Washington’s economy is showing signs of recovery. But some major problems persist—unemployment is stuck at a historic high and healthcare costs continue to skyrocket. The biotechnology industry can help alleviate both these problems. Washington is already a major hub of new biotech research and products. Boosting this sector will deliver our state—and our nation—from this … Continue reading “Olympia: Don’t Crush Biotech With New Taxes”
Category: National
Tom Daschle, Former Senate Majority Leader, Talks Healthcare Reform (but Not Health IT)
On Wednesday morning, I stopped by the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Seattle to hear Tom Daschle, the former U.S. Senate Majority Leader from South Dakota, give the keynote talk at the 10th annual “Breakfast with Champions” fundraiser, organized by the King County Bar Foundation. His main focus: healthcare reform. I don’t usually report on policy … Continue reading “Tom Daschle, Former Senate Majority Leader, Talks Healthcare Reform (but Not Health IT)”
Genetix Pharma Raises $35M from Third Rock, Genzyme for Gene Therapy
Venture capitalists are giving the risky field of gene therapy a new dose of confidence—and cash. Genetix Pharmaceuticals, a 17-year-old developer of gene therapies, has replenished its coffers with a $35 million Series B round of venture capital. The Cambridge, MA-based company attracted the fresh capital after a study in France showed that one of … Continue reading “Genetix Pharma Raises $35M from Third Rock, Genzyme for Gene Therapy”
The Hybritech Alumni: Where Are They Now?
[Updated: 6:45 pm, 2/23/11] Plenty of ink has been devoted over the years to how San Diego’s biotech family tree can be traced back to Hybritech. The company was born in biotech’s halcyon days in the ’70s, and it quickly became the magnet for young scientific and business talent in San Diego. After Eli Lilly … Continue reading “The Hybritech Alumni: Where Are They Now?”
EcoDog Expands as Developer Puts Energy Watchdog in New “Eco-Savvy” Homes
When I had breakfast recently with Ron Pitt, he pointed out that there are only about 100 or so major, investor-owned utilities in the United States—but there are roughly 70 million owner-occupied single-family homes. So why, in the name of God’s greenhouse gases, are so many venture-backed startups focused on developing cleantech innovations and smart … Continue reading “EcoDog Expands as Developer Puts Energy Watchdog in New “Eco-Savvy” Homes”
The Apple iPad: Three Unanswered Questions
Today is the first day that consumers can put down money for an Apple iPad. If you pre-order a Wi-Fi model now, you can avoid waiting in the inevitable around-the-block lines when the gadget hits Apple Stores on Saturday, April 3. (If you want the Wi-Fi + 3G model, though, you’ll have to wait until … Continue reading “The Apple iPad: Three Unanswered Questions”
Forget Business Plans—Go for Market and Passion, Say Investors
MIT’s Kirsch Auditorium was filled to its last seat as over 300 people showed up at the MIT Enterprise Forum Wednesday evening. The topic: “Accelerating Startup Growth: Seed Funding, Incubation and Mentorship Models.” “You don’t know what you don’t know when you start a company for the first time,” said Laura Fitton, the founder of … Continue reading “Forget Business Plans—Go for Market and Passion, Say Investors”
WildTangent Teams Up with Playdom to Deliver Ads in Social Games
This week has been surprisingly quiet for Seattle-area gaming companies, even though the annual Game Developers Conference is going on in San Francisco. Well, OK, Kelly Ripa plugged PopCap’s flagship game, Bejeweled, on “Live with Regis and Kelly”—but does that really count? Here’s some more substantial news. Redmond, WA-based WildTangent, one of the elder statesmen … Continue reading “WildTangent Teams Up with Playdom to Deliver Ads in Social Games”
Vertex Pursues Drug-Cocktail Strategy, Phase Forward Out To Expand Health IT Empire, Alkermes Awaits FDA Ruling, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News
Another week, another cadre of CEOs with big plans for growing their New England life sciences companies even bigger. —Diagnostics For All CEO Una Ryan talked about her multi-pronged effort to raise money for testing and deployment of her Cambridge, MA-based firm’s affordable diagnostic technology. Developed in the legendary Harvard lab of chemist George Whitesides, … Continue reading “Vertex Pursues Drug-Cocktail Strategy, Phase Forward Out To Expand Health IT Empire, Alkermes Awaits FDA Ruling, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”
