You may not be able to tell by looking at the R&D pipelines of Big Pharma companies, but pain is one of the bigger opportunities in new drug development. There are cheap, decades-old drugs out there everyone knows about. There are not a whole lot of pain drugs in development based on really novel biological … Continue reading “Domain-Backed Adynxx Enters the Wide Open World of Pain Drug R&D”
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.
Sarepta Holds Its Breath as Feds Order Halt to Ebola Work
Just when Sarepta Therapeutics had some news to get excited about, the company now has to brace itself for what could be a pretty big setback. The Bothell, WA-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SRPT]]) said last month that its experimental RNA-based drug for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy showed some encouraging signs of improving walking ability for boys … Continue reading “Sarepta Holds Its Breath as Feds Order Halt to Ebola Work”
U.S. Biotech Clusters Are Losing Their Anchor Tenants, and It Hurts
Every industry needs its anchors, the companies that everyone looks up to as models of success. Think Apple, GE, Boeing. Biotech is no different, as it has been defined by trailblazers like Genentech, Genzyme, and more. But if you look around, biotech is clearly losing its anchors. And this worrisome trend isn’t just happening in … Continue reading “U.S. Biotech Clusters Are Losing Their Anchor Tenants, and It Hurts”
Aveo Shares Fall as FDA Questions Cancer Drug Survival Trend
Cambridge, MA-based Aveo Oncology was fired up early this year when it hit the main goal of its pivotal clinical trial with a kidney cancer drug. But today some new questions have emerged about how much benefit its drug is offering to patients, which sent the company’s stock down more than 25 percent. Aveo (NASDAQ: … Continue reading “Aveo Shares Fall as FDA Questions Cancer Drug Survival Trend”
OncoGenex Waits, and Waits, For Data on Prostate Cancer Drug
Pity Scott Cormack. As the CEO of an aspiring prostate cancer drug developer, he’s got to answer to the masters at the FDA and the cancer physicians who want unequivocal, long-term data to prove his company’s product works. His other masters, those on Wall Street, want to know the answer by next Monday. Naturally, Cormack … Continue reading “OncoGenex Waits, and Waits, For Data on Prostate Cancer Drug”
Gladstone, Sage Bionetworks Top ‘Best Places to Work’ List
A couple of small West Coast research centers, the J. David Gladstone Research Institutes in San Francisco, and Sage Bionetworks in Seattle, have gotten kudos as the “Best Places to Work” in academia by The Scientist magazine. The 10th annual survey by the magazine found that the Gladstone Institutes, composed of 27 researchers affiliated with … Continue reading “Gladstone, Sage Bionetworks Top ‘Best Places to Work’ List”
CytomX Therapeutics Adds $11M For Antibody Drugs
South San Francisco-based CytomX Therapeutics has an ambitious plan to make an antibody drug that can beat existing products from Eli Lilly and Amgen. Now it has some more money to pursue the goal. CytomX said today it has expanded its Series B venture round to a total of $41 million, after previously announcing the … Continue reading “CytomX Therapeutics Adds $11M For Antibody Drugs”
CMC Biologics Snaps Up Biotech Manufacturing Plant From Xoma
Xoma has burned through a lot of shareholder cash over 30 years in business—$916 million at last count. Now that the venerable Berkeley, CA-based biotech (NASDAQ: [[ticker:XOMA]]) has come under pressure to shed employees and assets, it’s created new opportunity for a contract manufacturer to swoop in. CMC Biologics, the contract biotech drugmaker in Copenhagen, … Continue reading “CMC Biologics Snaps Up Biotech Manufacturing Plant From Xoma”
Dendreon Cutting 600 Jobs, Closing NJ Plant As Sales Fall Short
[Updated 3:45 pm PT] Dendreon’s new management team is making some drastic cuts in a bid to keep its cancer immunotherapy business going, after the company stumbled in its early marketing days and now faces an increasingly serious competitive onslaught. The Seattle-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]) said today it is cutting 600 jobs full-time and contractor jobs … Continue reading “Dendreon Cutting 600 Jobs, Closing NJ Plant As Sales Fall Short”
A Lonely Voice Asking Tough Questions on Cancer Cost-Effectiveness
If a new cancer drug comes out at a price of $100,000 per person, how many patients likely to benefit will actually get it? How many will drain their entire life savings just to make the insurance co-pays? How many people will go bankrupt to stay alive a few more months? How many people will … Continue reading “A Lonely Voice Asking Tough Questions on Cancer Cost-Effectiveness”
Vertex Wins EU Approval for Cystic Fibrosis Drug
