Maybe it’s just that executives feeling misery love to have company, but the mood this week at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco didn’t strike me as quite as apocalyptic as advertised. I’ve been doing some unscientific polling of Boston’s biotech leaders this week at the industry’s biggest investor event, asking a series … Continue reading “How to Survive the Downturn: Five Questions With Boston Biotech Leaders, Part 1”
Category: National
ZymoGenetics Cuts Big Deal, Pathway Unveils Strategy, Chris Rivera Takes Over at WBBA & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
This week the biotech industry converged on San Francisco’s Union Square for the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. Plenty of investors were licking their wounds from a rough year, but there was still news to get the juices flowing, including one lucrative partnership out of Seattle. —ZymoGenetics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ZGEN]]) made the biggest headline of this year’s … Continue reading “ZymoGenetics Cuts Big Deal, Pathway Unveils Strategy, Chris Rivera Takes Over at WBBA & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
Smartsheet Raises $1.25M from Madrona Venture Group, Others
Bellevue, WA-based Smartsheet has raised $1.25 million in Series B funding, says co-founder and executive chairman Brent Frei, on his blog. Investors included Madrona Venture Group and Frei himself. Smartsheet makes software that companies use to manage team-based projects and track outsourced tasks, as an alternative to Excel spreadsheets, e-mail folders, and the like. Frei, … Continue reading “Smartsheet Raises $1.25M from Madrona Venture Group, Others”
SpaceShipOne Replica Arrives at Paul Allen’s Hangar
Paul Allen just got a new addition to his Flying Heritage Collection of vintage aircraft. Yesterday, the Paine Field facility in Everett, WA, held a media event in which the museum hoisted a full-scale replica of SpaceShipOne to the ceiling. Just thought Xconomy readers would be interested to see these photos (courtesy of Jennifer Bragg … Continue reading “SpaceShipOne Replica Arrives at Paul Allen’s Hangar”
FitnessKeeper Is Making Its $10 iPhone App Free…For One Day
Here’s an interesting little story about a local mobile software developer and the vagaries of working with Apple. At several recent events around town, I’ve run into a fellow named Jason Jacobs. He’s the founder of FitnessKeeper, a Boston startup that released a fitness app for the iPhone back in August. Called RunKeeper, the app … Continue reading “FitnessKeeper Is Making Its $10 iPhone App Free…For One Day”
VCs to Entrepreneurs: Outlook for Software Startups Is As Good—or Bad—As Ever
When the moderator for a panel discussion about the venture outlook for 2009 begins by saying, “Everyone knows it’s really bleak right now,” it’s a safe bet you’re not at a chapter meeting for Optimist International. But a venture overview yesterday organized by the San Diego Software Industry Council seemed to run against the current … Continue reading “VCs to Entrepreneurs: Outlook for Software Startups Is As Good—or Bad—As Ever”
Sequenom Getting Aggressive in Bid to Buy Exact Sciences
San Diego diagnostics firm Sequenom (NASDAQ:[[ticker:SQNM]]) says it plans to acquire all shares of cancer test maker Exact Sciences’ common stock (NASDAQ:[[ticker:EXAS]]), despite a rejection from Exact’s board of directors to Sequenom’s recent buyout offer. Sequenom proposes to buy each share of Marlborough, MA-based Exact for $1.50 worth of Sequenom common stock, a total value … Continue reading “Sequenom Getting Aggressive in Bid to Buy Exact Sciences”
Boston-area Software Firms Hitch Their Wagons to Salesforce; Say Ride Can Be Rough But Profitable
“Platform” is such an overused buzzword in the software world that my ears start oozing cerebrospinal fluid every time I hear it. But my reaction notwithstanding, history does include a few genuine examples of devices or programs developed by one company that became critical platforms for new products from a host of others. The Windows … Continue reading “Boston-area Software Firms Hitch Their Wagons to Salesforce; Say Ride Can Be Rough But Profitable”
Smoothing Out Jittery Internet Video, Elemental Technologies Looks to Reinvent How You Watch
