About 11 months ago, Cambridge, MA-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals agreed to be acquired by Tokyo-based Takeda Pharmaceuticals for $8.8 billion. We’ve already written some about how this deal presented Millennium’s CEO, Deborah Dunsire, some special challenges in terms of language barriers, cultural barriers, taking control of Takeda’s entire cancer drug portfolio, and trying to fit her … Continue reading “Millennium, After Takeda Takeover, Shows Off Cancer Drug Pipeline”
Category: National
New DriveCam CEO Is Focused on the Road Ahead
It’s been a little over six months since Brandon Nixon moved into the driver’s seat as CEO at San Diego-based DriveCam, a venture-backed company that uses a combination of technologies to help reduce risky driving behaviors. That seems like enough time for a new boss to get up to speed, so I stopped in recently to … Continue reading “New DriveCam CEO Is Focused on the Road Ahead”
Vecna’s “Nerds” Ready BEAR Robot for First Field Test at Georgia Army Base
Imagine a soldier is wounded in the middle of a violent firefight in the streets of Mosul, Iraq. With bullets whizzing in every direction, it’s almost guaranteed that a medic would be shot in a rescue attempt. Enter the BEAR robot, which rolls up to the wounded soldier, scoops her up in its arms, and … Continue reading “Vecna’s “Nerds” Ready BEAR Robot for First Field Test at Georgia Army Base”
Kaspersky Lab Launches Malware News Site Threatpost
Randy Drawas, chief marketing officer at Moscow, Russia-based antivirus company Kaspersky Lab, shared some disturbing statistics with me earlier this week. In 2007, he said, Kaspersky’s researchers detected as much malicious software activity on the Internet as they had in the previous 11 years combined. In 2008, malware volume doubled yet again. And in 2009, … Continue reading “Kaspersky Lab Launches Malware News Site Threatpost”
Obama Stimulates UW, Public Biotechs Run Low on Cash, Healionics Ships Glaucoma Product & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
Biomedical research funded by Uncle Sam is hot, but publicly traded biotech companies that seek to develop those discoveries in the Northwest are cold. Here’s a recap of the week’s ups and downs in the local life sciences scene: —President Obama is proposing a whopping $10 billion addition to the National Institutes of Health’s budget … Continue reading “Obama Stimulates UW, Public Biotechs Run Low on Cash, Healionics Ships Glaucoma Product & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
Molecular Insight Preps for Pivotal Trial of Heart Attack Warning Sign Detector
Cambridge, MA-based Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals is gearing up for a pivotal clinical trial of a new type of diagnostic tool for spotting early signs of blockages in the heart that can lead to a heart attack or stroke. Molecular Insight (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MIPI]]) is making this strategic move after reviewing detailed results from a 510-patient mid-stage … Continue reading “Molecular Insight Preps for Pivotal Trial of Heart Attack Warning Sign Detector”
Vioguard CEO Larry Ranta Takes Germ-Zapping Keyboard Into Growing Hospital Market
The concept is simple: a computer keyboard that self-sanitizes by zapping potentially deadly germs with ultraviolet light. The technology could help prevent the spread of nasty bacterial invaders like MRSA in hospitals and other institutions with shared computer facilities. That’s the idea behind Vioguard, a Bothell, WA, company co-founded by startup specialist Larry Ranta and … Continue reading “Vioguard CEO Larry Ranta Takes Germ-Zapping Keyboard Into Growing Hospital Market”
Venture Industry and Government Together Will Grow the Economy
With the financial crisis as a backdrop, venture capitalists and policy makers are today finding themselves on common ground more than ever. Our economy has some serious structural problems. And the way past these problems will be through innovation and job creation. Venture capital has been the engine for America’s new, innovative companies for over … Continue reading “Venture Industry and Government Together Will Grow the Economy”
NWEN Investor Forum Yields Five Startup Finalists and a Winner, Hydrovolts
