The WBBA’s Summer Social is better known as the “bioscience bash of the year.” This year’s opportunity to meet and chat with fellow WBBA members will be at the Naval Reserve Center at South Lake Union Park on July 17 from 4:30-7:30 p.m. “Sail Into Summer” will feature live music, appetizers, beverages and a number … Continue reading “WBBA Summer Social”
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.
Summer in Seattle
Summer in Seattle (SIS) focuses on the most pertinent and controversial issues in the field of cardiology, vascular, and neurovascular therapeutics. Utilizing small group formats to maximize interaction between faculty and attendees, SIS 2008 will feature concurrent four-hour educational sessions. These sessions will include didactic lectures, hands-on Cadaveric training and live case presentations transmitted simultaneously … Continue reading “Summer in Seattle”
Alseres Raises $5 Million From Former Director, Robert Gipson
Alseres Pharmaceuticals, (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALSE]]) a developer of neurological drugs and diagnostics, said today it raised $5 million in convertible debt from Robert Gipson, a General Partner of Ingalls & Snyder Value Partners, and a former director of the company. Gipson can convert the loan principal into shares of the company’s stock at $2.50 a share. … Continue reading “Alseres Raises $5 Million From Former Director, Robert Gipson”
ZymoGenetics Receives $100 Million Commitment From Deerfield
ZymoGenetics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ZGEN]]) said today it has received a $100 million funding commitment from Deerfield Management, a biotech hedge fund. The Seattle-based company can draw the money in $25 million increments anytime over the next 18 months, and plans to use it to build its business with Recothrom, a drug for surgical bleeding. Deerfield will … Continue reading “ZymoGenetics Receives $100 Million Commitment From Deerfield”
SpreadingScience, Web 2.0 Startup for Biologists, Aims To Get Drugmakers Talking
Richard Gayle is one of those rare individuals who can really carry a conversation with a molecular biologist and a software developer. He’s a Caltech-trained biochemist, with 16 years of experience at Seattle-based Immunex. While doing his wet-lab experiments, he built that company’s first Intranet in the early 1990s. Why? To make it easier for … Continue reading “SpreadingScience, Web 2.0 Startup for Biologists, Aims To Get Drugmakers Talking”
Celebrate Express Agrees to $31 Million Takeover by Liberty Media
Celebrate Express, (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BDAY]]) the Kirkland, WA-based online retailer of party supplies, said today it has agreed to be acquired by Liberty Media for $31 million in cash, or $3.90 a share. Liberty, (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LINTA]] based in Englewood, CO, plans to merge its new property with Buyseasons, another online party supplier retailer it bought in … Continue reading “Celebrate Express Agrees to $31 Million Takeover by Liberty Media”
CVS Caremark, Microsoft Form Partnership To Help Consumers Track Their Health Data
CVS Caremark, the nation’s largest provider of prescription drugs, is joining forces with Microsoft (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MSFT]]) to help consumers keep better track of their health information, the companies said today in a statement. The deal allows consumers to do things like download a full list of their prescriptions filled at a pharmacy or by mail … Continue reading “CVS Caremark, Microsoft Form Partnership To Help Consumers Track Their Health Data”
MediQuest Therapeutics Persuades FDA to Do 6-Month Review of Lead Product
The FDA gave MediQuest Therapeutics a boost today. MediQuest, the developer of a treatment for Raynaud’s disease, a painful condition of the hands and feet, said the FDA has agreed to give its drug application an expedited 6-month review since it can treat an unmet medical need. The agency usually takes 10 months to consider … Continue reading “MediQuest Therapeutics Persuades FDA to Do 6-Month Review of Lead Product”
Aspen Aerogels Scores $37 Million Venture Round For Nanotech Insulation
Aspen Aerogels, the maker of nanotechnology-based insulation products, has snagged $37 million in venture capital, according to a statement on the company’s website. The privately-held company, based in Northborough, MA, received the investment from Arcapita Ventures, Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, Reservoir Capital Group, and RockPort Capital Partners. The company says its aerogel-based insulation products are … Continue reading “Aspen Aerogels Scores $37 Million Venture Round For Nanotech Insulation”
Microvision Stock Gets Whipsawed by Blog Post
Stockholders in Microvision, the Redmond, WA-based maker of visual display technology, have gone on a wild ride this week. The stock fell as much as 20 percent on Monday after someone who claimed to work for a hedge fund wrote a post on a widely-read investor site, Seeking Alpha, that bashed the company. The Seattle … Continue reading “Microvision Stock Gets Whipsawed by Blog Post”
