Not a lot of breaking news surfaced this week in Seattle biotech, but we still found some interesting feature stories that challenge all sorts of conventional wisdom. —Seattle Genetics CEO Clay Siegall told Xconomy the inside story of how his company’s $55.8 million financing came together. The moral of the story: Don’t do a bunch … Continue reading “Seattle Genetics’ Financing Tale, Johnny Stine Sticks it to VCs, Puget Sound’s Biotech Universe, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
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.
ZymoGenetics Clamps Down on Losses, Predicts Climbing Recothrom Sales
ZymoGenetics has taken action to slow down its financial bleeding. The Seattle biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ZGEN]]) said today in its quarterly earnings report that it finished the fourth-quarter with a much narrower-than-usual net loss of $9.2 million, and entered the new year with $89.9 million left in the bank. ZymoGenetics, a company that has never … Continue reading “ZymoGenetics Clamps Down on Losses, Predicts Climbing Recothrom Sales”
Q&A With Linden Rhoads: UW TechTransfer Leader Brings VC Revolution to Campus (Part 2)
Yesterday, we shared the first part of a conversation with Linden Rhoads, the University of Washington’s tech transfer boss. She talked about how she’s making the office hustle a lot more, in particular by brokering meetings between faculty and venture capitalists to brainstorm about the best research ideas with commercial potential. Today, in Part Two, … Continue reading “Q&A With Linden Rhoads: UW TechTransfer Leader Brings VC Revolution to Campus (Part 2)”
Arena Weight Loss Drug Approaches Critical Turning Point Next Month
Fen-phen was the wonder drug for weight loss in the 1990s, until it was found to damage heart valves and yanked off the market. Now the folks at San Diego-based Arena Pharmaceuticals are eagerly waiting clinical trial results that will show whether they have learned something profitable from that colossal failure. Arena is developing a … Continue reading “Arena Weight Loss Drug Approaches Critical Turning Point Next Month”
Q&A With Linden Rhoads: UW’s TechTransfer Leader Brings VC Revolution to Campus (Part 1)
Six months have flown by since Linden Rhoads joined the University of Washington as its first high-tech entrepreneur in charge of technology transfer. This is a critical job for Seattle’s innovation community at the nexus of university research, venture capital, and the high-tech and life sciences business. From the minute she arrived on campus back … Continue reading “Q&A With Linden Rhoads: UW’s TechTransfer Leader Brings VC Revolution to Campus (Part 1)”
Anadys Keeps Surging, as Hepatitis C Drug Data Trickles In
The more data dribbles out of Anadys Pharmaceuticals, the more investors apparently like what they see. The San Diego-based biotech company said today that one of its experimental drugs for hepatitis C was effective at killing the virus in three more patients who took a low dose in a clinical trial, providing a bit of … Continue reading “Anadys Keeps Surging, as Hepatitis C Drug Data Trickles In”
PerkinElmer Sacrifices Short-Term Profit to Preserve R&D, Buy Technologies on the Cheap
Not many CEOs of publicly traded companies tell Wall Street that they are willing to sacrifice profits for the next few quarters to preserve the long-term health of their R&D operations. So I was eager to hear Rob Friel, CEO of Waltham, MA-based PerkinElmer, explain why he thinks this strategy makes sense for his company, … Continue reading “PerkinElmer Sacrifices Short-Term Profit to Preserve R&D, Buy Technologies on the Cheap”
Auth, O’Donnell Join Academy
Two University of Washington professors, Matthew O’Donnell and David Auth, have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Auth, an affiliate University of Washington professor (and Xconomist) developed a minimally invasive drill for clearing out clogged coronary arteries that led to the founding of Redmond, WA-based Heart Technology. O’Donnell came to UW in 2006 … Continue reading “Auth, O’Donnell Join Academy”
Hey, Don’t Forget the Puget Sound Life Sciences Universe!
Techies, with their cool iPhone apps and Internet software, get all the attention. So a couple of Seattle biotechies squawked at me a couple weeks ago when the Washington Technology Industry Association unveiled an academic study that traced the origins of the “Puget Sound Tech Universe” over the past three decades. The WTIA study examined … Continue reading “Hey, Don’t Forget the Puget Sound Life Sciences Universe!”
