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.

Vertex Drug Could Be “Man on the Moon” for Cystic Fibrosis Therapy, Says Researcher Bonnie Ramsey

Bonnie Ramsey remembers the dark days of treatment for cystic fibrosis. About 30 years ago, when she devoted her career to the research and treatment of this genetic lung disease, children who were diagnosed had a life expectancy of about 17 years. The outlook is much brighter for patients now, as quality of life has … Continue reading “Vertex Drug Could Be “Man on the Moon” for Cystic Fibrosis Therapy, Says Researcher Bonnie Ramsey”

Stephen Friend, Leaving High-Powered Merck Gig, Lights Fire for Open Source Biology Movement

Stephen Friend had it all at Merck. The lucrative salary, the national media fame, the respect of peers, the power to snap his fingers and command a corporate army of some of the brightest minds in biomedicine. This year, he gave it all up for a startup dream. Friend, 54, is best known in Seattle … Continue reading “Stephen Friend, Leaving High-Powered Merck Gig, Lights Fire for Open Source Biology Movement”

AVI Bolts to Seattle, OncoGenex Escapes Dendreon’s Shadow, Buddhists Helping Biotech, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

Some of the lesser-known names in Seattle life sciences made some noise this week, just when we here at the Xconomy biotech desk thought things might slow down a tad in the dog days of summer. —AVI Biopharma (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AVII]]), the Portland, OR-based maker of RNA-based therapies, is now getting a new tagline as the … Continue reading “AVI Bolts to Seattle, OncoGenex Escapes Dendreon’s Shadow, Buddhists Helping Biotech, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

Rib-X Antibiotic Passes Clinical Trial, Hopes to Snag Partner

Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, the New Haven, CT-based developer of novel antibiotics, is announcing today that one of its experimental treatments passed a mid-stage clinical trial for patients with a common form of pneumonia. It’s looking to deal with a Big Pharma company with the money and resources to take the drug through the next steps needed … Continue reading “Rib-X Antibiotic Passes Clinical Trial, Hopes to Snag Partner”

Isis, Genzyme Use Antisense to Go Where Many Drugs Fail—The Brain

Doctors can’t do much for patients with a rare, aggressive form of Lou Gehrig’s disease, even though researchers are confident they have pinpointed its genetic cause. But now with help from a clever device that’s supposed to deliver RNA-silencing drugs where they couldn’t go before, Carlsbad, CA-based Isis Pharmaceuticals is hopeful it may have found … Continue reading “Isis, Genzyme Use Antisense to Go Where Many Drugs Fail—The Brain”

OncoGenex, Toiling in Dendreon’s Shadow, Scopes Out Partners For Prostate Cancer Drug

Name the Seattle biotech company with a drug shown to help men live longer with prostate cancer, which recently raised cash, is negotiating with potential partners, and has seen its stock boom from as low as $2 to $30 a share yesterday. Hint: It’s not Dendreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]), the developer of the first-of-a-kind treatment for … Continue reading “OncoGenex, Toiling in Dendreon’s Shadow, Scopes Out Partners For Prostate Cancer Drug”

Oncothyreon Raises $15M

Oncothyreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ONTY]]), the Seattle-based developer of cancer drugs, said today it has raised $15 million by securing commitments from investors to buy new shares and warrants. The financing came one day after demand surged for Oncothyreon sales when it said a small group of lung cancer patients had long-lasting responses after taking Stimuvax, the … Continue reading “Oncothyreon Raises $15M”

Ariad Raises $30.9M

Cambridge, MA-based Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARIA]]), the developer of cancer drugs, said today it has raised net proceeds of $30.9 million through a stock offering. The company sold 19 million new shares at $1.75 apiece. CEO Harvey Berger personally agreed to buy $3 million worth of shares.