Aveo Pharmaceuticals Goes Public at $9, Falls Short of Hoped-For Range
[Updated: 4:40 pm Eastern, 3/12/10] Aveo Pharmaceuticals is proving once again that IPO investors have a limited appetite for biotech companies. The Cambridge, MA-based developer of cancer drugs sold its initial public shares to investors last night at $9, a long shot from its hoped-for range of $13 to $15. The company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AVEO]]) started … Continue reading “Aveo Pharmaceuticals Goes Public at $9, Falls Short of Hoped-For Range”
How Seattle Companies and Innovators Can Change the World: Come Find Out on March 29
There’s no crying in baseball—or in innovation. Yet I’ve been hearing a fair bit of lamenting around town about how Seattle startups or venture capitalists are not making the top-whatever lists (Wall Street Journal, Technology Review, you name it) of most innovative companies or investors around the country. Who cares? The city that brought the … Continue reading “How Seattle Companies and Innovators Can Change the World: Come Find Out on March 29”
Hubspot Leaving Kendall Square; Next Stop: Lechmere
HubSpot, a fast-growing marketing technology startup born at the Cambridge Innovation Center, will leave its space at One Broadway this summer for new offices at 25 First Street, about 10 city blocks north, Xconomy has learned. While the move will take the startup out of the center of Kendall Square, vice president of marketing Mike … Continue reading “Hubspot Leaving Kendall Square; Next Stop: Lechmere”
China’s WuXi, a Partner of San Diego’s TargeGen, Offers New Model for Drug Development
A few years ago, news articles in Business Week, Nature, and elsewhere described a veritable stampede among big pharmaceutical companies like Roche, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline to work with contract research organizations in China and India. As it turns out, some of San Diego’s smallest biotech startups have been doing the same thing. The … Continue reading “China’s WuXi, a Partner of San Diego’s TargeGen, Offers New Model for Drug Development”
Evri Acquires Radar Networks, Redesigns Semantic Search Website
Seattle-based Evri, a Web startup focused on semantic search and discovery, announced today it has acquired San Francisco-based Radar Networks, the maker of Twine.com. Financial terms weren’t given, but both companies are backed by Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital. Radar Networks is also backed by Fuse Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and angel investors. This is big … Continue reading “Evri Acquires Radar Networks, Redesigns Semantic Search Website”
Public Markets Warming Up to Venture-Backed Companies? Boston-Area IPO List
It’s a far cry from a hot market for initial public offerings these days, but there are reasons to believe that the long-awaited “IPO Window” is slowly opening for venture-backed companies in the Boston area. Sensata Technologies, an Attleboro, MA-based maker of sensors and switches, jumped through the IPO window yesterday, pricing its initial public … Continue reading “Public Markets Warming Up to Venture-Backed Companies? Boston-Area IPO List”
West Wireless Names CEO, Amylin Pharmaceuticals Awaits FDA Deadline, Life Technologies In Cancer Research Partnership, & More San Diego Life Sciences News
Things were hopping over the past week in San Diego. Get into the rhythm here. —San Diego’s West Wireless Health Institute named Donald Casey chief executive officer. Casey was formerly worldwide chairman of Johnson & Johnson’s comprehensive care group. The Institute was founded last year with a $45 million gift from telemarketing and communications entrepreneurs … Continue reading “West Wireless Names CEO, Amylin Pharmaceuticals Awaits FDA Deadline, Life Technologies In Cancer Research Partnership, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”
Android Developers Win Smackdown Vs. iPhone, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile, Microsoft Asserts It Has Promising Smartphone Future, & More Mobile Madness Highlights