I stopped by The Big Picture, a cozy movie theater and lounge in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood, to catch the end of the Northwest Entrepreneur Network’s First Look Forum yesterday. The concept of the retooled event was to showcase only companies that had not yet pitched to an organized angel group or VCs. These are startups … Continue reading “NWEN Investor Forum Yields Five Startup Finalists and a Winner, Hydrovolts”
State Budget Cuts Limit UW’s Ability to Attract Federal Research Funding
Federal stimulus grants from the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation do not compensate for cuts in state support to the University of Washington or to other colleges and universities. In fact, state budget cuts have limited the state’s premier research university’s ability to pursue these considerable additional research funds. Headlines such as … Continue reading “State Budget Cuts Limit UW’s Ability to Attract Federal Research Funding”
Sticking to its Guns with Gene Therapy, Genzyme To Present Key Findings Within Days
Dozens of companies have given up on gene therapy after the technology failed to live up to its early promise, but not Genzyme. The world’s largest maker of drugs for genetic diseases has stuck with this field through two decades of ups and downs, and it expects to see important results in coming days on … Continue reading “Sticking to its Guns with Gene Therapy, Genzyme To Present Key Findings Within Days”
Spark Capital Launches Startup Seed Fund
[Updated with interview material from Spark Capital general partner Bijan Sabet, see below.] It’s almost the equivalent of the “microloans” phenomenon for the venture world: the profusion of startup schools, bootcamps, incubators, and seed funds that give teams small amounts of money—from a few thousand dollars to a few hundred thousand—to get their ideas up … Continue reading “Spark Capital Launches Startup Seed Fund”
Smarter Speed-Reading: ReadingStream Explores New Ways to Help the Brain Process Text
Like a growing number of Americans, I do most of my reading in front of a laptop or handheld screen. And though I think I read electronic texts a good deal faster than the average person—who by several accounts reads between 200 and 250 words per minute on a screen—I’m open to any technology that … Continue reading “Smarter Speed-Reading: ReadingStream Explores New Ways to Help the Brain Process Text”
San Diego’s Cleantech Cluster: The A to Z List of Clean-Technology and Alternative-Energy Innovation
Who’s Who in San Diego cleantech innovation? At Xconomy San Diego, we wanted to answer that question as completely as possible, so we put together an accounting of all the local companies that are creating new ways to make biofuels, clean the environment, and improve the energy efficiency of our vehicles, homes, and businesses. In … Continue reading “San Diego’s Cleantech Cluster: The A to Z List of Clean-Technology and Alternative-Energy Innovation”
Alnara Leapfrogs Into Phase III, Just Six Months After Getting Started
Most biotech startups wait seven years or more before entering late-stage clinical trials. But Alnara Pharmaceuticals, which is just six months removed from its $20 million first-round financing, has acquired a license to an enzyme-replacement pill in the final stage of development for patients with cystic fibrosis and chronic pancreatitis. Cambridge, MA-based Alnara has licensed … Continue reading “Alnara Leapfrogs Into Phase III, Just Six Months After Getting Started”
The Northwest Biotech Survival Index 2: Companies Scraping By in Downturn
When I last crunched the financial numbers of the Northwest’s life sciences companies in November, the local contingent was taking a beating, and it has only continued. Just three of the 12 publicly-traded life sciences companies in the Northwest—Seattle Genetics, SonoSite, and Dendreon—were really well-positioned to weather this downturn with more than $100 million in … Continue reading “The Northwest Biotech Survival Index 2: Companies Scraping By in Downturn”
Clean Water Boom: Halosource Spreads Purifying Technology Across India, China
The last time I checked in with Bothell, WA-based Halosource in July, it was gaining momentum with a cheap, simple technology for purifying drinking water that was being used by a million people in India. Nine months later, privately held Halosource, a company with just 100 employees, appears to have a hit on its hands. … Continue reading “Clean Water Boom: Halosource Spreads Purifying Technology Across India, China”