If you’re like most people, you’re viewing a lot more videos on your computer or mobile device these days. But say you want to watch CNN’s live coverage of the U.S. presidential inauguration next week on your BlackBerry, iPhone, or laptop. You might not be able to—or you might get a jittery, unclear picture—because of … Continue reading “Smoothing Out Jittery Internet Video, Elemental Technologies Looks to Reinvent How You Watch”
Cubist and Alnylam Tackle RSV, Exact Sciences Fends Off Sequenom, An FDA Panel Backs GTC Biotherapeutics’ Goat-Milk Drug, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News
New England’s life sciences firms unveiled some big deals and big plans this week. —Satori Pharmaceuticals raised $22 million from investors including InterWest Partners, Prospect Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, and PureTech Ventures (which launched the firm). The Cambridge, MA-based startup told Luke about its vision of becoming the first company to stop the progressive … Continue reading “Cubist and Alnylam Tackle RSV, Exact Sciences Fends Off Sequenom, An FDA Panel Backs GTC Biotherapeutics’ Goat-Milk Drug, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”
Zoodango Relaunches, Ditching Social Networking for Location-Based Meeting Up
For James Sun, runner-up on season six of The Apprentice and CEO of Seattle-based Zoodango, it’s all about getting people together. And he wants to help them find meeting spots. Yesterday, he announced the launch of the re-tooled Zoodango, once a social-networking site and now a map-based service where users use a “geo-search engine” to … Continue reading “Zoodango Relaunches, Ditching Social Networking for Location-Based Meeting Up”
Boston-Power Lands $55M Fourth Round To Fuel Production of Longer-Lasting Lithium-Ion Batteries For Laptops, Vehicles
Boston-Power has closed a $55 million fourth round of financing to fund its expansion—including ratcheting up production of its longer-lasting lithium-ion batteries for laptops—and to boost efforts to break into the promising market to supply batteries for e-bikes as well as hybrid and electric vehicles, the company revealed this morning. The financial jolt comes on … Continue reading “Boston-Power Lands $55M Fourth Round To Fuel Production of Longer-Lasting Lithium-Ion Batteries For Laptops, Vehicles”
Biogen Idec Parkinson’s Drug Hits Goal in Pair of Mid-Stage Trials
Biogen Idec had some encouraging word for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease this morning. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) said its experimental drug for the disease reached its goal of demonstrating effectiveness in a pair of mid-stage clinical trials, although it didn’t go into detail about how good the data really was. The … Continue reading “Biogen Idec Parkinson’s Drug Hits Goal in Pair of Mid-Stage Trials”
Positronic Purchased by eBay, Ex-Microsoft Execs Moving to Silicon Valley
The Seattle search startup Positronic has been acquired by eBay for an undisclosed sum. The news was first reported on Mary Jo Foley’s Microsoft blog last week, and was later confirmed on eBay’s company blog. It’s an interesting and somewhat sad story, as it means the departure of prominent Seattle-area tech executives, as well as … Continue reading “Positronic Purchased by eBay, Ex-Microsoft Execs Moving to Silicon Valley”
Targanta Gets $42M Buyout Offer From NJ Drug Firm
Targanta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:[[ticker:TARG]]), the Cambridge, MA-based biotech firm that saw its value sink last month after the FDA decided not to approve its lead antibiotic oritavancin as a treatment for MRSA and other infections, has agreed to be acquired by drug maker The Medicines Company, the proposed buyer says. The Medicines Company (NASDAQ:[[ticker:MDCO]]) said yesterday … Continue reading “Targanta Gets $42M Buyout Offer From NJ Drug Firm”
Ze-gen Energized by Middle East Conglomerate in $20M Series B
Ze-gen has tapped a new investor in the Middle East to help raise $20 million in a Series B round of financing, looking to use the capital to commercialize its method of converting solid waste into gas for power plants. The Boston-based company’s new investor, Waroz Holding Company (a unit of Oman-based industrial conglomerate Omar … Continue reading “Ze-gen Energized by Middle East Conglomerate in $20M Series B”
For All They Do, Sempra’s Utilities Need Innovation Too
Perhaps because they operate in heavily regulated industries, electric and gas utility companies are not usually regarded as centers of innovation. And to some critics, the utilities operated by San Diego’s Sempra Energy seem to operate in stodgy defiance to anything shiny and newfangled. But it’s a bad rap to Hal Snyder, who oversees strategy … Continue reading “For All They Do, Sempra’s Utilities Need Innovation Too”
