Todd Patrick is one of those rare people in the pharmaceutical business who can say he built a successful career as a vaccines entrepreneur. He was the president of ID Biomedical, a Vancouver, BC-based vaccine company with operations in Bothell, WA, for 12 years before it was sold to the world’s second-largest drugmaker, GlaxoSmithKline, for … Continue reading “Vaccine Impresario, Todd Patrick, At it Again With Immunization Against Strep Throat”
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.
Biotech Survival Index: Cash Woes Creeping Up on San Diego Life Sciences Companies
These are grim times for many industries, and the life sciences are no exception. Most of these enterprises depend on the ability to raise fresh investment capital on a regular basis, so when investors turn cautious, things can get ugly fast. To get a sense of just how big of a bruising San Diego biotechs … Continue reading “Biotech Survival Index: Cash Woes Creeping Up on San Diego Life Sciences Companies”
FDA Plans To Clear Genzyme’s Myozyme Made at Large Scale
Genzyme said today the FDA plans to allow it to market alglucosidase alfa (Myozyme) made in a large-scale 2000 liter bioreactor. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GENZ]]) said it first needs to agree with the agency on a risk-lowering strategy, and a post-marketing study that will look at whether the drug made at the … Continue reading “FDA Plans To Clear Genzyme’s Myozyme Made at Large Scale”
Stewart Parker Resigns from Board of Targeted Genetics, Susan Robinson Takes Her Spot
H. Stewart Parker has resigned from the board of Targeted Genetics, a week after she stepped down as president and CEO. The Seattle-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TGEN]]) named her replacement as CEO, Susan Robinson, to also fill Parker’s position on the board. Parker left the company she founded as a series of setbacks in the … Continue reading “Stewart Parker Resigns from Board of Targeted Genetics, Susan Robinson Takes Her Spot”
Seattle’s Pharma Godfather, Ben Shapiro, Sees Potential Here To Transform Medicine Despite Setbacks
Not many people in the world have played a leading role in delivering 23 new drugs and vaccines to the U.S. market. Bennett Shapiro is the only person living in Seattle who can say it. Shapiro, 69, spent the first chapter of his career as a biochemist at the National Institutes of Health, followed by … Continue reading “Seattle’s Pharma Godfather, Ben Shapiro, Sees Potential Here To Transform Medicine Despite Setbacks”
Supercomputing Along the Columbia River: PNNL’s Chinook Operators Crunching Digits on How to be More Green
The most powerful computer in Washington state goes by the name of Chinook, and stands along the banks of the Columbia River. It is being used for thorny computing tasks like modeling ways to more efficiently store hydrogen for fuel cells, and how to safely sequester carbon dioxide residue underground. This morning, I heard an … Continue reading “Supercomputing Along the Columbia River: PNNL’s Chinook Operators Crunching Digits on How to be More Green”
Comfortably Un-Numb: Novalar Pitches Drug To Reverse Dental Anesthesia
Getting a shot of anesthesia at the dentist’s office is not most people’s idea of fun. Once that’s over, the cavity gets filled, or gums get power-cleaned, then patients usually have the dubious pleasure of waiting five or six hours with a numb mouth that’s not much good for talking or drinking. If you aren’t … Continue reading “Comfortably Un-Numb: Novalar Pitches Drug To Reverse Dental Anesthesia”
Accelerator Scores New Investment From PPD, Adds Clinical Trial Expertise
Accelerator has lured another high-profile investor into the fold. The Seattle-based biotech startup incubator has collected about $4.5 million from PPD, the global contract research organization that runs clinical trials and animal tests for pharmaceutical companies. PPD’s founder and CEO, Fred Eshelman, will join the Accelerator board of directors as part of the deal. The … Continue reading “Accelerator Scores New Investment From PPD, Adds Clinical Trial Expertise”
Stewart Parker Leaves Targeted, Biotech Cash Gets Tight, Dendreon Thinks Beyond Provenge & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