FDA Approves First Drug Made From Bioengineered Goats
Who says the FDA isn’t open to new ideas? The U.S. drug agency has given the green-light to GTC Biotherapeutics, a small biotech company in Framingham, MA, to market the first drug in the U.S. ever derived from genetically modified animals. GTC Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GTCB]]) and partner Ovation Pharmaceuticals of Deerfield, IL, said today that … Continue reading “FDA Approves First Drug Made From Bioengineered Goats”
Carl Icahn Aims to Stick “For Sale” Sign on Biogen Idec Lawn Again
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is making another move to gain influence over Biogen Idec. Icahn told the Cambridge, MA-based biotech company he is nominating a slate of four new directors for election to the company board at this year’s annual meeting, and he wants to increase the size of the board from 12 to 13 … Continue reading “Carl Icahn Aims to Stick “For Sale” Sign on Biogen Idec Lawn Again”
Sticking it to the VC Man: Johnny Stine Builds Biotech Startup on a Shoestring
The lone entrepreneur in a garage, driven to change the world, is one of the most powerful archetypical characters of American capitalism. It may still work today in isolated cases for iPhone apps or Internet software, but in biotech, it’s a laughable idea. This is an industry where it takes a decade of sustained work, … Continue reading “Sticking it to the VC Man: Johnny Stine Builds Biotech Startup on a Shoestring”
Vertex CEO Josh Boger Retiring In May; Matthew Emmens To Fill Role
(Update: The last three paragraphs were added after a conference call with reporters.) Vertex Pharmaceuticals founder, president and CEO Josh Boger, one of the best-known and more colorful executives in the biotech industry, is retiring on May 23. He will be replaced by Vertex director Matthew Emmens, the company said late this afternoon in a … Continue reading “Vertex CEO Josh Boger Retiring In May; Matthew Emmens To Fill Role”
Seattle Genetics Defies Gravity With Biotech’s First Underwritten Stock Sale in Six Months
The recession will surely kill off some biotech companies that lack hard cash and the hard data that shows their experimental drugs can improve patients’ lives. But after I heard Seattle Genetics CEO Clay Siegall tell the story of how his company raised $55.8 million last week, I had to conclude it’s still possible to … Continue reading “Seattle Genetics Defies Gravity With Biotech’s First Underwritten Stock Sale in Six Months”
Venrock’s Bryan Roberts: Shakeout Is Coming to VCs, Not Just Companies
As venture-backed tech and life sciences companies around the country are hunkering down to figure out how to survive the downturn, the same can be said for the venture backers themselves. That was one of the interesting observations I heard during a recent interview in San Francisco with Bryan Roberts, a partner who specializes in … Continue reading “Venrock’s Bryan Roberts: Shakeout Is Coming to VCs, Not Just Companies”
Pathway Medical Gets Traction, Ekos Raises $12.5M, ZymoGenetics Sales Boss Departs, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
Medical devices captured more than its usual mindshare in the Seattle life sciences scene this week, with news of a substantial venture deal and a new product that appears to be catching on in the marketplace. —Pathway Medical Technologies, the Kirkland, WA-based developer of a high-speed drill that removes fatty buildups from leg arteries, revealed … Continue reading “Pathway Medical Gets Traction, Ekos Raises $12.5M, ZymoGenetics Sales Boss Departs, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
ZymoGenetics Sales Chief Exits
ZymoGenetics’ senior vice president of sales and marketing, Michael Dwyer, has left the company as of yesterday, according to a regulatory filing. The Seattle-based company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ZGEN]]) didn’t explain why he left, or financial terms of his departure. Dwyer joined the company in April 2006 to commercialize its first FDA-approved drug, recombinant thrombin (Recothrom). The … Continue reading “ZymoGenetics Sales Chief Exits”
Insilicos Wins $400K NIH Grant
Insilicos, a Seattle-based company that makes software for drug researchers, has received a $400,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study a statistical method for predicting disease. The grant will support the company’s work on Least Angle Regression, says Insilicos president Erik Nilsson, in an e-mail. This is the second grant for Insilicos … Continue reading “Insilicos Wins $400K NIH Grant”
PATH, Fueled by Bill Gates’ Fortune, Builds Global Health Hothouse in Seattle
Bill and Melinda Gates don’t give their money away to just anybody who comes along with an impressive resume and a good cause. So why has the world’s largest charitable foundation seen fit to give $1.3 billion of its fortune to a little-known Seattle-based nonprofit called PATH? PATH, which has raked in the second-largest amount … Continue reading “PATH, Fueled by Bill Gates’ Fortune, Builds Global Health Hothouse in Seattle”