Calypso Medical’s “GPS For the Body” Gaining Ground With Radiation Doctors
There might be a mutiny among radiation technicians at Swedish Medical Center if someone took away their Calypso machine. “Put it this way, you’d have some very unhappy people here,” says Timothy Mate, a radiation oncologist at the Seattle hospital who uses the system. It’s been almost two years since Seattle-based Calypso Medical Technologies won … Continue reading “Calypso Medical’s “GPS For the Body” Gaining Ground With Radiation Doctors”
University of Washington Hires Entrepreneur to Run Tech Transfer
The University of Washington has hired someone with business chops to run the office that transfers university inventions into the business world. Linden Rhoads, a serial entrepreneur at Seattle-based technology companies, will take over as Vice Provost for Technology Transfer on August 14, the university said in a statement. Rhoads has been involved in a … Continue reading “University of Washington Hires Entrepreneur to Run Tech Transfer”
Genzyme, Isis Finalize Partnership For Cholesterol-Lowering Drug
Cambridge, MA-based Genzyme and Isis Pharmaceuticals said today they have modified some of the terms of their partnership to develop Isis’s mipomersen for patients with high cholesterol. The deal, originally announced with a bang in January, still provides $325 million in upfront payments to Carlsbad, CA-based Isis for the antisense RNA-based drug, although it now … Continue reading “Genzyme, Isis Finalize Partnership For Cholesterol-Lowering Drug”
Geospiza Cuts Deal With Illumina, To Help Scientists Cope With Information Overload
Geospiza, a Seattle-based maker of software to support biological research, said today it is hitching its wagon to San Diego-based Illumina, a rising star in next-generation gene sequencing. Geospiza is joining Illumina Connect, a sort of referral service in which researchers who buy Illumina’s gene analysis machines are advised that Geospiza software can help them … Continue reading “Geospiza Cuts Deal With Illumina, To Help Scientists Cope With Information Overload”
GTC Biotherapeutics Signs up Ovation as U.S. Partner in “Pharming”
GTC Biotherapeutics is gearing up to take its first “pharming” product, a drug harvested from genetically modified goats, to the U.S. market. The Framingham, MA-based company said today it signed an exclusive partnership with Ovation Pharmaceuticals to develop and market ATryn in the United States. Currently, ATryn is only sold in Europe. GTC stands to … Continue reading “GTC Biotherapeutics Signs up Ovation as U.S. Partner in “Pharming””
Immune Design, Led By Star Scientists, Raises $18 Million To Build Vaccine Company
Vaccines are coming back in a big way. Immune Design, a Seattle-based startup vaccine company, made that clear today when it said it raised $18 million in an initial round of venture capital. The names involved are some of the biggest in immunology. The founders include Nobel Laureate David Baltimore of Caltech, Steve Reed of … Continue reading “Immune Design, Led By Star Scientists, Raises $18 Million To Build Vaccine Company”
Blue Heron Strives to Replace Gene-Making Grunt Work with Custom Manufacturing
It used to take weeks of labor for a drug company to make a batch of genes for an experiment. Those days are fading, as Blue Heron Biotechnology of Bothell, WA, and an emerging group of competitors have found ways to pump out industrial quantities of custom-manufactured genes, cheaper and faster than before. The market … Continue reading “Blue Heron Strives to Replace Gene-Making Grunt Work with Custom Manufacturing”
Washington Biotechies Showing Off the Green (Trees) at BIO Conference
Washington state doesn’t do much Texas-style boasting, and the state’s economic development promoters have never tossed around big bucks to crow about the biotechnology cluster here. Case in point: how many of you know that the world’s top-selling biotechnology drug, and fifth-biggest pharmaceutical product in 2007 (Amgen and Wyeth’s Enbrel) was developed in Seattle? As … Continue reading “Washington Biotechies Showing Off the Green (Trees) at BIO Conference”
LipoSonix Agrees to $150M Takeover by Medicis Pharma
LipoSonix, rest in peace. The developer of ultrasound technology for busting up unwanted fat, said today it has agreed to be acquired by Arizona-based Medicis Pharmaceutical for $150 million. The sale marks the end for the privately-held company in Bothell, WA, which probably has more potential for Oprah-style mass market appeal than any medical technology … Continue reading “LipoSonix Agrees to $150M Takeover by Medicis Pharma”
Gov. Patrick Travels West to Plug Massachusetts’ Life Sciences Initiative At BIO