[Updated: 2:30 pm ET] Vertex Pharmaceuticals made big news in the U.S. cystic fibrosis community six months ago when it won FDA approval for a groundbreaking drug, and now it’s taking the product to Europe. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VRTX]]), which has significant operations in San Diego, said today it has gotten clearance … Continue reading “Vertex Wins EU Approval for Cystic Fibrosis Drug”
Siluria Attracts Paul Allen, Gets $30M to Turn Natural Gas Into Chemicals, Fuels
[Updated: 2:50 pm PT] San Francisco-based Siluria Technologies, the company with a big idea for converting natural gas into fuels and specialty chemicals, has now attracted some more big money and big name investors. Siluria said today it has pulled in a $30 million Series C venture round led by new investors Bright Capital and … Continue reading “Siluria Attracts Paul Allen, Gets $30M to Turn Natural Gas Into Chemicals, Fuels”
Allan Jones, the Force Behind Paul Allen’s Vision for Brain Science
Nowhere along his life journey did Allan Jones appear destined to do big things as a biotech CEO. He was born into a family of musicians, not scientists. He passed on a chance to go to the Ivy League, thinking it too stuffy. He doesn’t seek attention. He deflects credit to others. He’s short. When … Continue reading “Allan Jones, the Force Behind Paul Allen’s Vision for Brain Science”
Domain, Rusnano Alliance Pumps $20M into SD’s CoDa Therapeutics
Domain Associates turned some heads in the venture capital world in March when it struck a deal with Rusnano, a Russian state technology firm, to jointly invest $760 million in biotech companies in the U.S. and Russia. Now the first investment from that collaboration is going to a Domain portfolio company not far from its … Continue reading “Domain, Rusnano Alliance Pumps $20M into SD’s CoDa Therapeutics”
Sarepta’s Muscular Dystrophy Drug Improves With Time; Stock Booms
[Updated: 2:30 pm PT] Sarepta Therapeutics, the company formerly known as AVI Biopharma, has gone through a rough patch ever since its experimental drug for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy generated mixed clinical results in April. But now the story is taking a new twist, as the drug is starting to look more effective as a small … Continue reading “Sarepta’s Muscular Dystrophy Drug Improves With Time; Stock Booms”
Illumina, Leaning on Amazon, Looks to Be Hub of Genomic Computing
[Updated: 11:35 am PT] Illumina wants to be not just a hardware company, but really an integrated hardware/software company that’s the Apple of the genomics business. Now the San Diego-based company is moving that direction, in a bid that could help the genomics community grow, by offering lots of free storage and processing of DNA … Continue reading “Illumina, Leaning on Amazon, Looks to Be Hub of Genomic Computing”
Scarcity of Samples Threatens Personalized Medicine
Plenty of factors can conspire to slow down progress in molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine. There’s never enough money to run all the experiments scientists can imagine, it’s hard to gather data that squares with traditional medical evidence standards, and society is willing to pay a lot more money for drugs than diagnostics. But there’s … Continue reading “Scarcity of Samples Threatens Personalized Medicine”
Onyx Gets FDA Approval For New Myeloma Drug; Stock Climbs
[Updated 12:35 pm PT] Onyx Pharmaceuticals just went from being a one-drug company, to a two-drug company. The South San Francisco-based cancer drug developer (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ONXX]]) won clearance from the FDA to start selling carfilzomib (Kyprolis) as a new treatment for patients with multiple myeloma, who have gotten at least two prior treatments. Shares of … Continue reading “Onyx Gets FDA Approval For New Myeloma Drug; Stock Climbs”
Seattle Genetics, Millennium Get EU Recommendation for Lymphoma Drug
Seattle Genetics won FDA approval for its first cancer drug last August in the U.S., and now its partner appears close to getting that same clearance in Europe. The Bothell, WA-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SGEN]]) said today that its partner, Cambridge, MA-based Millenium: The Takeda Oncology Company, got a positive recommendation for brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) … Continue reading “Seattle Genetics, Millennium Get EU Recommendation for Lymphoma Drug”
Biotech VCs, in Shadow of Tech, Start Delivering More Hits
A strange thing has happened during an otherwise bleak time for biotech venture capital. Life science venture capitalists are apparently hitting more of their investments out of the park. There were 17 so-called “Big Exits” for investors in privately held biotech companies, and 18 in the medical device business in 2011, the most of any … Continue reading “Biotech VCs, in Shadow of Tech, Start Delivering More Hits”