Pathway’s New CEO Carves Out Market in the Legs & Beyond
Tom Clement was the founding engineer who started Kirkland, WA-based Pathway Medical Technologies a decade ago, resurrected it after a setback in treating heart disease, and reinvented it around a modified device to clear out clogged arteries in the legs. Now that it has won FDA approval, task No. 1 at Pathway is to make … Continue reading “Pathway’s New CEO Carves Out Market in the Legs & Beyond”
Burnham Cuts Deal With Johnson & Johnson In First Sweeping Big Pharma Partnership
The San Diego-based Burnham Institute for Medical Research has cut its first institution-wide partnership with a Big Pharma company. Burnham has agreed to a multi-year agreement to let Johnson & Johnson’s Pharmaceutical Research and Development unit have access to its highly-efficient screening technologies to help develop new drugs against inflammatory diseases. Financial terms of the … Continue reading “Burnham Cuts Deal With Johnson & Johnson In First Sweeping Big Pharma Partnership”
Boston Journalists Launch GlobalPost.com, Alternative to Traditional Media’s Shrinking International Coverage
Declaring that “quality journalism in America is threatened more profoundly today than at any time in our history” by the accelerating death throes of the traditional newspaper and TV news businesses, two veteran Boston-area journalists yesterday launched GlobalPost, an online-only source for on-the-ground international news of the sort that’s increasingly scarce in the mainstream media. … Continue reading “Boston Journalists Launch GlobalPost.com, Alternative to Traditional Media’s Shrinking International Coverage”
Microsoft Wins Over Verizon, DTS Buys Neural Audio, ZymoGenetics Scores with Bristol-Myers, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
The first full week of 2009 was a busy one for deals in the Northwest. There were some big ones in biotech, software, mobile, and cleantech. —Luke reported Seattle-based ZymoGenetics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ZGEN]]) has hit a “home run” with a global partnership with the drug giant Bristol-Myers Squibb, worth up to $1.1 billion, to co-develop an … Continue reading “Microsoft Wins Over Verizon, DTS Buys Neural Audio, ZymoGenetics Scores with Bristol-Myers, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”
Biotech Jet-Setter, Chris Rivera, Aims to Build Washington’s Life Sciences Cluster, Part 2
Yesterday, we ran the first part of an extended interview with Chris Rivera, the new president of the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association. He talked about how his skills are different from those of his predecessor, Jack Faris, and the assets this region has compared to Boston and San Francisco, the two global life sciences … Continue reading “Biotech Jet-Setter, Chris Rivera, Aims to Build Washington’s Life Sciences Cluster, Part 2”
Massachusetts’ Life Sciences Czar Talks Strategy Amid Squeeze on State Spending and Stingy Financial Market
A lot has happened since Xconomy’s last in-depth interview last summer with Susan Windham-Bannister, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, the agency in charge of the state’s 10-year, $1 billion stimulus plan for its life sciences industry. For one, the state Legislature cut the agency’s annual budget for operations and research grants … Continue reading “Massachusetts’ Life Sciences Czar Talks Strategy Amid Squeeze on State Spending and Stingy Financial Market”
Exact Sciences to Sequenom: No Deal
Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:[[ticker:EXAS]]), a Marlborough, MA-based maker of cancer diagnostics, is searching for a better deal than the one it was offered last week by San Diego-based diagnostics firm Sequenom (NASDAQ:[[ticker:SQNM]]). This afternoon, Exact said its board of directors unanimously rejected Sequenom’s bid to acquire the company for $1.50 per share worth of Sequenom common … Continue reading “Exact Sciences to Sequenom: No Deal”
Tempest in a Tea Kettle: CO2Stats Founder Caught in Frenzy Around Environmental Costs of a Google Search