So the iPhone may be the prettiest, the Blackberry may boast the biggest smartphone market share, and the Windows Mobile platform is, um, around, but it’s Android that’s best for developing apps. Or at least it was the Android developers who best defended their platform at the smartphone smackdown during our Mobile Madness event on … Continue reading “Android Developers Win Smackdown Vs. iPhone, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile, Microsoft Asserts It Has Promising Smartphone Future, & More Mobile Madness Highlights”
March Mobile Madness at Microsoft—The Day in Pictures
Though it was just one small part of Mass Mobile Month, a multi-week series of mobile technology events around Boston, Tuesday’s Mobile Madness forum at Microsoft was the highlight for us here at Xconomy. Today it’s time to share some of the images captured by our volunteer photographer Kevin Vogelsang. Kevin wasn’t able to arrive … Continue reading “March Mobile Madness at Microsoft—The Day in Pictures”
Cell Therapeutics’ Friday Bonuses, Dendreon’s IT Partner, Lee Hood’s Eye on South Lake Union, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
We had a little bit of everything on the Seattle biotech beat this week: muckraking, exclusive breaking news, in-depth analytical features, and a sharp guest editorial. —Seattle-based Cell Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CTIC]]) has been known to disclose less-than-flattering news in SEC filings late on Fridays, when most journalists are wiped out and heading home. Sure enough, … Continue reading “Cell Therapeutics’ Friday Bonuses, Dendreon’s IT Partner, Lee Hood’s Eye on South Lake Union, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
Really Smart (and Social) Energy: GroundedPower’s System Pinpoints User Motivations to Lower Home Energy Consumption
These days, it seems there’s nothing that can’t be accomplished by the use of online social communities. Even lowering energy consumption. That’s the approach taken by GroundedPower, a Gloucester, MA-based startup that produces a system that monitors consumers’ real-time energy consumption and spurs them with goal-setting and online community engagement to lower that consumption over … Continue reading “Really Smart (and Social) Energy: GroundedPower’s System Pinpoints User Motivations to Lower Home Energy Consumption”
Biotech Pioneer Lee Hood: Whole Families Will Get Whole Genomes Sequenced
[Updated: 9:20 pm Pacific, 3/10/10 with independent expert comment] Doctors and researchers in the future won’t just want to look at your genome to see how to treat or prevent illness. Instead, they will look at how all of an individual’s DNA compares with the closest members of their family, according to biotech pioneer Leroy … Continue reading “Biotech Pioneer Lee Hood: Whole Families Will Get Whole Genomes Sequenced”
San Diego’s Acadia Pharmaceuticals Updates Plans for Experimental Parkinson’s Drug
Acadia Pharmaceuticals of San Diego and its Canadian partner Biovail are continuing to move ahead with pimavanserin. The experimental drug, you might recall, failed last September in a trial testing it as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease-related psychosis. Pimavanserin is Acadia’s lead drug candidate, which may help explain why Acadia (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ACAD]]) and its partner … Continue reading “San Diego’s Acadia Pharmaceuticals Updates Plans for Experimental Parkinson’s Drug”
How Google’s New App Store Impacts Microsoft, Amazon, and Startups
Google announced last night that it has officially opened an online store for outside developers to sell their business software applications. The Google Apps Marketplace offers cloud-based software that is integrated with Google Apps—things like Google Calendar, Google Docs, and Gmail for businesses. (That might be a record for the number of Googles in one … Continue reading “How Google’s New App Store Impacts Microsoft, Amazon, and Startups”
A Heartfelt Thanks to Mobile Madness Speakers, Sponsors, and Underwriters—and our New Backup Service!
Xconomy held another sold out forum yesterday afternoon, with more than 225 people pouring into Microsoft’s New England Research & Development Center for our Mobile Madness conference. A writeup and photo spread of the afternoon’s events and the insights provided by the great array of speakers—including the results of the Mobile Smackdown between iPhone, Android, … Continue reading “A Heartfelt Thanks to Mobile Madness Speakers, Sponsors, and Underwriters—and our New Backup Service!”