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick stole the show at last year’s gathering of the Biotechnology Industry Organization. In front of a crowd of 20,000 global biotechies meeting on home turf in Boston, he broke news that he planned to invest $1 billion over 10 years to strengthen the state’s position as a leading hub for life … Continue reading “Gov. Patrick Travels West to Plug Massachusetts’ Life Sciences Initiative At BIO”
Pacific Health Summit Vies to Make Seattle the “Davos” of Global Health
Everybody can relax. Bono and Angelina Jolie won’t be here. At least not this year. But some of the biggest names in science, global health, and business will gather in Seattle today for the Pacific Health Summit, to brainstorm about the world’s thorniest emerging health problems. Key decision makers from the Bill & Melinda Gates … Continue reading “Pacific Health Summit Vies to Make Seattle the “Davos” of Global Health”
Accelerator Backs New Biotech Startup in Goddard Lab at Caltech
Accelerator has given birth to its newest company. Investors in the Seattle-based biotech startup machine, affiliated with Leroy Hood’s Institute for Systems Biology, have sunk $200,000 into a company emerging from the lab of Bill Goddard, a renowned chemist at the California Institute of Technology. The company, called GPC-Rx, is developing a computational technique to … Continue reading “Accelerator Backs New Biotech Startup in Goddard Lab at Caltech”
Seattle Genetics Gunning for the Market With “Empowered Antibody” For Cancer
The last time the phone rang this much at Seattle Genetics, the company parlayed enthusiasm about one of its drug candidates into a partnership with Genentech potentially worth more than $800 million. This time, after 10 years in business, the Bothell, WA-based company thinks it may have the first drug it can take all the … Continue reading “Seattle Genetics Gunning for the Market With “Empowered Antibody” For Cancer”
MA Senate Passes Bio Bill
The Massachusetts Senate passed a bill that would funnel $1 billion over 10 years into support for life sciences in the state. The bill, which passed by a 31-7 vote, now goes to the desk of Governor Deval Patrick, who is expected to sign it into law on Monday before heading to San Diego to … Continue reading “MA Senate Passes Bio Bill”
Biogen Directors Win Backing From Third Advisory Firm, Icahn Could Be Heading For Defeat
Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) pulled off a trifecta today as the third major advisory firm for corporate elections, Proxy Governance, recommended shareholders vote in favor of the biotech’s own slate of directors instead of those nominated by activist investor Carl Icahn. Earlier in the week, RiskMetrics Group/ISS Governance Services and Glass, Lewis & Co. also … Continue reading “Biogen Directors Win Backing From Third Advisory Firm, Icahn Could Be Heading For Defeat”
Codon Devices “Streamlines” Operation, To Focus on Synthetic Biology
Codon Devices is switching strategic gears. The privately held Cambridge, MA-based company, which makes genes for large drugmakers running experiments, said today in a statement that it has “streamlined” its operation to put more of its resources into product development partnerships for its synthetic biology program, which engineers new biological products with potential to do … Continue reading “Codon Devices “Streamlines” Operation, To Focus on Synthetic Biology”
Langer Wins Millennium Technology Prize, World’s Biggest Innovation Award
Robert Langer is $1.2 million richer today. Langer, a renowned tissue engineer and drug delivery expert at MIT (and an Xconomist), has won the Millennium Technology Prize in Helsinki. It’s the world’s largest award for technology innovation, and is given to developers of a technology that “significantly improves the quality of human life, today and … Continue reading “Langer Wins Millennium Technology Prize, World’s Biggest Innovation Award”
Biogen Idec’s Nominees Win Support from Shareholder Advisory Firms
Biogen Idec got a boost today in its proxy battle with billionaire investor Carl Icahn. Two big firms that advise institutional investors and mutual funds on how to vote in corporate elections—RiskMetrics Group/ISS Governance Services and Glass, Lewis & Co.—recommended that shareholders vote for the Cambridge, MA-based biotech company’s slate and reject Icahn’s three nominees. … Continue reading “Biogen Idec’s Nominees Win Support from Shareholder Advisory Firms”
IRobot Will Build Underwater Robots for Military
IRobot, (NASDAQ: [[ticker:IRBT]]) the Bedford, MA-based maker of robots that clean floors, scrub gutters, and defuse roadside bombs in Iraq, said today it acquired a license from the University of Washington to develop technology for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) that can be used by oceanographers and military planners. The UW technology, called Seaglider, uses a … Continue reading “IRobot Will Build Underwater Robots for Military”
Do Takeover Efforts (Like Icahn’s Move on Biogen Idec) Harm Innovation?