It was one of those cold, rainy November weeks in Seattle, and the headlines were pretty grim in local biotech. —Targeted Genetics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TGEN]]) will never be the same. That was the big news this week, when H. Stewart Parker, the founder, CEO, and ballast during some very rocky years, resigned from the ailing Seattle … Continue reading “Stewart Parker Leaves Targeted, Biotech Cash Gets Tight, Dendreon Thinks Beyond Provenge & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
Microsoft’s Life Sciences Game Plan: Use IT to Usher in the World of Predictive, Personalized Medicine
Nobody ever accused Bruce Montgomery of being a mealy-mouthed, politically-correct businessman. On Microsoft’s own turf, he offered some free advice last night about what to do with an extremely messed-up healthcare IT industry. “If Microsoft really wants to own the world, create a standardized electronic medical records system and give it away for free the … Continue reading “Microsoft’s Life Sciences Game Plan: Use IT to Usher in the World of Predictive, Personalized Medicine”
Tallying Seattle’s Tech & Life Sciences Layoffs
The economics headlines can sound awfully abstract, until people start losing their jobs. We’re seeing a lot more talented tech and biotech workers heading to the unemployment lines, and frankly, with the dwindling cash reserves at many companies, we expect to see more to come. Rather than talk about the latest half-percentage point increase in … Continue reading “Tallying Seattle’s Tech & Life Sciences Layoffs”
Oral Pill May Make Tough-to-Deliver RNAi Drugs Go Down Easy, RXi Says
Everywhere he goes in biotechnology circles, RXi Pharmaceuticals’ CEO Tod Woolf hears the same criticism of RNA interference drugs. What can be done to overcome the challenge with drug delivery? The answer is, nobody knows until it’s been proven with an effective drug. But Worcester, MA-based RXi (NASDAQ: [[ticker:RXII]]) says it has obtained the exclusive … Continue reading “Oral Pill May Make Tough-to-Deliver RNAi Drugs Go Down Easy, RXi Says”
Biotech Survival Index: Cash Running Low at Seattle Life Sciences Companies
Two questions matter most to the financial survival of a biotech company: How much cash does it have in the bank, and how fast is it burning through it? That’s especially true in dark economic days, so I checked on just how well-prepared Seattle’s public biotech companies are to weather this particular storm. The findings … Continue reading “Biotech Survival Index: Cash Running Low at Seattle Life Sciences Companies”
Novocell Aims to Coax Stem Cells to Fight Diabetes, One Step at a Time
Ed Baetge’s dream is that his company, San Diego-based Novocell, will someday make human embryonic stem cells that will manage to produce all the insulin patients need to control their blood sugar. If things break right for Novocell, this treatment will navigate a thicket of animal tests over the next three to four years, demonstrate … Continue reading “Novocell Aims to Coax Stem Cells to Fight Diabetes, One Step at a Time”
Personalized Treatments for Cancer: Ensemble Moves Ahead with Roche on New Breed of Test
Some of the world’s biggest selling cancer drugs today work for only a small fraction of patients, and researchers have struggled to say for sure why that is. A Cambridge, MA-based biotech company, Ensemble Discovery, has developed a diagnostic test that its partner Roche, the world’s largest maker of cancer drugs, is advancing to clinical … Continue reading “Personalized Treatments for Cancer: Ensemble Moves Ahead with Roche on New Breed of Test”
Cell Therapeutics Lymphoma Drug Wipes Out Tumors in Pivotal Trial
Cell Therapeutics may just have one last chance to dig itself out of its hole. The Seattle-based biotech company said its experimental drug for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, pixantrone, was able to completely wipe out tumors for one-fifth of patients in a clinical trial, compared with about 6 percent who did that well on standard chemotherapy. The … Continue reading “Cell Therapeutics Lymphoma Drug Wipes Out Tumors in Pivotal Trial”
Amylin Cuts 340 Jobs, One Fourth of Staff, To Cope With Falling Diabetes Drug Demand