PATH Scientists Discover Cheap, Easy Way to Protect Vaccines from Hot and Cold

Scientists at PATH, the Seattle-based nonprofit that works to improve health in poor countries, have found a cheap and simple way to tackle one of the vexing challenges of global health: how to keep vaccines from going bad when they get either too hot or too cold. PATH scientists, with help from collaborators at U.K-based … Continue reading “PATH Scientists Discover Cheap, Easy Way to Protect Vaccines from Hot and Cold”

Zymo Gets $6M in Q2 Recothrom Sales

ZymoGenetics, the Seattle-based biotech company, said today that it generated $6 million in second-quarter sales of recombinant thrombin (Recothrom). That performance is an improvement on the $4.5 million the company reported in the first quarter, and puts ZymoGenetics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ZGEN]]) on pace to reach its 2009 sales forecast of $25 million to $35 million. The … Continue reading “Zymo Gets $6M in Q2 Recothrom Sales”

Shire’s Gaucher Drug Passes Key Trial, Putting More Heat on Genzyme During Shortage

Shire, the U.K.-based specialty pharmaceutical company, had some good news this morning for patients with Gaucher’s disease that might not be nearly as good for its competitor, Cambridge, MA-based Genzyme (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GENZ]]). Shire said today that its experimental treatment for Gaucher’s, a rare genetic disorder, passed a key clinical trial in 25 patients. This is … Continue reading “Shire’s Gaucher Drug Passes Key Trial, Putting More Heat on Genzyme During Shortage”

Oncothyreon Shows Long-Lasting Effect

Oncothyreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ONTY]]), the Seattle-based developer of cancer treatments, said today its Stimuvax therapy showed a long-lasting response and was well-tolerated in a long-term follow-up study. Ten of the 16 patients with non-small cell lung cancer, who were followed two to 8.2 years, were still alive as of April with no evidence of their disease … Continue reading “Oncothyreon Shows Long-Lasting Effect”

BrainCells Inc., Defying Convention, Suggests Novel Drug Combination Can Treat Depression

Drugs for treating depression have been around for years now, mostly working in similar ways by blocking certain receptors in the brain. So when San Diego-based BrainCells Inc. proposed a clinical trial with a new way of combining a generic anti-anxiety drug with a common dietary supplement that affects people’s sleeping rhythms, this didn’t exactly … Continue reading “BrainCells Inc., Defying Convention, Suggests Novel Drug Combination Can Treat Depression”

Buddhists May Help Biotechies Solve Big Mental Health Woes, Says Merck Vet Ben Shapiro

One of the big opportunities in biotech over the coming decades may come from neuroscientists who team up with Buddhists. That might sound odd at first, but it’s no joke. This is one of the big ideas on the radar of Bennett Shapiro, the former executive vice president of worldwide basic research at Merck, who … Continue reading “Buddhists May Help Biotechies Solve Big Mental Health Woes, Says Merck Vet Ben Shapiro”

Seattle’s Lifestyle Keeps Us Trailing the Bay Area, Says UW Startup Maven Janis Machala

Ed Lazowska, the University of Washington computer science professor, stirred the pot a couple months ago when he said Seattle is a “minor league” innovation town, far behind the big league of the San Francisco Bay Area, so people in the Northwest should quit being smug and start doing something to change that. This week, … Continue reading “Seattle’s Lifestyle Keeps Us Trailing the Bay Area, Says UW Startup Maven Janis Machala”

Amnis Nails Down Capital to Meet Rising Demand for Scientific Instruments

Seattle-based Amnis, the maker of a scientific instrument that provides detailed images on large numbers of cells, has raised the first $839,000 out of a venture round that’s expected to top out at $1.5 million within a couple of weeks, according to CEO David Basiji. Amnis secured the first batch of funds from its existing … Continue reading “Amnis Nails Down Capital to Meet Rising Demand for Scientific Instruments”

Anadys Cleared to Start HepC Trial

San Diego-based Anadys Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ANDS]]) said today it has gotten the green light from the FDA to start a mid-stage clinical trial of its experimental hepatitis C drug, ANA598, in combination with the standard treatments, pegylated inferferon alpha and ribavirin. About 90 patients are expected to enroll, with the first joining the study within … Continue reading “Anadys Cleared to Start HepC Trial”

AVI Biopharma Bolts from Portland to Seattle to Tap Biotech Talent

AVI Biopharma, the developer of RNA-based drugs, is moving its headquarters and part of its scientific operations north a couple hundred miles from Portland, OR, to Bothell, WA, in an effort to mine the Seattle area’s bigger biotech talent pool. The company, which has about 85 total employees, plans to keep its biodefense research and … Continue reading “AVI Biopharma Bolts from Portland to Seattle to Tap Biotech Talent”

