After seeing its two most advanced cancer therapies fail in clinical trials this month, OncoMed Pharmaceuticals is slashing its workforce by half and focusing on compounds in earlier stages of development, the company announced Monday. The layoffs will leave Redwood City, CA-based OncoMed with 64 full-time employees. The company says that the cuts will save … Continue reading “OncoMed Slashes Workforce After Two Clinical Trial Failures in Cancer”
Category: New York
Xconomy Bookclub: Big Data Meets Fine Dining in CEO’s “Culinary Tour”
Software, it has been said, is eating the world. Now the food world is looking to use technology and analytics as a main ingredient in running more profitable organizations. So says Damian Mogavero, who along with Joseph D’Agnese, wrote The Underground Culinary Tour: How the New Metrics of Today’s Top Restaurants Are Transforming How America … Continue reading “Xconomy Bookclub: Big Data Meets Fine Dining in CEO’s “Culinary Tour””
Becton Dickinson Aims Beyond Diabetes with $24B Bard Deal
In a medical technology merger with implications for the healthcare sector in the United States and beyond, Becton Dickinson is acquiring C.R. Bard for $24 billion to tap into the growing markets for products used in treating vascular conditions and cancer. Under the deal announced Sunday, Franklin Lakes, NJ-based Becton Dickinson (NYSE: [[ticker:BD]]) will pay … Continue reading “Becton Dickinson Aims Beyond Diabetes with $24B Bard Deal”
Pursuing Larger Rivals, NGM Bio Tries To Make Mark On Fatty Livers
[Corrected 4/25/17, 12:30 p.m. See below.] About 7,000 liver transplants occur in the U.S. each year. A condition that few people can pronounce, and no one has a treatment for, has become a main reason for those transplants. That’s why several rich, powerful drug companies are in the final expensive stage of testing new drugs … Continue reading “Pursuing Larger Rivals, NGM Bio Tries To Make Mark On Fatty Livers”
Michael J. Fox Foundation Promotes Sohini Chowdhury to Deputy CEO
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research has promoted Sohini Chowdhury to deputy chief executive officer. Chowdhury previously was senior vice president of research partnerships for the New York-based nonprofit organization. The foundation says that in her new role, Chowdhury will work with CEO Todd Sherer and co-founder and executive vice chairman Debi Brooks … Continue reading “Michael J. Fox Foundation Promotes Sohini Chowdhury to Deputy CEO”
Bio Roundup: Spinraza Woes, Science March, Baseline Launch & More
Rumblings of a new Obamacare replacement surfaced this week, while scientists and their supporters prepared for Saturday’s—a.k.a. Earth Day’s—nationwide Marches for Science. Our own reporting focused this week on the fallout from high drug prices, with a look at the frustration of families whose children have had trouble gaining access to the first drug ever … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: Spinraza Woes, Science March, Baseline Launch & More”
After 3-Year Partnership, DePuy Acquires TRS Scaffolding Technology
In 2014, Plymouth, MI-based biotech startup Tissue Regeneration Systems (TRS) began collaborating with DePuy Synthes Products, a company under the Johnson & Johnson umbrella making orthopedic products, such as the devices used in joint replacements. This week, DePuy formalized that relationship with the announcement that it has acquired TRS’s FDA-approved, 3D-printed scaffolding technology that enables … Continue reading “After 3-Year Partnership, DePuy Acquires TRS Scaffolding Technology”
Request Your Invitation to Xconomy’s Elite Napa Summit June 8-9
Nobel Laureate David Baltimore. Microbiome AND supercomputer pioneer Larry Smarr. Intellectual Ventures’ Nathan Myhrvold. Nicole Glaros of Techstars. These are just a few of the visionary speakers who will be headlining Xconomy’s sixth annual Napa Summit. And if you act fast to request your invitation to this special event, you can join them and … Continue reading “Request Your Invitation to Xconomy’s Elite Napa Summit June 8-9”
Insight Partners Buys Data Backup Business Spanning From Dell EMC
Austin—Spanning, software data backup service owned by Dell EMC, is being sold to New York-based private equity firm Insight Venture Partners. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The newly independent company is changing its name to Spanning Cloud Apps, according to a prepared statement. The company will continue to be based in Austin, TX. Dell … Continue reading “Insight Partners Buys Data Backup Business Spanning From Dell EMC”
UniQure to Yank Pioneering Gene Therapy From Market in Europe
[Updated, 9:33 a.m. ET, see below] It took decades to get the first gene therapy in the Western world to market. And it will apparently take only five years since for that product, a treatment from UniQure for a rare metabolic disorder, to fizzle out after failing commercially. UniQure (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QURE]]), with operations in Amsterdam … Continue reading “UniQure to Yank Pioneering Gene Therapy From Market in Europe”