NanoString Makes IPO Prep Move, Adds Finance Vet to Board
NanoString Technologies just enlisted the kind of person that it will need if it’s ever going to grow up into a public company. The Seattle-based genetic instrument and diagnostic company said today it has added Greg Norden, the former chief financial officer of Wyeth, to its board of directors. Norden spent 21 years at Wyeth, which … Continue reading “NanoString Makes IPO Prep Move, Adds Finance Vet to Board”
Vivus Wins FDA Approval for Obesity Drug, After Long, Messy Day
Vivus has been pushing for more than two years to get its new obesity drug cleared for sale by the FDA, and after one last long, confusing day, it finally got its wish. The FDA said today that the Mountain View, CA-based company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VVUS]]) has gotten the green light to start selling the combo … Continue reading “Vivus Wins FDA Approval for Obesity Drug, After Long, Messy Day”
MedImmune Cuts 200 Jobs in Bay Area, Keeping Hayward R&D Site
MedImmune, the biotech unit of U.K.-based pharma giant AstraZeneca, is making some significant cuts to its R&D operations in the Bay Area. MedImmune said today it is closing down its Mountain View, CA and Santa Clara, CA research and development sites, while consolidating infectious disease and vaccine work at other sites, including one in Hayward, … Continue reading “MedImmune Cuts 200 Jobs in Bay Area, Keeping Hayward R&D Site”
Alnylam Stock Climbs on Positive Early Trial for Amyloidosis
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has been trying to shift from a technology platform company into a more mature drug developer the past few years. Today its shares climbed more than 40 percent as it got some stronger signs that it could be on track to make its first marketable drug, for a rare disease called TTR amyloidosis. … Continue reading “Alnylam Stock Climbs on Positive Early Trial for Amyloidosis”
A Summer Reading List for Biotech Pros
[Updated: 7/17 9:15 am PT] Summer is here, so there’s a bit of a lull on the average biotech pro’s schedule. If there’s ever an opportunity to take a breather from the relentless scientific, medical, and investor meetings that dominate the industry calendar, this is it. Time to catch up on reading a few good … Continue reading “A Summer Reading List for Biotech Pros”
Life Science Innovation NW Notes: SeaGen, NanoString, Viket, & More
Fifty years ago at the World’s Fair, Seattle’s visionaries were thinking about exploring space. Today, the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation observed, more of the region’s innovators are focused on “terrestrial” matters like global health and biotech. Whether that’s good or bad for mankind, we can debate another day. But as Jeff … Continue reading “Life Science Innovation NW Notes: SeaGen, NanoString, Viket, & More”
Protagonist Criss-Crosses Pacific, in Search of New Peptide Drugs
If your definition of hard work depends on getting to the office at 7 am every day, then Dinesh Patel might sound pretty lazy. He doesn’t usually pull out of his driveway for work until 9 am. He has a business reason for starting late, and it has little to do with beating traffic (although … Continue reading “Protagonist Criss-Crosses Pacific, in Search of New Peptide Drugs”
Gates Foundation’s Jeff Raikes To Start Off Seattle Biotech Event
[Updated 3:30 pm] It may not seem right as the weather has turned so beautiful, but it’s time to leave the T-shirt and jeans in the closet and break out the sportcoat for the biggest annual event in Seattle biotech. About 1,000 people are expected to come together at the Washington State Convention Center tomorrow … Continue reading “Gates Foundation’s Jeff Raikes To Start Off Seattle Biotech Event”
The Best Boring Companies in Biotech
Sometimes great companies have really boring stories. Maybe the company makes great products, or generates big profits and returns, but just doesn’t have the sizzle to get on the TV news, or even keep folks away from the veggie dip at your neighborhood barbecue. It almost takes work to be boring in biotech, since this … Continue reading “The Best Boring Companies in Biotech”
Novo Nordisk Weaves Itself Into Seattle Biotech, With Diabetes R&D
Novo Nordisk’s CEO once said his company put down roots in Seattle because of a historic blunder. But now the Denmark-based drugmaker, the world’s largest maker of insulin for diabetes, is moving ahead with purpose on a long-term plan to weave itself into the Seattle biotech community, and hopefully come up with some useful new … Continue reading “Novo Nordisk Weaves Itself Into Seattle Biotech, With Diabetes R&D”
A Computer Guy’s Dream, Immusoft, Turns Cells Into Drug Factories