Phenomix Aims to Grab Piece of $10 Billion Diabetes Market
San Diego-based Phenomix isn’t one to shy away from a fight. This privately held biotech company with just 50 employees is forging ahead with a new drug for diabetes, one of the most competitive, and crowded marketplaces in the entire pharmaceutical industry. As long as the diabetes epidemic rages on like a “runaway train” in … Continue reading “Phenomix Aims to Grab Piece of $10 Billion Diabetes Market”
Zerhouni Joins Gates Foundation
Elias Zerhouni, the former director of the National Institutes of Health during the Bush Administration, has joined the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a senior fellow. Zerhouni, a world-class radiology researcher, will advise the foundation on its Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative, in which the foundation works to identify the top scientific challenges … Continue reading “Zerhouni Joins Gates Foundation”
MDRNA Gets $1M Milestone
MDRNA, the Bothell, WA-based biotech company, said today it has received a $1 million milestone payment from San Diego-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals under an amended agreement to develop a nasally-delivered version of exenatide, a diabetes drug. MDRNA, formerly known as Nastech Pharmaceutical, used to specialize in nasal delivery before it switched its strategy in June to … Continue reading “MDRNA Gets $1M Milestone”
Life Goes On at OVP: It’s a Good Time to Develop Products, and to Bet on Cleantech
OVP is one of the few venture funds that invests in a wide variety of innovations that span from IT to life sciences to cleantech. So Greg and I zipped across the lake yesterday for a wide-ranging conversation with the team at Kirkland, WA-based OVP Venture Partners during their Monday portfolio meeting. They’ve surely seen … Continue reading “Life Goes On at OVP: It’s a Good Time to Develop Products, and to Bet on Cleantech”
Energy R&D Network Proposal Has Seattle, Boston Leaders Eyeing Possibilities
One intriguing idea getting shuttled around President Obama’s inner circle could end up pouring significant cash into the innovation hubs of Seattle and Boston. This idea, hatched at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C., calls for building a national network of two dozen or more centers of excellence in cleantech R&D, with annual budgets of … Continue reading “Energy R&D Network Proposal Has Seattle, Boston Leaders Eyeing Possibilities”
Merck Nabs Harvard Scientist To Replace Rosetta Founder as Oncology Research Head
Merck is consolidating its cancer research in Boston, and now it has landed an academic research star from Harvard to run the place. The pharmaceutical giant said it has hired D. Gary Gilliland, a renowned Harvard cancer researcher, to be its new senior vice president of Merck Research Labs in charge of its oncology franchise. … Continue reading “Merck Nabs Harvard Scientist To Replace Rosetta Founder as Oncology Research Head”
MolecularMD Raises $3M
MolecularMD, a Portland, OR-based maker of molecular diagnostic tests for cancer, has raised $3 million in a new round of financing, according to data from VentureDeal. The company was founded in 2006 on technology from Brian Druker and Michael Heinrich at Oregon Health & Science University.
Plot Thickens at Amylin: Eastbourne Capital Enters Power Play With Carl Icahn
Carl Icahn isn’t the only one who sees an opportunity to shake things up at San Diego-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals. Today, Eastbourne Capital Management announced it, too, plans to nominate a slate of five new directors for election to the company’s 12-member board at the upcoming annual meeting. Eastbourne, which says it owns 12.5 percent of … Continue reading “Plot Thickens at Amylin: Eastbourne Capital Enters Power Play With Carl Icahn”
Synta Melanoma Data Coming in May
Synta, the Lexington, MA-based developer of cancer drugs, said today it has completed enrolling 630 patients in a clinical trial of its lead product candidate for melanoma that has spread through the body. The company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SNTA]]) has a goal of releasing results from the study in May. We profiled Synta’s efforts to develop this … Continue reading “Synta Melanoma Data Coming in May”
Pathway Medical Tool Shows Early Signs of Emerging as “Real Winner”
It’s still early in the ballgame for Pathway Medical Technologies, but the Kirkland, WA-based medical device maker says demand for its first marketed product—a tool for cleaning out clogged leg arteries—is climbing, and it appears to be on its way to becoming a hit. Pathway is a private company, so chairman Tom Clement doesn’t have … Continue reading “Pathway Medical Tool Shows Early Signs of Emerging as “Real Winner””
Stopping Migraines Before They Hurt: NeurAxon Pursues New Pain Drug
Nobody has yet come up with a drug that can stop the pain from migraine headaches before it starts. By this time next year, the people at Waltham, MA-based NeurAxon will know if they have created the first drug that works for the roughly one-third of patients who get a serious inkling before migraines kick … Continue reading “Stopping Migraines Before They Hurt: NeurAxon Pursues New Pain Drug”