New Execs for Exact, Sirtris, and Ischemix; New Deal for Biogen and Aveo; New Money for MedAptus and Claros; & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News
The executive suites of several New England’s biotech and medical device companies saw new faces this week. —Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems (OTC:[[ticker:CYKN]]), a Foxborough, MA-based developer of devices to treat and aid patients with spinal injuries, revealed to the Boston Globe that it is shutting down. Earlier this year Cyberkinetics sold the rights to its Andara … Continue reading “New Execs for Exact, Sirtris, and Ischemix; New Deal for Biogen and Aveo; New Money for MedAptus and Claros; & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”
Xconomy Forum Preview: Northwest Cleantech Rising this Thursday
It’s shaping up to be a really special event. Xconomy is putting on a forum about cleantech innovation this Thursday evening at K&L Gates in downtown Seattle. Our distinguished panelists will put away their PowerPoint slides and get right down to debating the tough questions. What are the real opportunities in cleantech-meets-software? How should the … Continue reading “Xconomy Forum Preview: Northwest Cleantech Rising this Thursday”
San Diego Biotech Hollis-Eden Terminates CEO
Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:HEPH]]) said in a government filing yesterday that a special committee of the biotech’s board of directors has fired Richard Hollis, the company’s namesake and founding CEO. In its notice, the San Diego company disclosed only that Hollis was terminated on March 18 pursuant to the section of his 1996 employment contract … Continue reading “San Diego Biotech Hollis-Eden Terminates CEO”
Leroy Hood, ISB Scientists Spot Genes For “Mad Cow” Disease; May Lead to Diagnostic Test
A team of scientists led by biotech pioneer Leroy Hood have spotted a set of genes that go haywire in mice infected with a form of “Mad Cow” disease—a finding that could pave the way for more effective early diagnostic tests for the brain-wasting condition in cattle. The new findings are being published online today … Continue reading “Leroy Hood, ISB Scientists Spot Genes For “Mad Cow” Disease; May Lead to Diagnostic Test”
Free Zinc Browser and Pro Version of ZvBox Breathe New Life into ZeeVee’s Internet Video Technology
ZeeVee, the Littleton, MA-based startup focused on helping people watch high-definition Internet video on their TVs, today introduced a new version of its free video browser. Formerly called Zviewer—and originally designed for the ZvBox, the firm’s PC-to-TV-over-coaxial-cable appliance—the browser is now called Zinc, and runs on any Windows XP or Vista computer. (A Mac version … Continue reading “Free Zinc Browser and Pro Version of ZvBox Breathe New Life into ZeeVee’s Internet Video Technology”
Healionics Takes First Step Toward Glaucoma Treatment, Appoints New CEO
Healionics is taking an important step today toward becoming a commercial business. The Redmond, WA-based company, the two-year-old developer of technology to promote healing around implantable medical devices, has sold and shipped its first product. It has also undergone a leadership shake-up, with CEO Rob Brown stepping aside and being replaced by the company’s former … Continue reading “Healionics Takes First Step Toward Glaucoma Treatment, Appoints New CEO”
How Massachusetts Should Boost Innovation—A Compendium of Reader Ideas (And A Call for More)
How should Massachusetts strengthen and grow its innovation ecosystem? What are the best ways to foster entrepreneurship, improve the high-tech work force, and entice companies, whether here already or thinking about a local presence, to expand in the Bay State? Last month, after witnessing a flurry of talk focused on addressing such issues by rebranding … Continue reading “How Massachusetts Should Boost Innovation—A Compendium of Reader Ideas (And A Call for More)”
Intellectual Ventures Inks India Deal, Ontela Teams with T-Mobile, MDRNA Nabs $7.25M, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