Matthew Scholz has been told many times that his idea for reprogramming the body’s immune cells to create drugs was impossible. Maybe dangerous. Maybe just dumb. Scholz, a computer scientist with no formal biology training, could easily have been written off as a quixotic dreamer until this spring, when he got his breakout moment. The … Continue reading “A Computer Guy’s Dream, Immusoft, Turns Cells Into Drug Factories”
Frazier Makes It Official: Seeking to Raise New $400M Fund
Frazier Healthcare Ventures is officially out raising a new $400 million fund, according to a regulatory filing. The Seattle-based venture firm, which has an office in Menlo Park, CA, said today in the filing that it is seeking to raise as much as $400 million in a new venture fund, the seventh in its history … Continue reading “Frazier Makes It Official: Seeking to Raise New $400M Fund”
Life Sciences Discovery Fund Gets New Leader, A Familiar Face
The state’s Life Sciences Discovery Fund has a new boss, but he’s not a new face to people familiar with the state-supported biotech fund. John Des Rosier, who has been the director of programs for the LSDF since 2006, is moving up to be the executive director following Lee Huntsman’s retirement on June 30. While … Continue reading “Life Sciences Discovery Fund Gets New Leader, A Familiar Face”
Northeastern Looks Northwest, Aims to Fill Voids in Tech Job Market
Seattle imports high-tech talent, and Boston exports. So it makes sense that one of the big players in Boston’s competitive higher education market, Northeastern University, would see a new niche opening up across the country, where it can help feed a fast-growing high-tech cluster with more brainpower. Northeastern, a 114-year-old private institution with 20,500 full-time … Continue reading “Northeastern Looks Northwest, Aims to Fill Voids in Tech Job Market”
Who’s Still Active Among the Early-Stage Biotech VCs?
Imagine for a moment you’re a hotshot biomedical scientist at a university. You have invented a technology in your lab that you think has potential to make a big difference for the world of medicine. Despite all the accolades you might be getting in Nature, you are savvy enough to know you still have a … Continue reading “Who’s Still Active Among the Early-Stage Biotech VCs?”
Bristol-Myers Buys Amylin for $5.3B, Getting Diabetes Drugs
[Updated: 9:40 pm] Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: [[ticker:BMY]]) has pulled the trigger on a $5.3 billion acquisition of San Diego-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMLN]]). The deal, announced late Friday, calls for New York-based Bristol to pay $31 a share for Amylin, or about 10 percent more than its closing price today. By taking on some of … Continue reading “Bristol-Myers Buys Amylin for $5.3B, Getting Diabetes Drugs”
Biogen Idec, Isis Forge 2nd Alliance This Year for Rare Disease
Biogen Idec and Isis Pharmaceuticals are apparently warming up to each other as partners, as they are doubling down on their efforts to treat rare muscular disorders. The Weston, MA-based biotech giant (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) is announcing today that it has formed a new partnership with Carlsbad, CA-based Isis (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ISIS]]) to develop a treatment for … Continue reading “Biogen Idec, Isis Forge 2nd Alliance This Year for Rare Disease”
Gates Foundation Looks to Make More Equity Bets in Biotech
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has looked at a lot of different ways to get the most bang for every buck it puts into global health. Now its new global health leader, Trevor Mundel, says he hopes to do that by making more equity investments in biotech companies. Mundel, a former Novartis executive, said … Continue reading “Gates Foundation Looks to Make More Equity Bets in Biotech”
Omeros Pockets $28M in Stock Sale
Seattle-based Omeros has been on the rebound the past few months, and it took advantage of its rising stock price this week to pull in another $28 million for its pharmaceutical R&D efforts. Omeros (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OMER]]) said yesterday it sold about 2.9 million new shares of stock at $10.25 apiece, bringing in $28.1 million after … Continue reading “Omeros Pockets $28M in Stock Sale”
After Big Oops, Vertex Plows Ahead With Cystic Fibrosis Drug Combo
Vertex Pharmaceuticals shot itself in the foot last month when it reported on some encouraging partial results from an ongoing clinical trial, then later had to correct some faulty statistics. Now it’s had time to run the final analysis from that study, and while the numbers have changed a little, the conclusion hasn’t: It still looks … Continue reading “After Big Oops, Vertex Plows Ahead With Cystic Fibrosis Drug Combo”