Ebola Fighter, AVI, Raises $16.5M
AVI Biopharma, the Portland, OR-based biotech company, said it has received commitments from investors for $16.5 million in new capital. The company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AVII]]) is selling 14.2 million shares of common stock at $1.16 a share to select institutional investors, including Eastbourne Capital Management. AVI is developing next-generation treatments that use antisense technology for gene … Continue reading “Ebola Fighter, AVI, Raises $16.5M”
Ekos, Maker of Ultrasound Clot Dissolver, Raises $12.5 Million for Commercial Push
Ekos has been working for more than a decade on a miniature ultrasound probe that slithers inside leg veins, and gently amplifies the effect of drugs that dissolve blood clots. The long slog of research and development is done, the manufacturing is set up, and now Xconomy has learned the Bothell, WA-based company has raised … Continue reading “Ekos, Maker of Ultrasound Clot Dissolver, Raises $12.5 Million for Commercial Push”
Dicerna Aims to Gain Foothold in RNAi World With More Potent, Longer-Lasting Gene Silencers
Most of the headlines in the RNA interference world go to Cambridge, MA-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALNY]]). While that company says it has amassed enough intellectual property—and cash—to dominate this emerging field of gene-silencing technologies for years, they aren’t the only game in town. One intriguing upstart of the RNAi field is a privately held … Continue reading “Dicerna Aims to Gain Foothold in RNAi World With More Potent, Longer-Lasting Gene Silencers”
Cardiac Dimensions Wins European Clearance to Sell Device for Heart Failure
Cardiac Dimensions did what it said it was going to do. The Kirkland, WA-based medical device company, which we profiled earlier this week, has won permission from European regulators to start selling its first product, a minimally-invasive implanted device to tighten up leaky heart valves. The company has gotten its clearance in Europe through what … Continue reading “Cardiac Dimensions Wins European Clearance to Sell Device for Heart Failure”
UW Tech Transfer Snaps Up RealNetworks Lawyer, Microsoft Licensing Guru
Linden Rhoads, the high-tech entrepreneur hired last summer to help the University of Washington spin out more innovations into the business world, is bringing in new blood from the corporate world into key staff roles at her office. The UW has recruited Todd Alberstone of RealNetworks, and Ed Cummings of Microsoft to join the TechTransfer … Continue reading “UW Tech Transfer Snaps Up RealNetworks Lawyer, Microsoft Licensing Guru”
Carl Icahn Makes Move on Amylin Pharmaceuticals
Carl Icahn has sized up one of San Diego’s biggest biotech companies, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, in the crosshairs. The famed billionaire investor said today he has bought up an 8 percent stake in the company, and that he intends to nominate a slate of five new directors to Amylin’s 12-member board. Icahn made the announcement today … Continue reading “Carl Icahn Makes Move on Amylin Pharmaceuticals”
TheraGenetics Bought by Avacta
TheraGenetics, a Cambridge, MA and London-based diagnostics company, said today it agreed to be acquired by UK-based Avacta Group for an undisclosed amount of cash and stock. TheraGenetics is developing diagnostic tests to see how individual patients might respond to drugs for schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s disease and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Zafgen Cuts Deal With Argenta
Zafgen, the Cambridge, MA-based developer of drugs to shrink fat tissue, said today it has formed a partnership with Harlow, UK-based Argenta Discovery. Argenta, a contract research firm, will assist with the development of one of Zafgen’s experimental treatments for obesity. Earlier this week, we profiled this company’s quest to pioneer a new method of … Continue reading “Zafgen Cuts Deal With Argenta”
CMC Icos Cuts 7.5% of Workforce
CMC Icos Biologics, a contract manufacturer of biotech drugs in Bothell, WA, has cut 11 jobs, or about 7.5 percent of its workforce, a company spokesman confirmed. CMC Icos will now have about 130 employees. It’s the second recent sign of hunkering down at CMC Icos: last month it said it is postponing plans to … Continue reading “CMC Icos Cuts 7.5% of Workforce”
Seattle Genetics Raises Dough, Trubion Feels Fallout of Pfizer Deal, Novo Sets Up Shop, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
The great fear in biotech, one Boston-based executive told me a couple weeks ago, is that the markets have turned so dark that fundamentals no longer matter. The idea is that a company could show its drug really works, but the stock still won’t fly. At least one company in our neck of the woods, … Continue reading “Seattle Genetics Raises Dough, Trubion Feels Fallout of Pfizer Deal, Novo Sets Up Shop, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