(Jan. 14, 2009—Further updated and corrected with comments from the Sunday Times of London and Alex Wissner-Gross—see below) Updated and corrected, see below: I just got off the phone with Alex Wissner-Gross, co-founder of Cambridge, MA-based CO2Stats (the recent Y Combinator alumnus firm is run out of an apartment here in Kendall Square), who is … Continue reading “Tempest in a Tea Kettle: CO2Stats Founder Caught in Frenzy Around Environmental Costs of a Google Search”
ZymoGenetics Snags $1.1 Billion Partnership With Bristol-Myers For Hepatitis C Drug
Update with detail from regulatory filing at the end: ZymoGenetics has broken out of its slump with a home run. The Seattle-based biotech is announcing today it has signed a global partnership with drug giant Bristol-Myers Squibb, worth as much as $1.1 billion, to co-develop an experimental treatment for hepatitis C, a chronic liver infection … Continue reading “ZymoGenetics Snags $1.1 Billion Partnership With Bristol-Myers For Hepatitis C Drug”
Microsoft Leads $24M Investment in N-trig’s Pen and Touch Interface
N-trig, a computing-interface company based in Kfar Saba, Israel, announced today it has received $24 million in new funding from Microsoft and other investors, including Aurum Ventures, Challenger, Canaan Partners, and Evergreen Venture Partners. The money will help the company perfect its “DuoSense” digitizer, a hardware layer for touch screens that translates both pen- and … Continue reading “Microsoft Leads $24M Investment in N-trig’s Pen and Touch Interface”
Bill to End Non-Compete Agreements Filed on Beacon Hill
Massachusetts Representative Will Brownsberger filed a bill today calling on the state legislature to outlaw the non-compete agreements that prevent many Massachusetts residents who leave their employers from finding work at similar companies. The brief bill, entitled “An Act to Prohibit Restrictive Employment Covenents,” would amend Section 19 of Chapter 149 of the General Laws … Continue reading “Bill to End Non-Compete Agreements Filed on Beacon Hill”
Boston Company Adorns Basketball Stadium, Sees Bright Future in Giant LED Displays
A Boston startup called A2aMedia announced today that it has been selected by the Miami Heat basketball team to install a giant LED video display, some 3,400 square feet in area, on the side of the team’s arena in Miami. Consisting of a new kind of see-through, woven metal mesh invented by German architectural supply … Continue reading “Boston Company Adorns Basketball Stadium, Sees Bright Future in Giant LED Displays”
Medtronic To Pick Up Ablation Frontiers for $225 Million Upfront
Medtronic (NYSE: [[ticker:MDT]]) says it has inked a deal to acquire Carlsbad, CA’s Ablation Frontiers, which has been developing a medical device for treating heart arrhythmias. Medtronic will make pay an initial $225 million for the firm, and may make additional payments if certain milestones are met. Medtronic, the Minneapolis medical equipment maker, plans to … Continue reading “Medtronic To Pick Up Ablation Frontiers for $225 Million Upfront”
GreenFuel Hit By Big Layoffs—Nearly Half Staff Let Go This Morning
GreenFuel Technologies, the Cambridge, MA-based algae farming company that was seemingly rebounding from technical setbacks and massive layoffs in the summer of 2007, has this morning laid off close to 50 percent of its staff. We received a tip about the layoffs this morning, and they were confirmed by CEO Simon Upfill-Brown in a telephone … Continue reading “GreenFuel Hit By Big Layoffs—Nearly Half Staff Let Go This Morning”
Alnylam Shoots for the Moon in 2009, Predicts Two More Deals To Come
Somebody forgot to tell Alnylam Pharmaceuticals the economy is in the tank. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech company said it expects to sign two more partnerships this year with big drugmakers to develop its proprietary technology and that it expects to ring in 2010 with a war chest of about $435 million still left in the … Continue reading “Alnylam Shoots for the Moon in 2009, Predicts Two More Deals To Come”
MIT MBA Student: Amazon and Microsoft Are Hiring, Google and Yahoo Aren’t Yet
Want to know who’s hiring the top young business talent around town? Just ask Saleem Hussain, an MBA student from Boston. In a brutal market for tech industry jobs, he gave me a fresh perspective on the next-generation talent pool and where it’s headed, in terms of both big companies and startups. Hussain is a … Continue reading “MIT MBA Student: Amazon and Microsoft Are Hiring, Google and Yahoo Aren’t Yet”
Cleantech Funds Lead $25.4 Million Investment in Fallbrook Technologies