Arena Shares Boom on FDA Approval of Obesity Drug
Arena Pharmaceuticals has faced long odds in its quest to win FDA approval for a new obesity drug, but it overcome the obstacles today. The San Diego-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARNA]]) and its partner Eisai Pharmaceuticals of Japan won clearance from the FDA to start selling lorcaserin (Belviq) as a treatment for obesity in addition … Continue reading “Arena Shares Boom on FDA Approval of Obesity Drug”
Onyx Shares Boom on Positive FDA Panel for Myeloma Drug
Onyx Pharmaceuticals surprised a lot of people yesterday at an FDA advisory panel, and its stock is booming today as a result. The South San Francisco-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ONXX]]) saw its shares rocket up $16.22, or about 36 percent, to $60.80 in pre-market trading today. That’s way beyond its previous 52-week high of $47.80. … Continue reading “Onyx Shares Boom on Positive FDA Panel for Myeloma Drug”
Join Us Today for a Tweetchat at Noon ET/9 am PT With Katrine Bosley
Katrine Bosley is having a pretty good year. She was the CEO of Bedford, MA-based Avila Therapeutics when the company was acquired by Celgene for $350 million upfront in January. OK, six months have gone by since that big event. Did she sip a few mai tais on some Carribbean island, recharge her batteries, and … Continue reading “Join Us Today for a Tweetchat at Noon ET/9 am PT With Katrine Bosley”
Biotech Wasn’t Immune to Job Loss in Great Recession, BIO Report Says
The biotechnology industry is often held up by public officials as an engine for producing lots of high-skill, high-wage jobs. But bioscience-based industries shed thousands of jobs in the Great Recession, and industry employment still hasn’t completely recovered to the pre-recession levels of 2007, according to a new economic analysis. Biotech, which was defined broadly … Continue reading “Biotech Wasn’t Immune to Job Loss in Great Recession, BIO Report Says”
Merck Bets $15M on Ambrx’s “Smart Bomb” Antibodies
Merck is making its first move into one of the hotter corners of biotech, by forming a partnership to make “smart bomb” antibody drugs with San Diego-based Ambrx. The Whitehouse Station, NJ-based pharmaceutical giant (NYSE: [[ticker:MRK]]) has agreed to pay Ambrx $15 million upfront, another $288 million in milestone payments, and an undisclosed royalty rate … Continue reading “Merck Bets $15M on Ambrx’s “Smart Bomb” Antibodies”
Three Good Things About BIO 2012, and Four Not-so-Good
People from all over the world are gathering in Boston today to talk about biotech dreams. Like most years at the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s international convention, at least 15,000 people are expected to come together to pursue those dreams in a variety of ways. You can count on lots of selling, schmoozing, cheerleading, prognosticating, attention-seeking, … Continue reading “Three Good Things About BIO 2012, and Four Not-so-Good”
Join Us for BIO Tweetchat at 12:30 pm ET with John Maraganore
[Updated: 7:07 am ET 6/18] One year ago, I felt the need to say that Twitter was no fad, that it was truly here to stay in biotech. Now it has become such a mainstream tool for information sharing in biotech that I’ve decided to do some of my bigger interviews next week on the … Continue reading “Join Us for BIO Tweetchat at 12:30 pm ET with John Maraganore”
VLST Raises $5M To Carry on With Autoimmune R&D
VLST CEO Marty Simonetti likes to joke that his company’s name stands for “very large secret technology.” It’s only half in jest, because VLST hasn’t said much publicly about its progress the past couple years. But the Seattle biotech company has made enough progress to raise another $5 million in venture capital in a deal … Continue reading “VLST Raises $5M To Carry on With Autoimmune R&D”
Theraclone Takes 2nd Antibody into the Clinic Against Common Virus
Theraclone Sciences just got the results a few weeks ago from the clinical trial of its first antibody drug candidate, and today it’s moving ahead with program No. 2. The Seattle-based biotech company said today it has started the first clinical trial of an antibody it calls TCN-202, which is designed to fight human cytomegalovirus … Continue reading “Theraclone Takes 2nd Antibody into the Clinic Against Common Virus”
Global Blood Therapeutics, Third Rock’s First West Coast Startup, Gets $41M
Third Rock Ventures has made its name on the East Coast the past five years by betting big money on biotech startups with big ideas, when most other venture capitalists have turned gun-shy. Now it’s putting that same strategy to work in its first homegrown startup on the West Coast. Today, the venture firm is … Continue reading “Global Blood Therapeutics, Third Rock’s First West Coast Startup, Gets $41M”