One of San Diego’s anchor biotech companies, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, has decided to cut one-fourth of its local staff, or about 340 jobs. The company said it had to make the move because it has been dealt a double-whammy of setbacks in the past couple months, with declining demand for its lead diabetes drug, combined with … Continue reading “Amylin Cuts 340 Jobs, One Fourth of Staff, To Cope With Falling Diabetes Drug Demand”
Optimer Shares Skyrocket, as Drug Halts Deadly Bacterial Infection in Trial
Optimer Pharmaceuticals has good news today for people with a serious bacterial infection. The San Diego-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OPTR]]) said its experimental drug was slightly better at curing patients than the standard antibiotic for C.Difficile bacterial infection, and was significantly better at preventing the nasty bug from coming back after treatment. Shares of the … Continue reading “Optimer Shares Skyrocket, as Drug Halts Deadly Bacterial Infection in Trial”
Molecular Biometrics Snags $12M For IVF Procedure
Molecular Biometrics has raised $12 million in a Series A round of venture capital from Boston-based Oxford Bioscience Partners and Safeguard Scientifics. The cash will be used to support development of ViaMetrics, a diagnostic tool to help doctors identify which embryos created through in vitro fertilization have the greatest chance to become viable embryos. The … Continue reading “Molecular Biometrics Snags $12M For IVF Procedure”
Stewart Parker Resigns from Targeted Genetics After Gene Therapy Setbacks
H. Stewart Parker’s long career at Targeted Genetics has come to an end. The Seattle biotech company said today that Parker, its founder and the only CEO since it started in 1989, along with her longtime partner, chief scientist Barrie Carter, have both resigned as of last Thursday. Parker will remain on the Targeted Genetics … Continue reading “Stewart Parker Resigns from Targeted Genetics After Gene Therapy Setbacks”
Beyond Provenge: Dendreon Expands Cancer Drug Pipeline
Provenge, Provenge, Provenge. The drug for prostate cancer, which is attempting to be the first approved treatment of its kind in the U.S. to actively stimulate the immune system to fight tumors, is the one product candidate shareholders love to obsess about from Dendreon. But behind the scenes, Seattle-based Dendreon (NASDAQ:[[ticker:DNDN]]) is making headway on … Continue reading “Beyond Provenge: Dendreon Expands Cancer Drug Pipeline”
Simple DNA Test Spots Deadly MRSA Bacteria; Adnavance Aims To Take It Mainstream
If San Diego-based Adnavance Technologies plays its cards right, it won’t be long before it’s selling a simple DNA test that will tell doctors within a couple hours whether their patients have a potentially deadly MRSA bacterial infection. There will be no more need to send samples to a highly-skilled technician running an expensive DNA … Continue reading “Simple DNA Test Spots Deadly MRSA Bacteria; Adnavance Aims To Take It Mainstream”
Dendreon Reports $106M in Cash at End of September
Dendreon said today in its quarterly report that it finished the month of September with $106 million in cash and investments in the bank. The Seattle biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]) said its net loss in the quarter was $26.8 million. It expects to get final clinical results from a trial of its leading prostate cancer … Continue reading “Dendreon Reports $106M in Cash at End of September”
3Tier: Remapping the World for Renewable Energy, From a Supercomputer Hothouse in Seattle
There’s a small company in downtown Seattle called 3Tier Group that has a goal of no less than “Remapping the World” for alternative energy. T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire Texas oilman, is such a big fan, he used 3Tier’s maps to draw a bold conclusion-that the United States has the potential to be “the Saudi … Continue reading “3Tier: Remapping the World for Renewable Energy, From a Supercomputer Hothouse in Seattle”
Aileron Develops New Class of Drugs To Go Where None Could Before
If Aileron Therapeutics is on the right track, it will turn “stapled peptides” into a biotech industry buzzword along the lines of RNA interference. The Cambridge, MA-based company says its technology, like RNAi, is starting to show in animal tests that it can work against diseases where conventional drugs don’t. This company, whose name is … Continue reading “Aileron Develops New Class of Drugs To Go Where None Could Before”