One good turn deserves another, and San Diego alternative transmission maker Fallbrook Technologies is ready to shift to the next level. After working more than 10 years to develop a radical new transmission design that helps motors operate more efficiently, Fallbrook announced today it has secured $25.4 million in its first round of venture funding. NGEN … Continue reading “Cleantech Funds Lead $25.4 Million Investment in Fallbrook Technologies”
Biotech Jet-Setter, Chris Rivera, Aims to Build Washington’s Life Sciences Cluster, Part 1
Washington state’s life sciences trade group has a new boss, Chris Rivera, who has made a career in the high-pressure world of sales and marketing of new biotech drugs. Rivera’s new challenge, starting this month, is to help strengthen this region’s broader industry cluster as president of the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association. Rivera, 47, … Continue reading “Biotech Jet-Setter, Chris Rivera, Aims to Build Washington’s Life Sciences Cluster, Part 1”
Sequenom Makes Buyout Offer, Anadys Zooms on Promising Results, Michael Robertson Gives iPod Last Rights, Forward Ventures Going Virtual, & More San Diego BizTech News
The best part about last week’s deals and biztech news was that so much of it amounted to the first act in a continuing drama. Will the deal go through? Will that drug get approved? Stay tuned… Who needs TV soaps when a corporate buyout drama is unfolding before your very eyes? Will San Diego’s … Continue reading “Sequenom Makes Buyout Offer, Anadys Zooms on Promising Results, Michael Robertson Gives iPod Last Rights, Forward Ventures Going Virtual, & More San Diego BizTech News”
Selling the Company? Get Your House In Order First
The recent downturn in the economy is having—and will continue to have—a significant impact on the ability of many companies to raise money and fund continued growth. This in turn will have significant ramifications on exit strategy. Luckily, for some at least, there are still potential buyers out there with sufficient cash to fund acquisitions. … Continue reading “Selling the Company? Get Your House In Order First”
Boston-Area Mobile Investment Surged Past Half-Billion Mark in 2008
In most New England technology sectors, mid-2008 marked the start of a steep downward tumble in venture, IPO, and M&A activity. But not so for mobile technology. According to a report released today by Mobile Monday Boston, the local mobile industry boomed in 2008, with the total amount of money raised shooting past the $500 … Continue reading “Boston-Area Mobile Investment Surged Past Half-Billion Mark in 2008”
FDA Panel Gives Blessing to First Drug Manufactured in Bioengineered Goats
The first drug ever manufactured in genetically-modified animals is likely coming soon to the U.S. market. A panel of expert advisers to the FDA said today that an experimental anti-clotting product developed by Framingham, MA-based GTC Biotherapeutics looks safe and effective enough to become a marketed product. The advisers essentially agreed with the conclusions reached … Continue reading “FDA Panel Gives Blessing to First Drug Manufactured in Bioengineered Goats”
Sequenom Makes Takeover Bid for MA-Based Exact Sciences, Targets Test for Colorectal Cancer
San Diego-based Sequenom is flexing some of its newfound muscle, by making a takeover bid for Marlborough, MA-based Exact Sciences while it is on the ropes. Sequenom (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SQNM]]) said today after markets closed it is offering $1.50 worth of its own stock in exchange for each share in Exact Sciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EXAS]]). That values … Continue reading “Sequenom Makes Takeover Bid for MA-Based Exact Sciences, Targets Test for Colorectal Cancer”
Northwest Layoff Update: Agilent, Attachmate, Intermec, and ON Semiconductor Slash Jobs
2009 is barely a week old, and already the Washington and Oregon tech industries have seen massive new layoffs in the struggling economy. A quick recap of the latest bloodletting (see the updated Xconomy Seattle layoff litany here): —Agilent Technologies (NYSE: [[ticker:A]]) cut 120 jobs at its plant in Liberty Lake, WA. The Santa Clara, … Continue reading “Northwest Layoff Update: Agilent, Attachmate, Intermec, and ON Semiconductor Slash Jobs”
For Your Listening Pleasure, a Battle of the Tech Bands MP3 Preview