Amylin, Alkermes Sit in Suspense For FDA Verdict on Once-Weekly Diabetes Drug
It’s pins-and-needles time for employees and investors at San Diego-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Waltham, MA-based Alkermes. The FDA has a deadline of Friday, March 12, to say whether it has approved a new drug from Amylin and Alkermes (oh yeah, and Eli Lilly too) which seeks to transform diabetes treatment with the first once-weekly injectable … Continue reading “Amylin, Alkermes Sit in Suspense For FDA Verdict on Once-Weekly Diabetes Drug”
Leroy Hood Sizes Up South Lake Union as Institute for Systems Biology Expands
[Clarification: 3:35 pm, 4/2/10] Leroy Hood‘s eye is turning from the north to the south side of Seattle’s Lake Union. The biotechnology pioneer and his colleagues at the Institute for Systems Biology are looking for new digs that are twice as big as their 65,000 square foot facility on the north side of the lake, … Continue reading “Leroy Hood Sizes Up South Lake Union as Institute for Systems Biology Expands”
World Wide Web Consortium Must Seize High Ground on Web Standards Earlier, Says New CEO Jeffrey Jaffe
[Corrected 3/12/10, see below] When Tim Berners-Lee and colleagues from CERN proposed the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) and the hypertext markup language (HTML) as Internet-wide standards back in the early 1990s, they didn’t face much resistance, because there weren’t any competing ideas for doing what Berners-Lee wanted to do—that is, setting up a global network … Continue reading “World Wide Web Consortium Must Seize High Ground on Web Standards Earlier, Says New CEO Jeffrey Jaffe”
Leap Wireless Closes Cricket Stores, Cuts 180 Employees
Amid considerable speculation about a potential merger, San Diego’s Leap Wireless (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LEAP]]) has trimmed about 4 percent of its workforce and closed or transferred 38 of its Cricket Communications storefronts. Leap spokesman Greg Lund confirms that the flat-rate wireless service provider laid off a total of 180 employees nationwide on March 1 as part … Continue reading “Leap Wireless Closes Cricket Stores, Cuts 180 Employees”
Elliott Makes $2B Bid for Novell, Summit Partners Leads $23M Investment in Cloudmark, Stemgent Backs Scottish Startup, & More Boston-Area Deals News
Deal flow was a bit slow among New England’s tech and life sciences firms this week. Perhaps folks were too distracted by the unexpected appearance of that warm glowing ball in the sky to attend to contracts and negotiations? —Stemgent of Cambridge, MA, and San Diego announced plans to invest $4.5 million over the next … Continue reading “Elliott Makes $2B Bid for Novell, Summit Partners Leads $23M Investment in Cloudmark, Stemgent Backs Scottish Startup, & More Boston-Area Deals News”
Joe Eichinger, Top Medical Device Entrepreneur and UW Volunteer, Dies From Cancer
Joe Eichinger, one of the Northwest’s best-known medical device entrepreneurs of the past three decades, died yesterday at his home in Everett, WA, from complications of pancreatic cancer. He was 65. Eichinger was in his prime as a businessman, and was fired up about his latest startup, Redmond, WA-based CoAptus Medical, when he was diagnosed … Continue reading “Joe Eichinger, Top Medical Device Entrepreneur and UW Volunteer, Dies From Cancer”
Chuck Thacker of Microsoft Research Wins Turing Award, Talks Future of Mobile Interfaces
One of the founding fathers of the personal computing era, Microsoft Research technical fellow Chuck Thacker, has won the Association for Computing Machinery’s A.M. Turing Award, which is often called the “Nobel Prize of computer science.” The award, which was announced today, comes with a $250,000 prize, sponsored by Intel and Google. Thacker, 67, was … Continue reading “Chuck Thacker of Microsoft Research Wins Turing Award, Talks Future of Mobile Interfaces”
The Smart Grid is Coming! What’s a Smart Grid?
Several hundred utility executives, government regulators, and engineers have gathered in downtown San Diego this week for a three-day conference that is focused on what may be the utility industry’s biggest paradigm shift since the Tennessee Valley Authority electrified the Southeastern United States. The only problem is that it’s the biggest paradigm shift that people … Continue reading “The Smart Grid is Coming! What’s a Smart Grid?”