MSM Protein Technologies Scores Antibody-Drug Discovery Partnerships

MSM Protein Technologies, a spinoff of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, is announcing today it has secured partnerships with Germany-based Merck KGaA, and Switzerland-based Debiopharm Group, a drug development firm. The team at Medford, MA-based MSM will work to create antibody drugs that zero in on complex targets on cells known as G-protein coupled receptors and other … Continue reading “MSM Protein Technologies Scores Antibody-Drug Discovery Partnerships”

Dendreon’s Former Boss Predicts Takeover, Covance Buys Merck Lab, How NanoString Got $30M, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

This was another busy week on the Seattle biotech scene, with some takeover speculation surrounding the latest success story (Dendreon), a big pharmaceutical industry player moving to town (Covance), and a behind-the-scenes tale of how NanoString Technologies scored one of the bigger venture investments of the year. —Christopher Henney, the former CEO of Dendreon (NASDAQ: … Continue reading “Dendreon’s Former Boss Predicts Takeover, Covance Buys Merck Lab, How NanoString Got $30M, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

Covance CEO Says It Will Be “A Shame” If He Can’t Double or Triple Rosetta Lab Growth

The world’s largest company that provides contract research services to drugmakers is coming to Seattle, and its CEO has some ambitious plans to grow here (and maybe do a few Cascade hikes while he’s out here too). That was the upshot from my follow-up conversation with Covance CEO Joe Herring, shortly after the Princeton, NJ-based … Continue reading “Covance CEO Says It Will Be “A Shame” If He Can’t Double or Triple Rosetta Lab Growth”

Covance Buys Key Piece of Merck’s Rosetta Operation in Seattle

Covance, the giant drug development services company based in Princeton, NJ, said today it has agreed to acquire a Seattle laboratory run by Merck’s Rosetta operation that performs genomic analysis tests for biologists around the world. Merck has been gradually winding down its Rosetta operations in Seattle since last October, when it said it would … Continue reading “Covance Buys Key Piece of Merck’s Rosetta Operation in Seattle”

Clarus Leans on Customer Reviews at the Broad Institute to Bet on NanoString

[Corrected July 29, 10 a.m. See below.] Warren Buffett says he became one of the world’s most successful investors partly because he only invests in businesses he understands. But where do you find investors if your niche is in something called direct multiplexed measurement of gene expression? Last month, Seattle-based NanoString Technologies, the developer of … Continue reading “Clarus Leans on Customer Reviews at the Broad Institute to Bet on NanoString”

AVI Gets Duchenne Funding

AVI Biopharma, the Portland, OR-based developer of RNA-based therapies, said today it has secured $1.2 million in funding over the next year from Action Duchenne, a U.K.-based charity that supports research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The agreement has an option to be extended for additional years, AVI said. The company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AVII]]) is developing a … Continue reading “AVI Gets Duchenne Funding”

Ariad Shares Boom as Cancer Drug Shows Promise

Ariad Pharmaceuticals, the Cambridge, MA-based developer of cancer drugs, said today that its lead experimental drug is likely to succeed in an ongoing mid-stage trial of the drug as a treatment for breast cancer. Shares of Ariad (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARIA]]) shot up 29 percent, to $3.15 after the news crossed the wire. The Ariad drug, ridaforolimus, … Continue reading “Ariad Shares Boom as Cancer Drug Shows Promise”

FRX Polymers Raises $6M

FRX Polymers, the Chelmsford, MA-based maker of environmentally-friendly flame-resistant plastics, said it has raised $6 million to help commercialize its products. The investors are Israel Cleantech Ventures, and Capricorn Venture Partners. FRX said it has 20 established partnerships with some of the world’s largest plastic makers.