It seems like a good day for some music, so we thought we’d give you a little preview of the tunes you’ll hear at our rapidly approaching second annual Battle of the Tech Bands. (Tickets are going fast—get yours now.) So behold MP3s from four of the six bands that are readying themselves to rock … Continue reading “For Your Listening Pleasure, a Battle of the Tech Bands MP3 Preview”
Alnylam, Cubist Will Cooperate on RNAi Drug for Lung Infections
Cambridge, MA-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Lexington, MA-based Cubist Pharmaceuticals announced a major deal today in which Cubist will pay Alnylam $20 million immediately, and up to $82.5 million in milestone-based payments down the road, in return for the right to market RNAi-based drugs that Alnylam is developing to treat the deadly respiratory syncytial virus, or … Continue reading “Alnylam, Cubist Will Cooperate on RNAi Drug for Lung Infections”
AboutUs Raises $2.5M from Voyager Capital to Create Collaborative Guide to the Web
The Internet software firm AboutUs, based in Portland, OR, announced today it has raised $2.5 million in Series A funding from Seattle-based Voyager Capital. Voyager managing director Erik Benson has joined the company’s board. The deal closed the day before Thanksgiving. But the real story here is what AboutUs is trying to do, and why … Continue reading “AboutUs Raises $2.5M from Voyager Capital to Create Collaborative Guide to the Web”
CalciMedica Finds a New Pathway to Fight Autoimmune Disorders
In 2005, Gonul Velicelebi was the vice president of research and drug discovery at TorreyPines Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TPTX]]) when scientists there determined that a molecule dubbed STIM1 played a crucial role in activating immune cells. To Velicelebi, STIM1 was like a key that helped open a hidden pathway that scientists had been seeking for 20 … Continue reading “CalciMedica Finds a New Pathway to Fight Autoimmune Disorders”
Ditch That USB Cable: The Coolest Apps for Sending Your Photos Around Wirelessly
For average consumers, the big complaint about digital photography has always been that it’s too hard to extract the pictures you’ve taken from your camera or phone so you can show them to the rest of the world. But the truth is there are so many ways to move, share, and display digital photos today … Continue reading “Ditch That USB Cable: The Coolest Apps for Sending Your Photos Around Wirelessly”
Tuning In to Global Health, Lisa Cohen Hopes to Amplify Seattle as Research Hotspot
The global health bug bit Lisa Cohen in 2001. She was a producer at KING5-TV in Seattle at the time, and along with anchorwoman Jean Enerson, she traveled through Africa for two weeks in a delegation with Patty Stonesifer, who was then running the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “That trip inspired me to get … Continue reading “Tuning In to Global Health, Lisa Cohen Hopes to Amplify Seattle as Research Hotspot”
Breast Cancer’s Hidden Side Effect: ImpediMed Aims to Spot Slow-Emerging Lymph Disorder
One of the ugly side effects of breast cancer treatment is lymphedema. This condition can happen when surgeons cut out a tumor in the breast, then move on to the nearby lymph node in the armpit which is the first place tumors usually spread. If the surgeon carves out too much healthy tissue, then it’s … Continue reading “Breast Cancer’s Hidden Side Effect: ImpediMed Aims to Spot Slow-Emerging Lymph Disorder”
Archemix Partners with GSK, EMC Acquires SourceLabs Assets, Satori Raises $22M to Take on Alzheimer’s, & More Boston-Area Deals News
New England tech and life sciences firms have cut many a deal since last we rounded up. Here are some of the most interesting ones. —Cambridge, MA-based Semprus Biosciences, a spinoff from the famed Langer Lab at MIT, closed an $8 million Series A round of venture capital co-led by 5AM Venture and Pangaea Ventures. … Continue reading “Archemix Partners with GSK, EMC Acquires SourceLabs Assets, Satori Raises $22M to Take on Alzheimer’s, & More Boston-Area Deals News”
Obesity Drug From Orexigen Helps Patients Lose Weight in Pivotal Study, Shares Fall Anyway
Updated: Jan. 8, 2:40 pm Pacific–see below: San Diego-based Orexigen Therapeutics said today that a final-stage clinical trial of its experimental obesity drug reached its main goal of helping patients lose weight. The problem is that meeting the goal may not be good enough. The study, the first of four trials examining the effects of … Continue reading “Obesity Drug From Orexigen Helps Patients Lose Weight in Pivotal Study, Shares Fall Anyway”