Sequenom Blood Test for Down’s Syndrome Clears Higher Hurdle, Company Plots Aggressive Moves Toward Market
Sequenom CEO Harry Stylli vowed to me last fall that he is on a mission to build the “Google of Molecular Diagnostics” in San Diego. Now he has a new batch of clinical trial results in hand that has done nothing to diminish his audacious goal. The San Diego-based company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SQNM]]) said last night … Continue reading “Sequenom Blood Test for Down’s Syndrome Clears Higher Hurdle, Company Plots Aggressive Moves Toward Market”
Omeros Grabs $3.1M
Omeros, the privately held Seattle-based drug developer, said today it received $3.1 million in equity financing and grants from The Stanley Medical Research Institute to continue animal testing of a treatment for schizophrenia. Omeros previously received $2.6 million from the institute when it reached an agreement to begin the schizophrenia work in December 2006. Earlier … Continue reading “Omeros Grabs $3.1M”
Seattle Genetics Raises $55M
Seattle Genetics, the Bothell, WA-based developer of cancer drugs, said today it has raised $55.8 million by selling 5.74 million new shares of stock. The company also agreed to sell another 1.17 million shares to Baker Brothers Life Sciences, its largest stockholder, at the same price, which would generate another $11.5 million if approved by … Continue reading “Seattle Genetics Raises $55M”
ZymoGenetics Takes Back Full Rights to Cancer Drug Candidate
ZymoGenetics has gotten back full commercial rights to its lead cancer drug in development. The Seattle-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ZGEN]]) is announcing today it is buying back the commercial rights from Denmark-based Novo Nordisk to the IL-21 cancer drug candidate in territories outside North America, which could free up ZymoGenetics to sign a global partnership … Continue reading “ZymoGenetics Takes Back Full Rights to Cancer Drug Candidate”
Zafgen’s Big Idea: Fight Fat by Cutting Off Its Blood Supply
Public health leaders increasingly fret about the epidemic in fatness that has left two-thirds of adults in this country overweight or obese. They urge people to drop the Big Macs and hit the treadmill. But there are some exciting ideas emerging within the biotech and pharmaceutical arenas about what might be done when all that … Continue reading “Zafgen’s Big Idea: Fight Fat by Cutting Off Its Blood Supply”
Biocom or Biopol? San Diego’s Life Sciences Trade Group Aims to Build California Clout in D.C
Joe Panetta is spending more time on flights to Washington D.C. than ever before. Lobbying has always been part of his job in the decade he’s spent running Biocom, the trade association for San Diego’s life sciences industry. But now he’s under instructions from the Biocom board to make doubly sure industry interests are heard … Continue reading “Biocom or Biopol? San Diego’s Life Sciences Trade Group Aims to Build California Clout in D.C”
Riding the Diabetes Wave, Novo Nordisk Sees Chance to Scoop Up Biotech Talent in Seattle
Diabetics can’t just quit taking insulin when the economy takes a nosedive. So if you’re the world’s largest producer of insulin for a chronic, and growing, medical condition, your outlook on life isn’t that bad right now. That’s the enviable position of Novo Nordisk, the Danish drugmaker, and part of the reason why it feels … Continue reading “Riding the Diabetes Wave, Novo Nordisk Sees Chance to Scoop Up Biotech Talent in Seattle”
Amylin Fourth-Quarter Byetta Sales Drop, Falling Short of Wall Street Estimates
Amylin Pharmaceuticals saw some dark days last fall, and now we can see it in its fourth-quarter earnings report. The San Diego-based biotech company said today sales of its biggest product, exenatide (Byetta) for diabetes, fell almost 8 percent compared with the same period a year earlier. Amylin (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMLN]]) said after markets closed that … Continue reading “Amylin Fourth-Quarter Byetta Sales Drop, Falling Short of Wall Street Estimates”
nLight Raises $10.7M
nLight, the Vancouver, WA-based developer of high-powered semiconductor lasers, said it has raised $10.7 million in the first closing of a new round of equity financing. The cash came from existing investors Oak Investment Partners, Mohr Davidow Ventures, and Menlo Ventures. The money will be used to continue developing integrated laser modules, and boost sales … Continue reading “nLight Raises $10.7M”
Genzyme Shares Climb as Competing Kidney Drug Stumbles
Genzyme shares got an unexpected boost this morning. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GENZ]]) climbed more than $1 a share to $69.20 this morning after a rival, Amgen, said it discontinued development of an experimental treatment that had been posing a threat to Genzyme’s kidney drug franchise. Amgen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMGN]]) made the announcement yesterday … Continue reading “Genzyme Shares Climb as Competing Kidney Drug Stumbles”