Illumina Shows its Stuff to Wall Street, Stock Still Slides
San Diego’s Illumina has a pretty amazing story to tell about exponential growth. The maker of genetic analysis tools has beaten or matched Wall Street earnings forecasts for a dozen quarters in a row. It has grown from 239 employees in 2004 to an estimated 1,604 by the end of this year. But when it … Continue reading “Illumina Shows its Stuff to Wall Street, Stock Still Slides”
Arch Co-founder Bob Nelsen’s Historic Close-Up with President-Elect Obama, and the Tears of Jesse Jackson
Bob Nelsen had a front-row seat to history on Election Night. The Republican managing director of Arch Venture Partners in Seattle was literally at the front of the rally in Chicago’s Grant Park on Tuesday as Democrat Barack Obama was elected as the nation’s first African-American president. “I was 20 feet from Obama, and about … Continue reading “Arch Co-founder Bob Nelsen’s Historic Close-Up with President-Elect Obama, and the Tears of Jesse Jackson”
Invitrogen Will Change Name to Life Technologies
Invitrogen, the San Diego-based maker of lab products, said it plans to change its name to Life Technologies when it completes the acquisition of Foster City, CA-based Applied Biosystems. The new company will trade on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker “LIFE.” Instruments will continue to be sold under the Applied Biosystems brand name, while … Continue reading “Invitrogen Will Change Name to Life Technologies”
Announcing Xconomy’s First Event in Seattle: Vaccines 2.0
The Seattle area has one of the world’s strongest concentrations of global health research, with much of it being fueled by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Vaccines are one of the primary tools being studied here to fight leading killers around the world, like malaria and tuberculosis. Yet these products have long been a … Continue reading “Announcing Xconomy’s First Event in Seattle: Vaccines 2.0”
Tysabri’s Roots at the “Hutch,” MediQuest Spurned by FDA, ZymoGenetics Drug Passes Test, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
Last week brought another mixed bag of news from Seattle biotech. —Tysabri. The most effective drug on the market for multiple sclerosis isn’t sold by a Seattle biotech company, but it has its origins in a lab here at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. —ZymoGenetics had yet another good news/bad news week. The Seattle … Continue reading “Tysabri’s Roots at the “Hutch,” MediQuest Spurned by FDA, ZymoGenetics Drug Passes Test, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
Targeted Genetics Cash Will Stretch into First Quarter
Targeted Genetics, a Seattle-based developer of gene therapies, said today that it only has enough cash to run its operations into the first quarter of 2009. Targeted (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TGEN]]) said it had $9.2 million in cash and investments left at the end of September, and that it estimates it will spend $11.5 million to $12.5 … Continue reading “Targeted Genetics Cash Will Stretch into First Quarter”
Northstar, Conserving Cash, Will Have $66M in Cash at Year-End
Northstar Neuroscience, a Seattle-based maker of a brain-stimulation device for severe depression, said today it had $70.2 million in cash and investments at the end of September, and that it expects to end this year with $66 million on hand, and close 2009 with $53 million. The company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NSTR]]) has cut costs and switched … Continue reading “Northstar, Conserving Cash, Will Have $66M in Cash at Year-End”
Prescription Drugs for Half the Price: Wellpartner Smooths Way for Clinics to Buy Them
There’s a way to buy prescription drugs for 50 percent off that’s perfectly legal, but requires so much red tape that few people know how to take advantage of it, or even know about it. Except for Wellpartner. This company is a Portland, OR-based mail-order pharmacy that I learned about several weeks ago during a … Continue reading “Prescription Drugs for Half the Price: Wellpartner Smooths Way for Clinics to Buy Them”