It was a quiet week for deals in the Northwest, with a few partnerships formed in software, biotech, and intellectual property. —Bothell, WA-based MDRNA (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MRNA]]), a developer of RNA interference technology for drug development, agreed to license its technology non-exclusively to Novartis in exchange for $7.25 million in upfront fees, as Luke reported. MDRNA … Continue reading “Intellectual Ventures Inks India Deal, Ontela Teams with T-Mobile, MDRNA Nabs $7.25M, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”
Calixa Passes Key Safety Test in Clinical Trial of New Antibiotic
MRSA is the headline-grabbing boogeyman of the day when it comes to the type of deadly infections that people can pick up in the hospital. But there are all sorts of other nasty bugs crawling around your healthcare facility, and San Diego-based Calixa Therapeutics says it is on its way to creating a new drug … Continue reading “Calixa Passes Key Safety Test in Clinical Trial of New Antibiotic”
A New World Order for High-Growth Firms
Many of my friends and neighbors may have noticed that I haven’t been in town as much lately, and that I’m spending more and more of my time in Kansas City. So why would a hardened MIT denizen who used to think that distant travel meant going to Porter Square now be flying back and … Continue reading “A New World Order for High-Growth Firms”
FirstBest Systems Banks $6M Series B Financing, Looks to Help Insurers Overcome Economic Slump
Here’s a firm that may see demand for its products increase due to adverse economics in its target market. FirstBest Systems, a Bedford, MA, provider of underwriting software that could help property and casualty insurers expand their businesses, says it has wrapped up a $6 million second round of financing to ensure its own growth. … Continue reading “FirstBest Systems Banks $6M Series B Financing, Looks to Help Insurers Overcome Economic Slump”
Zeebo Debuts New Game Console for Emerging Market
Zeebo, a San Diego video-game company backed by Qualcomm, today launched the “world’s fourth console” for video games. The company’s strategy, outlined by Zeebo CEO John Rizzo at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, is focused on the video-game market in emerging countries. Zeebo is entering an industry dominated by the big three of game consoles: the … Continue reading “Zeebo Debuts New Game Console for Emerging Market”
Mobile Trends: The Cell Phone Body Count
You may not realize it, but your mobile phone is a cold-blooded killer. Its assault began with little fanfare—the first victim, the phone booth, wasn’t particularly well-loved, and nobody was expecting a complete extermination. Yet here we stand in a world where Clark Kent couldn’t find a place to pull on his Supersuit if the … Continue reading “Mobile Trends: The Cell Phone Body Count”
Few Carbonite Customers Lost Data in Drive Failure, CEO Says
Saturday’s Boston Globe contained news of a lawsuit filed by Boston-based online backup company Carbonite against two companies that supplied allegedly defective disk drive arrays. Carbonite CEO David Friend confirmed today that that a suit has been filed, but he says he’s concerned that the Globe story—which has been widely re-reported in outlets such as … Continue reading “Few Carbonite Customers Lost Data in Drive Failure, CEO Says”
Jeff Raikes on Backing Agile Sports, a Startup Focused on Football, Built on Microsoft Tech
Even the chief executive of the world’s largest philanthropic institution has a little time for his boyhood passions. Jeff Raikes, the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, grew up on a ranch near Omaha, NE, rooting for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers, a national college football powerhouse. Raikes made his fortune at Microsoft, … Continue reading “Jeff Raikes on Backing Agile Sports, a Startup Focused on Football, Built on Microsoft Tech”
Android Co-Founder Miner Reportedly Tapped to Help Run New $100 Million Google Venture Fund
Rich Miner, the driving force behind Google’s Android operating system for mobile phones and a longtime leader in Massachusetts communications software circles, reportedly will join Google Ventures, a $100 million venture fund the search giant is said to be forming. Rumors of the planned venture fund have been in the air since last summer. More … Continue reading “Android Co-Founder Miner Reportedly Tapped to Help Run New $100 Million Google Venture Fund”