When shareholder activists like Carl Icahn start banging on a company’s front door, threatening to rally investors to help them take over the company, it naturally gives management headaches. But what effect does it have on a company’s ability to innovate? It’s a good question in general, and it’s moving front and center next week … Continue reading “Do Takeover Efforts (Like Icahn’s Move on Biogen Idec) Harm Innovation?”
Icahn Has Ideas For Biogen. Starting With More R&D Spending
Biogen Idec has accused Carl Icahn of having no ideas on how to improve the company, so today the billionaire shareholder activist fired back. Icahn wants to boost spending on research and development, improve employee morale, mend relations with partners, and possibly cut expenses outside research, according to a memo to shareholders filed today with … Continue reading “Icahn Has Ideas For Biogen. Starting With More R&D Spending”
Vertex’s Hepatitis C Drug Passes Test, Moving to Another Phase III
Vertex Pharmaceuticals is on a roll. The company’s experimental drug, telaprevir, helped wipe out the hepatitis C virus for more than half of volunteers in a clinical trial who had previously failed to respond to standard therapy. Shares of the Cambridge, MA-based company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VRTX]]) shot up as much as 7 percent in early trading, … Continue reading “Vertex’s Hepatitis C Drug Passes Test, Moving to Another Phase III”
Icahn Jabs Biogen Idec, Says Its Board Had `Very Little’ Input in Sale Process
Carl Icahn has launched a new line of attack on Biogen Idec’s credibility. The billionaire investor, in a memo to shareholders filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission early today, says the company’s public statements about its sale process last year don’t match up with internal documents it had to hand over in court. Based … Continue reading “Icahn Jabs Biogen Idec, Says Its Board Had `Very Little’ Input in Sale Process”
Indevus Drug Delayed by FDA Safety Questions, Shares Plummet
Indevus Pharmaceuticals got slapped down hard this morning. The Lexington, MA-based company said today it expects the FDA to formally ask for more safety data that will require a new clinical trial before it will approve Nebido, a long-lasting testosterone replacement therapy for men with low levels of the male sex hormone. Shares of the … Continue reading “Indevus Drug Delayed by FDA Safety Questions, Shares Plummet”
Alexandria Bets That Future of Life Sciences Is In the ‘Urbs, Not ‘Burbs
Young biomedical scientists don’t want to sit in traffic for hours every week, burning gasoline for more than $4 a gallon. That’s part of the equation for Alexandria Real Estate Equities as it plans to bet $1 billion over the next decade that it can build, and fill up, new laboratory space that’s a short … Continue reading “Alexandria Bets That Future of Life Sciences Is In the ‘Urbs, Not ‘Burbs”
Vertex Sells Royalty Rights to HIV Drugs, Bets on Hepatitis C
Vertex Pharmaceuticals is doubling down on its hepatitis C drug program. The Cambridge, MA-based company sold the rights to its royalty stream on two HIV drugs for a one-time payment of $160 million in cash, which it will pump into its hepatitis C program. The HIV meds, Lexiva and Agenerase (both marketed by GlaxoSmithKline), are … Continue reading “Vertex Sells Royalty Rights to HIV Drugs, Bets on Hepatitis C”
Abiomed Wins FDA Approval of Heart Pump
Abiomed got a healthy boost this morning. The FDA cleared the company’s new heart pump for sale in the U.S., enabling it to potentially reach a market of about 14,000 interventional cardiologists. Shares of the Danvers, MA-based company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ABMD]]) shot up 13 percent to $16.75 at 12:14 p.m. Eastern Standard time. The Impella 2.5 … Continue reading “Abiomed Wins FDA Approval of Heart Pump”
Alnylam Invests $5M in Canadian RNAi Company