West Wireless Health Institute Names J&J Exec as First CEO
San Diego’s West Wireless Health Institute today named Donald Casey as its first chief executive officer. Casey, a former worldwide chairman of Johnson & Johnson’s Comprehensive Care group, also will serve on the institute’s board of directors, according to a statement issued today. Gary West, who sold his Omaha, NE-based West Corp. for $3.3 billion … Continue reading “West Wireless Health Institute Names J&J Exec as First CEO”
ULocate Launches Ad Network for Location-Aware Mobile Devices
Boston’s uLocate Communications, known up to now mainly as the creator of the Where local search and recommendation app popular with many smartphone owners, is turning into something more. Today it announced the launch of a geographically targeted mobile advertising network called Where Ads that other mobile publishers can also use to sell local ads … Continue reading “ULocate Launches Ad Network for Location-Aware Mobile Devices”
Z2Live Rolls Out Voice Chat for iPhone Games, Announces New Mobile Game Community
This week is nuts for videogame companies: the annual Game Developers Conference starts today in San Francisco. Z2Live, a Seattle-based social mobile gaming startup, kicked off what is sure to be a busy news week for local companies by making a couple of notable announcements. First, it unveiled a “voice chat” feature for games on … Continue reading “Z2Live Rolls Out Voice Chat for iPhone Games, Announces New Mobile Game Community”
The 20-Year Future of San Diego Biotech, Coming March 31
A wise man once said that overnight success in biotech takes about 15 years. All kidding aside, we at Xconomy recognize that real innovation in life sciences doesn’t just pop out of the blue on a quarterly time horizon. So we thought it would be worthwhile to ask some of San Diego’s scientific and business … Continue reading “The 20-Year Future of San Diego Biotech, Coming March 31”
Phase Forward Offering Pharmas One-Stop Shopping for Clinical Research Software
Phase Forward has been one of the success stories in the Route 128 tech cluster during the past decade, and has grown to be one of the largest health IT companies in Massachusetts. But a big question about the firm on Wall Street is how—or whether—its growth spurt will continue. The Waltham, MA-based firm (NASDAQ:[[ticker:PFWD]]) … Continue reading “Phase Forward Offering Pharmas One-Stop Shopping for Clinical Research Software”
Google Buys DocVerse, Madrona Backs ShopIgniter, ISB Gets Mystery Gift, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
In the week since Google’s acquisition of Picnik, the Northwest deals scene came back to earth a little bit. But there was a decent amount of activity in software, Internet, mobile, and cleantech, much of it from Oregon-based companies. —Seattle’s Institute for Systems Biology received a five-year, $6 million gift from a venture capitalist in … Continue reading “Google Buys DocVerse, Madrona Backs ShopIgniter, ISB Gets Mystery Gift, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”
Venture Funding Down, Overall Deal Flow Up for Boston Mobile Industry in 2009
Venture investments in Boston-area mobile technology companies decreased in both volume and value in 2009, plummeting to levels not seen since 2005. But payouts from mergers and acquisitions hit a record level, raising overall deal flow to an unprecedented $1.5 billion, according to data compiled by Mobile Monday Boston. Venture investing started out strong in … Continue reading “Venture Funding Down, Overall Deal Flow Up for Boston Mobile Industry in 2009”
Tocagen, Developing Anti-Cancer Therapies, Close to Closing on $8M Round
San Diego’s Tocagen, a biotech developing gene therapy treatments for terminal cancers, says it has raised nearly $7.8 million from 75 investors in a Series D round that began Feb. 2, according to a recent regulatory filing. Tocagen, which also raised about $3 million last month by selling preferred shares, says in the filing that … Continue reading “Tocagen, Developing Anti-Cancer Therapies, Close to Closing on $8M Round”
Terrafugia Says Flying Car Likely to Take Off in Massachusetts, But Might Land Elsewhere
Terrafugia, the Woburn, MA-based company out to produce the first practical flying car—or street legal airplane, to use the company’s term— said today it plans to build its first commercial vehicle next year in the Bay State. But CEO Carl Dietrich also said that while the company hopes to stay in Massachusetts and create hundreds … Continue reading “Terrafugia Says Flying Car Likely to Take Off in Massachusetts, But Might Land Elsewhere”
BuddyTV’s Andy Liu on the One That Got Away, and What He’d Ask the God of Business