Cerulean Pharma Grabs $10M for Nanoparticle Drugs

[Correction: July 29, 7:15 pm] Cerulean Pharma, the Cambridge, MA-based developer of nanoparticle drugs, said today it has raised $10 million in a Series B round of venture capital. The company raised the money from its existing crew of investors: Polaris Venture Partners, Venrock Associates, Lux Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners. Part of the cash … Continue reading “Cerulean Pharma Grabs $10M for Nanoparticle Drugs”

Dendreon May Not Survive Its Success: Q&A with Founder Chris Henney, Part 2

Yesterday, we brought Xconomy readers the first installment of a conversation with Christopher Henney, the co-founder of Seattle’s three most successful biotech companies of the past 30 years—Immunex, Icos, and Dendreon. The first two companies ended up getting acquired—Immunex for $10 billion in 2002, and Icos for $2.3 billion in 2007. Now that Dendreon has … Continue reading “Dendreon May Not Survive Its Success: Q&A with Founder Chris Henney, Part 2”

Alnylam and Isis’ Offspring, Regulus, Keeps Pushing on Biology’s ‘Bleeding Edge’

Regulus Therapeutics, its CEO admits, is a child of privilege. It was born two years ago with a silver spoon in its mouth—some hot intellectual property to make drugs based on emerging knowledge about microRNA biological networks. It has a couple of parents with wealth and pedigree: Cambridge, MA-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALNY]]), and Carlsbad, … Continue reading “Alnylam and Isis’ Offspring, Regulus, Keeps Pushing on Biology’s ‘Bleeding Edge’”

RXI Licenses RNAi Delivery Mode

RXi Pharmaceuticals, the Worcester, MA-based developer of RNA interference drugs, said today it has obtained an exclusive worldwide license to RNAi delivery technologies from Advirna. The technology is supposed to make it easier to deliver RNAi without liposomes, nanoparticles, or other methods that add complexity, RXi said (NASDAQ: [[ticker:RXII]]). Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Targeted Growth Boosts Algae Yield

Targeted Growth, the Seattle-based developer of renewable fuels and high-yield agricultural products, said today that its scientists have found a way to boost the amount of lipid content by 400 percent in cyanobacteria, which it says could increase the oil yield from algae enough to make it competitive on price with conventional petroleum. The company … Continue reading “Targeted Growth Boosts Algae Yield”

BrainCells Depression Drug Reaches Goal

BrainCells Inc., the San Diego-based developer of treatments for neurological disorders, said today that its experimental drug for depression showed promising results in a clinical trial of 142 patients. The company’s drug, BCI-952, a combination of low-dose buspirone and melatonin, is designed to work differently than other depression drugs, by stimulating growth of new brain … Continue reading “BrainCells Depression Drug Reaches Goal”

Avila Therapeutics Gets $30M to Push Ahead With Covalent Drugs

Avila Therapeutics, the Waltham, MA-based developer of drugs that create stronger bonds with protein targets on cells, said today it has raised $30 million in a Series B round of venture capital to drive its treatments into human clinical trials. The Novartis Option Fund, a new investor, led the financing, and was followed by Avila’s … Continue reading “Avila Therapeutics Gets $30M to Push Ahead With Covalent Drugs”

Dendreon May Not Survive Its Success: Q&A with Founder Chris Henney, Part 1

Christopher Henney’s career in biotechnology looks like a three-act drama over three decades. He’s a classically-trained immunologist who went on to be the co-founder of Seattle’s three most successful biotech companies when ranked by stock market value—Immunex, Icos, and Dendreon. Henney, now 68, pushed Dendreon on its odyssey when he joined as CEO in 1995. … Continue reading “Dendreon May Not Survive Its Success: Q&A with Founder Chris Henney, Part 1”

General Fusion, Developer of Novel Nuclear Fusion Method, Raises $9M in Venture Financing

General Fusion, a Burnaby, BC-based company that hopes to generate clean energy from a new form of nuclear fusion, has raised $9 million out of a $12.5 million equity offering, Xconomy has learned. The company isn’t disclosing who invested in the round, although it includes a syndicate from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, … Continue reading “General Fusion, Developer of Novel Nuclear Fusion Method, Raises $9M in Venture Financing”

Calypso Forms Deal With Varian

Calypso Medical Technologies, the Seattle-based developer of a device to pinpoint radiation therapy for prostate cancer, said today it has formed a partnership with Palo Alto, CA-based Varian Medical Systems, the world’s leading maker of medical devices and software for cancer treatment. The two companies will jointly develop products to incorporate the Calypso technology into … Continue reading “Calypso Forms Deal With Varian”