Aires Pharmaceuticals Emerges from Stealth Mode With Drug for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
Aires Pharmaceuticals may have a way to help patients with a rare, deadly lung disease get a little more oxygen, and maybe even live a little longer. The San Diego startup is developing an inhalable form of nitrite that could improve the lives of patients with high blood pressure in the vessels leading to the … Continue reading “Aires Pharmaceuticals Emerges from Stealth Mode With Drug for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension”
CombinatoRx Cuts 45 Percent of Staff After Arthritis Drug Failure
CombinatoRx said today is cutting 45 percent of its staff after its lead drug candidate failed in a clinical trial for arthritis patients, according to a regulatory filing. The company said it had about 160 employees when I profiled it in late September, so that means about 70 workers are likely getting pink slips between … Continue reading “CombinatoRx Cuts 45 Percent of Staff After Arthritis Drug Failure”
Amylin, Alkermes Shares Plunge On Possible FDA Delays
San Diego-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals and its partner, Cambridge, MA-based Alkermes, both took a dive in the stock market today after they said they might face regulatory delays in developing a new diabetes drug. The companies said the FDA might ask them to run another clinical study before they can receive approval of a once-weekly form … Continue reading “Amylin, Alkermes Shares Plunge On Possible FDA Delays”
ZymoGenetics Cash Gets Lean, Recothrom Sales Still Slow
(Update: This story has been updated to add material from ZymoGenetics’ conference call with analysts, starting with the fourth paragraph.) ZymoGenetics still hasn’t found a groove with its recombinant thrombin drug (Recothrom) for surgical bleeding. The Seattle biotech company said today it sold $1.8 million of the drug in the quarter ending Sept. 30. Things … Continue reading “ZymoGenetics Cash Gets Lean, Recothrom Sales Still Slow”
Amylin Shareholder Floats Idea of Selling Company
Activist shareholders are circling Amylin Pharmaceuticals. Eastbourne Capital, which owns a 12.5 percent stake in the San Diego-based biotech company, said on Monday that it is looking at ways to boost the stock price, including possibly selling the company, according to this Reuters report. Much has been made about declining demand for exenatide (Byetta), the … Continue reading “Amylin Shareholder Floats Idea of Selling Company”
Tysabri: The Big Multiple Sclerosis Drug That Emerged From “The Hutch”
The most effective drug on the market today for patients with multiple sclerosis has roots in a dingy old lab in the 1980s on Seattle’s First Hill. It was there that a pair of young scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Bill Carter and Elizabeth Wayner, made key discoveries that paved the way … Continue reading “Tysabri: The Big Multiple Sclerosis Drug That Emerged From “The Hutch””
ZymoGenetics Drug For Hepatitis C Kills Virus with Minimal Side Effects
ZymoGenetics may have a sleeper in its pipeline about to wake up. The Seattle biotech company is reporting today that its experimental drug, called peg-interferon lambda, was able to kill the hepatitis C virus at all three doses tested in a small clinical trial without the flu-like symptoms associated with standard interferon alpha drugs used … Continue reading “ZymoGenetics Drug For Hepatitis C Kills Virus with Minimal Side Effects”
Biogen Pays $31.5M to Genentech to Co-Develop Anti-CD20 Drug
Biogen Idec has agreed to pay $31.5 million upfront to Genentech co-develop a next-generation antibody drug against the CD20 protein on cells, the same target on cells of Rituxan. Cambridge, MA-based Biogen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) said Thursday it agreed to participate in the development of GA101, a humanized antibody that’s designed to increase the direct cell-killing … Continue reading “Biogen Pays $31.5M to Genentech to Co-Develop Anti-CD20 Drug”
Look Inside This Body: The Greater Seattle Ultrasound Cluster