Andy Liu knew something most people didn’t. When I asked him to name his favorite Seattle-area company that he’s not involved with, he said “Picnik” without hesitation. “That’s the one I’d want to be in,” he said. “I’m a big fan.” That was on February 26, three days before Picnik, the photo-editing site, announced it … Continue reading “BuddyTV’s Andy Liu on the One That Got Away, and What He’d Ask the God of Business”
DataXu Raises $11M More for Ad-Buying Platform
Boston-based DataXu, whose bidding engine helps online advertisers decide which advertising purchases are most likely to pay off in the form of conversions or click-throughs, has raised $11 million in new funding, according to an announcement today. New investor Menlo Ventures of Menlo Park, CA, led the round, which was joined by existing investors Flybridge … Continue reading “DataXu Raises $11M More for Ad-Buying Platform”
How to Build a Profitable IT Company: Three Questions with Laplink CEO Thomas Koll
It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it. I’m talking about migrating people’s files and programs from their old computer to their new computer. Sure, IT guys do this for employees all the time, but who knew you could build a profitable and sustainable business around it? Meet Laplink, a Bellevue, WA-based company … Continue reading “How to Build a Profitable IT Company: Three Questions with Laplink CEO Thomas Koll”
Mobile Madness Innovation Showcase
Here at Xconomy we love organizing forums and events—in fact our next one, Mobile Madness: The New Future of Computing, is tomorrow. There are only two downsides to putting on events. They’re relatively small (reaching hundreds of people rather than thousands, the way we can online), and pretty soon, they’re over. To counteract those two … Continue reading “Mobile Madness Innovation Showcase”
Qualcomm CEO Outlines Vision for Wireless Internet, Experts Explain Memjet’s Pluses and Minuses, Tech Coast Angels Slow Investment Activity, & More San Diego BizTech News
Qualcomm’s chairman and CEO says the San Diego wireless company is in the driver’s seat when it comes to setting the agenda for the wireless industry. We’re here to tell you what that means, so you don’t miss the on-ramp. —When Paul Jacobs was named to head San Diego’s Qualcomm five years ago, the No. … Continue reading “Qualcomm CEO Outlines Vision for Wireless Internet, Experts Explain Memjet’s Pluses and Minuses, Tech Coast Angels Slow Investment Activity, & More San Diego BizTech News”
Scientists from Sapphire Energy, UCSD, Scripps, and Protelica Show Genetically Modified Algae Can Make Important Drugs
Scientists in San Diego and Hayward, CA, have demonstrated the feasibility of using algae to produce commercial levels of human therapeutic proteins that are currently being used to treat emphysema and other diseases, or are in clinical trials for use to boost the immune system. “The bottom line from the study is that the algae … Continue reading “Scientists from Sapphire Energy, UCSD, Scripps, and Protelica Show Genetically Modified Algae Can Make Important Drugs”
Vertex Maps Out Combo Drug Game Plan for Treating Hepatitis C
HIV has taught the pharmaceutical industry that the best way to fight an infectious virus that resists a single drug is to make a cocktail that attacks the virus in more than one way. Vertex Pharmaceuticals and its competitors are now following a similar formula with new therapies for hepatitis C. Vertex, the Cambridge, MA-based … Continue reading “Vertex Maps Out Combo Drug Game Plan for Treating Hepatitis C”
Dendreon Leans on California 9-1-1 Software Vendor to Keep Provenge Trains on Time
If Dendreon makes any information technology screw-ups with its experimental treatment for prostate cancer, it could be a matter of life and death for patients. That’s why the Seattle-based biotech company has turned to a custom software vendor with a reputation for supporting the California 9-1-1 system for 12 years with zero downtime. The Dendreon … Continue reading “Dendreon Leans on California 9-1-1 Software Vendor to Keep Provenge Trains on Time”
Berners-Lee to Share Reins at World Wide Web Consortium with Former IBM, Lucent, Novell Exec
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web and director of the Cambridge, MA-based World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which oversees the standards underlying the global network, has a new co-captain. It’s Jeffrey Jaffe, a technology industry veteran who served most recently as chief technology officer and executive vice president of products at Waltham, … Continue reading “Berners-Lee to Share Reins at World Wide Web Consortium with Former IBM, Lucent, Novell Exec”