Targeted Genetics Amends Lease

Targeted Genetics, the Seattle-based developer of gene therapies, said today it has amended the lease on its 38,000-square foot headquarters to get a reduced rate from June through August, and then providing $45,000 and “reasonable credit assurances” to its landlord by Aug. 31. If the company can’t provide those assurances, the landlord can terminate the … Continue reading “Targeted Genetics Amends Lease”

Targeted Growth Plots Future as Agricultural Biotech, Cleantech Pioneer

If you owned a method that can make plants grow bigger and faster on every acre of land, what would you do to best exploit it? Targeted Growth CEO Tom Todaro is hedging his company’s bets 50-50, wagering that his Seattle-based firm will become a player in two potentially huge industries—agriculture and clean energy. If … Continue reading “Targeted Growth Plots Future as Agricultural Biotech, Cleantech Pioneer”

Archemix Signs MicroRNA Deal

Cambridge, MA-based Archemix, the developer of a new class of drug called aptamers, said today it has formed an R&D collaboration with Boulder, CO-based miRagen Therapeutics, a developer of microRNA treatments. The two companies will plan to attach aptamer drugs to microRNA molecules with a goal of delivering the compounds inside cells. Both companies will … Continue reading “Archemix Signs MicroRNA Deal”

Orexigen Raises $70M

Orexigen Therapeutics, the San Diego-based developer of an experimental obesity drug, said today it has raised $70.9 million through a stock offering. The company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OREX]]) sold 10 million shares at $7.50 apiece, then subtracted underwriting discounts and expenses. Orexigen announced earlier in the week that three large clinical trials of 4,500 patients reached their … Continue reading “Orexigen Raises $70M”

ZymoGenetics Picks Up Mojo, Dendreon Looks Southeast, Cell Therapeutics Raises Dough & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

This week biotech, both locally and nationally, showed some real swagger in its step. Human Genome Sciences turned into a rocket ship, Medarex made investors a fortune, and Onyx Pharmaceuticals surprised the street with positive news against breast cancer. You can bet this rising tide will lift other boats as investors prowl around for the … Continue reading “ZymoGenetics Picks Up Mojo, Dendreon Looks Southeast, Cell Therapeutics Raises Dough & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

Cell Therapeutics Taps Stock Market Again, Seeks $40M or More

Here’s an iron law of biotech: Never doubt Cell Therapeutics’ ability to raise money, in good times or in bad. The Seattle-based biotech company, which has raised more than $1.3 billion from investors in its 18-year history without turning a consistent profit, said today it is hitting up investors for what should amount to another … Continue reading “Cell Therapeutics Taps Stock Market Again, Seeks $40M or More”

Genzyme Cleans Up Allston Factory

Genzyme (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GENZ]]), the Cambridge, MA-based maker of drugs for rare genetic diseases, said today it has finished sanitizing its biotech drugmaking plant in Allston, MA and is on schedule to re-start production there this month. Last month, the company spotted a viral contaminant that forced it to halt production. The company is now preparing … Continue reading “Genzyme Cleans Up Allston Factory”

Dendreon Scouts for Next Manufacturing Plant, Probably Far From Salmon and Evergreens

Dendreon takes pride in being a Seattle-based company, and CEO Mitchell Gold likes to say he envisions building it into the Northwest’s next biotech powerhouse, like Immunex in the 1990s. But compared to the rest of the country, Seattle just doesn’t have that many people ill with prostate cancer. So it’s a safe bet he … Continue reading “Dendreon Scouts for Next Manufacturing Plant, Probably Far From Salmon and Evergreens”

Northwest VCs See Existential Threat, and a Change in the Entrepreneurial Mindset

Money keeps going in, but it isn’t coming out. If you’re a venture capitalist, this is what you call a serious problem. Innovation will go on. So will entrepreneurship. But when I spoke to a handful of venture capitalists yesterday morning about the trends in their industry, and about their role in financing startups, they … Continue reading “Northwest VCs See Existential Threat, and a Change in the Entrepreneurial Mindset”

Washington Venture Investing Gravitates to Biotech—The Regional Top 10 List

It stands to reason in a downturn, when investors get more cautious, the last place they’d want to park money is in a sector where it takes huge sums, agonizing stretches of time, and slim odds of a profit. That’s biotech in a nutshell, yet even in the downturn, it’s where some of the biggest … Continue reading “Washington Venture Investing Gravitates to Biotech—The Regional Top 10 List”