Charting Startups in the Downturn, San Diego’s Biotech Survival Index (Part Deux), Court Dismisses Federal Patent Suit Against Qualcomm, & More SD BizTech News
If there’s a theme to be found in the innovation news for San Diego last week, it might be comings and goings. While some companies are making layoffs or even shuttering their doors, we also found a number of new startups taking root here (although not as many as a year ago). —In a report … Continue reading “Charting Startups in the Downturn, San Diego’s Biotech Survival Index (Part Deux), Court Dismisses Federal Patent Suit Against Qualcomm, & More SD BizTech News”
Obama Stimulus Plan May Generate $300M Research Windfall, UW Says
The Northwest’s biggest research center is going to get a lot bigger in a hurry. The University of Washington expects it will rake in a $300 million windfall of research money in the next six months as part of President Obama’s economic stimulus plan, according to Linden Rhoads, the UW’s vice provost of technology transfer. … Continue reading “Obama Stimulus Plan May Generate $300M Research Windfall, UW Says”
Pure Bioscience Sets A Silver Standard for Germ-Killing Products
Pure Bioscience founder and CEO Michael Krall smiled knowingly when he met me recently at the company’s El Cajon, CA, headquarters. “You chose a great time to write this story,” he told me. “We are now starting to enjoy the fruits of our labor. There’s gold in silver, oh yes.” Silver is the key ingredient … Continue reading “Pure Bioscience Sets A Silver Standard for Germ-Killing Products”
How Green Are Boston’s Green VCs?
(Updated listings — see below) Back in his Navy days as a Top Gun pilot, Jim Matheson of Flagship Ventures—call sign Fuzzy—burned his share of jet fuel. But now that he’s a cleantech investor, he’s more careful about his carbon footprint, tooling around in his red Toyota Prius and buying carbon offsets for his Cirrus … Continue reading “How Green Are Boston’s Green VCs?”
Seattle Layoff Update: Amaze Entertainment, Evri Cut Staff
The carnage continues. At least two area technology companies that we follow at Xconomy have had significant layoffs this week—both at least in part because of the worsening economic climate. Here’s a quick summary of the news: —Kirkland, WA-based Amaze Entertainment, the console-game developer studio owned by Foundation 9 Entertainment (F9E), has laid off about … Continue reading “Seattle Layoff Update: Amaze Entertainment, Evri Cut Staff”
Net Traffic Spikes–Something About That Funny Game with Nets
Internet news sites are experiencing their fourth biggest traffic day ever, as millions of people who should be working instead point their browsers to online video coverage of the “March Madness” NCAA basketball playoffs, judging by the Net Usage Index: News, a Web traffic monitoring service maintained by Cambridge, MA-based Akamai Technologies. The index indicated … Continue reading “Net Traffic Spikes–Something About That Funny Game with Nets”
Surprised? Oxford Bioscience Partners Lands, Briefly, on Dreaded List of “VC Walking Dead”
It’s always slightly shocking to find out that a perceived wealthy friend or colleague isn’t so well off. I felt much the same way yesterday about seeing biotech venture firm Oxford Bioscience Partners on PE Hub’s roster of the “VC Walking Dead,” which is a list of more than a dozen venture firms that PE … Continue reading “Surprised? Oxford Bioscience Partners Lands, Briefly, on Dreaded List of “VC Walking Dead””
The San Diego Biotech Survival Index 2: Clinging to Cash in the Downturn
Something like one-third of the public biotech companies are running with six months’ worth of cash or less, and it doesn’t look like San Diego companies are bucking this disturbing trend. When I last surveyed how much cash was available at San Diego’s public biotech companies in November, I found just 10 of 23 public … Continue reading “The San Diego Biotech Survival Index 2: Clinging to Cash in the Downturn”
Google Voice: It’s the End of the Phone As We Know It
[Update 12:00 pm 3/20/09: We were swamped with hundreds of e-mails in response to our offer of 100 free Google Voice beta accounts this morning. Thanks everyone! We’ll be in touch with the winners as soon as possible with details about their new accounts.] Brace for impact, again. Google is about to change the way … Continue reading “Google Voice: It’s the End of the Phone As We Know It”
