetes. Now it has got some critical support to help it prove that idea. Emeryville, CA-based Tethys is announcing today it has secured a partnership with the U.S. Air Force to see if the company’s PreDx test … Continue reading “Tethys Snags U.S. Air Force Support for Big Diabetes Prevention Study”
SV Life Sciences, Flush with $523M Fund, On the Hazard of Having a Lot of Dough
You’d think that when the venture capital industry is going through a historic shrinkage, life must be pretty good at SV Life Sciences. This $2 billion diversified healthcare fund, with main offices in San Francisco, Boston, and London, was one of the fortunate few VC funds that was able to reload with a $523 million … Continue reading “SV Life Sciences, Flush with $523M Fund, On the Hazard of Having a Lot of Dough”
Allen Institute Adds Caltech Neuroscientist
The Allen Institute for Brain Science, the Seattle-based nonprofit backed by billionaire Paul Allen, said today it has hired Christof Koch as its new chief scientific officer. Koch comes from Caltech, where he spent 25 years on the faculty studying biophysics, neural computation, and neural systems, the Allen Institute said in a statement. “We are … Continue reading “Allen Institute Adds Caltech Neuroscientist”
See You at Xconomy Meetup With New Tech Writer Curt Woodward
We’re wrapping up our stories for tomorrow a little early so we can knock off for happy hour. In case you missed it, we’re having an Xconomy Meetup today from 4 pm to 6 pm at my favorite neighborhood dive bar, the Streamline Tavern, 121 West Mercer Street in Lower Queen Anne. This is a … Continue reading “See You at Xconomy Meetup With New Tech Writer Curt Woodward”
SeaGen Inks Abbott Deal
Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SGEN]]), said today it will get an $8 million upfront payment from Abbott Laboratories in exchange for the right to use technology that links targeted antibodies to toxins that make them more potent drugs. Abbott (NYSE: [[ticker:ABT]]) has gotten a license to use the Seattle Genetics technology against one molecular target on … Continue reading “SeaGen Inks Abbott Deal”
Think Obamacare Will Suffocate New Drug Development With Price Controls? Think Again
There were a million arguments against healthcare reform a year ago. One was that if President Obama got his way and expanded health insurance to millions of uninsured people, and the government made a real effort to study the comparative effectiveness of drugs at high and low prices, it was really the first step toward … Continue reading “Think Obamacare Will Suffocate New Drug Development With Price Controls? Think Again”
Alnylam CEO: Tekmira Accusation of Trade Secret Misuse was a “Big Surprise”
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals CEO John Maraganore found out his firm was getting sued by one of its business partners for more than $1 billion when an e-mail arrived in his inbox a few minutes after a press release on Wednesday. This was a bombshell, to say the least. The CEO of Vancouver, BC-based Tekmira Pharmaceuticals said … Continue reading “Alnylam CEO: Tekmira Accusation of Trade Secret Misuse was a “Big Surprise””
Bay Area Life Sciences 2031: The Photo Gallery
California has one of the worst state budget shortfalls in the country, some godawful transportation bottlenecks, and housing prices that are high enough to send most newly minted PhD’s into talk therapy. And despite all that, in 20 years’ time, San Francisco will still be the world’s No. 1 place for creating innovative new drugs, … Continue reading “Bay Area Life Sciences 2031: The Photo Gallery”
Affymax Raises $50M
Affymax (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AFFY]]), the Palo Alto, CA-based developer of an anemia drug, said today it has raised $50 million in gross proceeds through a stock offering. The company sold about 8.47 million new shares at $5.90 apiece, about an 8.5 percent discount from yesterday’s closing stock price of $6.45. Lazard Capital Markets and Stifel Nicolaus … Continue reading “Affymax Raises $50M”
FivePrime Nabs Partner, Solazyme’s $100M IPO Plan, Where Blockbuster Drugs Come From, & More Bay Area Life Sciences News
I was a teensy bit preoccupied this week organizing and moderating our first life sciences event this week at Xconomy San Francisco, but managed to keep up with a few of the big headlines that crossed my desk. —FivePrime Therapeutics, the South San Francisco-based developer of protein drugs, said this week it struck a deal … Continue reading “FivePrime Nabs Partner, Solazyme’s $100M IPO Plan, Where Blockbuster Drugs Come From, & More Bay Area Life Sciences News”