When you see doctors scrambling to save someone in a TV melodrama like “ER” or “Grey’s Anatomy,” there’s a good chance one of their key gadgets came from a real-life crew of engineers in the Seattle area. This region has played a central role in making ultrasound technology one of medicine’s most fundamental tools for … Continue reading “Look Inside This Body: The Greater Seattle Ultrasound Cluster”
Vertex Drug for Hepatitis C Shows Durable Virus-Killing Ability in Tough-to-Treat Patients
More data is rolling in from Vertex Pharmaceuticals on its lead drug for hepatitis C, and it looks like the medicine is continuing to live up to its own high expectations. The Cambridge, MA-based company said today that telaprevir’s effect on killing the virus is remaining durable on follow-up analysis, and the drug appears to … Continue reading “Vertex Drug for Hepatitis C Shows Durable Virus-Killing Ability in Tough-to-Treat Patients”
Anadys Drug Found Safe in Small Study, Aims to Contend in New Class of Hepatitis C Meds
Anadys Pharmaceuticals may not be first in a new class of emerging drugs for hepatitis C, but it’s aiming to show this weekend it’s a contender. The San Diego-based company is reporting today that its lead drug candidate was found safe at a variety of doses in a clinical trial of 48 healthy volunteers, and … Continue reading “Anadys Drug Found Safe in Small Study, Aims to Contend in New Class of Hepatitis C Meds”
MediQuest Fails to Win FDA Approval for Raynaud’s Drug
MediQuest Therapeutics, a Bothell, WA-based developer of a drug for Raynaud’s disease, said the FDA has turned down its application to market the product in the U.S. The FDA said the company’s application to market Vascana, a squeeze-on gel to improve blood circulation in the hands and feet, “could not be approved in its present … Continue reading “MediQuest Fails to Win FDA Approval for Raynaud’s Drug”
Fidelity Biosciences Pumps $65M into EnVivo Pharma
Fidelity Biosciences has invested $65 million in EnVivo Pharmaceuticals, a Watertown, MA-based developer of drugs for Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia, in a Series D venture financing round, according to this report on Fierce Biotech from Dow Jones VentureWire. The Boston-based fund bought out all of the company’s other investors, including BCM Technologies, Cogene Ventures, and NeuroVentures … Continue reading “Fidelity Biosciences Pumps $65M into EnVivo Pharma”
Democratic Party Fundraiser Dies, After Friends and Family Pushed To Get Him Tysabri
Fred Baron, the prominent Democratic Party fundraiser, died Thursday after a high-profile effort to obtain Biogen Idec and Elan’s natalizumab (Tysabri) to save his life from an aggressive cancer, according to this report from the Associated Press. Baron, 61, received help more than two weeks ago from a group of friends including former President Bill … Continue reading “Democratic Party Fundraiser Dies, After Friends and Family Pushed To Get Him Tysabri”
Ceregene Awaits Parkinson’s Trial Results, In a Key Test for Gene Therapy
A critical turning point is coming for Ceregene by the end of the year. The San Diego-based biotech company expects to get results in the next couple months on whether its experimental gene therapy can effectively help treat Parkinson’s disease. I got the overview of what this is all about a few weeks ago during … Continue reading “Ceregene Awaits Parkinson’s Trial Results, In a Key Test for Gene Therapy”
Sonosite Buys Back $60M of Convertible Debt
Sonosite, the Bothell, WA-based maker of portable ultrasound machines, said today has bought back $60.3 million worth of convertible notes it owes to investors. The company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SONO]]) said it paid about $47.4 million in cash through the transaction, and recorded a pre-tax gain of $11 million. It still has $164.7 million million of these … Continue reading “Sonosite Buys Back $60M of Convertible Debt”
Arena Buys Back $55.8M in Stock
San Diego-based Arena Pharmaceuticals said today it is spending $55.8 million in cash to buy back all of its outstanding convertible stock. The company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARNA]]) expects to buy the shares on Nov. 13, it said in a statement. Arena, the developer of lorcaserin for obesity, now expects to finish the year with $115 million … Continue reading “Arena Buys Back $55.8M in Stock”