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, the Cambridge, MA-based biotech developing drugs using RNA interference technology, said today it made a $5 million investment in Vancouver-based Tekmira Pharmaceuticals in order to gain access to its delivery technologies. The deals gives Alnylam expanded rights to intellectual property held by Protiva Biotherapeutics before it merged with Tekmira, and to new intellectual … Continue reading “Alnylam Invests $5M in Canadian RNAi Company”
BioVex Viral Treatment Shrinks Melanoma Tumors in Trial
BioVex has created a virus with kick. The privately held biotech company based in Woburn, MA, said today its genetically modified virus was able to completely eliminate or partially shrink tumors for more than one-fourth of patients with a deadly type of skin cancer in a clinical trial. The study of 43 patients with terminal, … Continue reading “BioVex Viral Treatment Shrinks Melanoma Tumors in Trial”
Infinity Drug Slows Spread of Deadly Stomach Cancer—FDA Clears Accelerated Trial
Here’s something you don’t see every day from the FDA. The U.S. drug regulator is allowing Infinity Pharmaceuticals to skip the usual second phase of clinical trials, after an early study showed one of its drug candidates stabilized tumors for two-thirds of patients with a deadly stomach cancer. The move enables the Cambridge, MA-based company … Continue reading “Infinity Drug Slows Spread of Deadly Stomach Cancer—FDA Clears Accelerated Trial”
Syndexa Snags $15 Million Financing For Metabolic Diseases
Syndexa Pharmaceuticals, a Cambridge, MA-based developer of drugs for metabolic diseases, raised $15 million in a Series B financing, the company said today in a statement on its Web site. Yalcin Ayasli, the founder of Chelmsford, MA-based Hittite Microwave, led the round and will join the Syndexa board of directors. The company plans to use … Continue reading “Syndexa Snags $15 Million Financing For Metabolic Diseases”
Bannister hired as CEO for Massachusetts Life Sciences Center
Susan Windham-Bannister has been picked as the first president and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, according to a story in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Windham-Bannister, a vice president with Abt Bio-Pharma Solutions in Lexington, MA, will be in charge of the agency that’s expected to oversee much of the proposed $1 billion … Continue reading “Bannister hired as CEO for Massachusetts Life Sciences Center”
Jury Awards Medtronic $250 Million in Patent Suit Against Boston Scientific
Boston Scientific lost an early round in a patent dispute with Medtronic. A federal jury in Texas awarded Medtronic $250 million in damages late yesterday, saying that the Natick, MA, company infringed on three patents for cardiac stent delivery and balloon catheter technology. Boston Scientific (NYSE: [[ticker:BSX]]) said today in a statement that it plans … Continue reading “Jury Awards Medtronic $250 Million in Patent Suit Against Boston Scientific”
No Quick Sale, Icahn Says in Letter to Biogen Idec Shareholders
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn wants Biogen Idec’s shareholders to believe he’s capable of doing more than just agitate for a sale of the company to the highest bidder. He wants them to think his people can bring valuable expertise to the board. Two of the activist investor’s three nominees to the Biogen board, Alex Denner … Continue reading “No Quick Sale, Icahn Says in Letter to Biogen Idec Shareholders”
Healionics Signs Deal To Make Components for Glaucoma Device in Dogs
First come dogs, then people—at least in the Pacific Northwest. Redmond, WA-based Healionics is announcing today that it has signed an agreement to manufacture and supply Chandler, AZ-based TR BioSurgical with bioengineered components for implants used in dogs with glaucoma. Healionics will provide TR BioSurgical with its bioengineered material, which will be incorporated into a … Continue reading “Healionics Signs Deal To Make Components for Glaucoma Device in Dogs”