Intellectual Ventures’ Indian Deal Epitomizes Strategy to Support Invention in Asia
On Monday, Bellevue, WA-based Intellectual Ventures signed an agreement with the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay to license some of the university’s inventions and to work on technology commercialization strategies with its researchers, as reported by CIOL, Express India, TechFlash, and other outlets. It’s not really big news by itself—Intellectual Ventures has formed similar partnerships with … Continue reading “Intellectual Ventures’ Indian Deal Epitomizes Strategy to Support Invention in Asia”
Five More Life Sciences Companies To Watch: Invest Northwest Notebook, Part 2
There were lots of intriguing ideas circulating at this year’s Invest Northwest conference in Seattle; so many, in fact, that I couldn’t jam them all into one story. Yesterday, I offered an update on the progress of five intriguing Seattle-area companies in the business of making new drugs, vaccines, or medical devices—Alder Biopharmaceuticals, Immune Design, … Continue reading “Five More Life Sciences Companies To Watch: Invest Northwest Notebook, Part 2”
Investors Wire $10M to Quattro Wireless, NKT Therapeutics Nabs $8M, Still River Makes $33M Worth of Waves, & More Boston-Area Deals News
My much beloved Powerbook is about two reboots away from being utterly bricked, so this week’s roundup of New England tech and life sciences deals is going to be a lightning round. Let’s see how much I can tell you before the mortar sets… —Lexington, MA-based Pulmatrix reportedly raised $3 million in a bridge round … Continue reading “Investors Wire $10M to Quattro Wireless, NKT Therapeutics Nabs $8M, Still River Makes $33M Worth of Waves, & More Boston-Area Deals News”
March Madness on Mobile TV
March Madness is in the air, and beginning today Qualcomm’s MediaFLO plans to broadcast all 63 games of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament to AT&T—but AT&T customers must have a mobile TV-enabled cell phone to watch the games. This is the first time AT&T has carried every game from the college basketball tournament for its … Continue reading “March Madness on Mobile TV”
The Stimulus Bill and Funding Opportunities for Cleantech Startups
[Editor’s note: Scott Wolfe wrote this article with Edward W. Correia, counsel in Latham & Watkins’ Washington, D.C. office.] On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the largest funding bill in the history of the United States, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The law provides almost $800 billion in … Continue reading “The Stimulus Bill and Funding Opportunities for Cleantech Startups”
Snapshot of a Tipping Point: Ontela Teams Up with T-Mobile to Deliver Photos Online
Seattle mobile startup Ontela is announcing today that its photo-sending service for camera phones is now available through T-Mobile, via a partnership with the photo-sharing website Photobucket. The news comes on the heels of Ontela’s software going live on Verizon Wireless phones in November (also through Photobucket), as well as being pre-installed on four of … Continue reading “Snapshot of a Tipping Point: Ontela Teams Up with T-Mobile to Deliver Photos Online”
MITX Expands Scope of Technology Awards to “Promising” Early-Stage Companies; Entries Due April 3
For the past five years, the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX) has held an awards ceremony to recognize the most innovative technology companies in New England. Past winners have included significant regional players with established technologies—companies like BladeLogic, BBN Technologies, Progress Software, McAfee, Turbine, and Skyhook Wireless. But this year MITX is expanding the … Continue reading “MITX Expands Scope of Technology Awards to “Promising” Early-Stage Companies; Entries Due April 3″
In Latest Expedition, J. Craig Venter Partners With Life Technologies
A 95-foot sailboat named the Sorcerer II will set sail today from San Diego’s Shelter Island Marina on what its owner, the J. Craig Venter Institute, bills as “a global ocean sampling voyage of genomic discovery.” Yesterday afternoon, the irrepressible Venter himself was barefoot as he hosted a dockside bon voyage party while an enormous … Continue reading “In Latest Expedition, J. Craig Venter Partners With Life Technologies”