“Our Son’s Fate”: Parents Fighting for Kids’ Spine Drug Eye New Data
Melissa Marotta pulled no punches to get her three-year-old son C.J., who has the genetic disease spinal muscular atrophy, access to nusinersen (Spinraza), the first approved drug for his condition. For months, she couldn’t schedule a treatment date at Columbia University Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, and for much of that time, she … Continue reading ““Our Son’s Fate”: Parents Fighting for Kids’ Spine Drug Eye New Data”
Trump Executive Order Adds Uncertainty to Tech Visa Program
Is the U.S. high-skilled visa program, known as H-1B, an essential contributor to the innovation economy or a way for companies to replace American IT workers with immigrants at lower salaries? It’s a debate as old as the program itself, which began in 1990. The Trump administration on Tuesday joined the fray with a long-anticipated … Continue reading “Trump Executive Order Adds Uncertainty to Tech Visa Program”
The Xconomy Roadmap: Top 15 Innovation Areas to Watch (and Disrupt)
It is a time of great transitions in the technology and business world. Key advances in areas like machine intelligence, agriculture, and healthcare seem poised to transform society—and everyday life. But it can be hard to keep up with the latest news in fields as disparate as cybersecurity, food tech, and cancer therapeutics—let alone understand … Continue reading “The Xconomy Roadmap: Top 15 Innovation Areas to Watch (and Disrupt)”
Want to Communicate Your Science? First, Step Back
Think for a moment about the words and phrases that life science researchers and executives use on a daily basis. I’m talking about the seemingly simple phrases like “investigational drug,” “novel target,” “immunotherapy,” “clinical trial,” “in vitro,” and “therapeutic window.” There are hundreds more. Those of us who work in life sciences are comfortable with … Continue reading “Want to Communicate Your Science? First, Step Back”
Cancer Drugmaker G1 Therapeutics Makes IPO Pitch To Wall Street
Pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Novartis were first to gain regulatory approval with drugs that block a pair of enzymes important to tumor growth in breast cancer. Clinical-stage biotech G1 Therapeutics has a different approach to those same enzymes and will ask investors in the public markets to get on board. Research Triangle Park, NC-based G1 … Continue reading “Cancer Drugmaker G1 Therapeutics Makes IPO Pitch To Wall Street”
Why Bots Aren’t the Real AI Disruption: The Quiet Rise of Headless AI
Editor’s note: This piece was originally posted on Textio’s company blog. “Hey Siri, how’s the weather today?” “OK Google, remind me to pay the power bill.” “Alexa, tell me a joke!” Bots are eating the world. Whether you are an enterprising app developer building the essential software to bring a virtual Taylor Swift into your … Continue reading “Why Bots Aren’t the Real AI Disruption: The Quiet Rise of Headless AI”
Bio Roundup: CRISPR Appeal, Bristol Deals, Stock Pumping & More
It may have been a short holiday week, but there was plenty of news on the CRISPR front. In the ongoing battle for rights to the landmark gene editing technology, the faction led by the University of California appealed the U.S. decision in favor of the Broad Institute. Elsewhere, Bristol-Myers Squibb flipped assets, a top … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: CRISPR Appeal, Bristol Deals, Stock Pumping & More”
Zoetis Builds on Biologics Pipeline with $85M Nexvet Acquisition
Zoetis announced on Thursday that it is acquiring Ireland-based Nexvet Biopharma in an $85 million deal that will bring new biologic drug candidates to the global animal health company. Parsippany, NJ-based Zoetis (NYSE: [[ticker:ZTS]]) will pay $6.72 per share to acquire Nexvet (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NVET]]), a price that represents a 66 percent premium over Nexvet’s closing … Continue reading “Zoetis Builds on Biologics Pipeline with $85M Nexvet Acquisition”
On Tap For “What’s Hot” on May 11: Opioid Crisis, Immigration & More
We’re just a month away from Xconomy’s latest biotech bash in Boston, so it’s time to dish some details on the program. For “What’s Hot in Boston Biotech” on May 11 at Biogen’s headquarters in Cambridge, MA, we’re focusing on the big issues in life sciences—both in Boston and across the country. The opioid epidemic, … Continue reading “On Tap For “What’s Hot” on May 11: Opioid Crisis, Immigration & More”
Bristol Flips Remnants of Adnexus, iPierian to Roche, Biogen For $470M
Priorities change over time for drugmakers, as evidenced today by Bristol-Myers Squibb. The company announced two separate deals for experimental drugs that no longer fit its strategy—both of which were remnants of old acquisitions and a past plan to zero in on genetic diseases. In one deal, Bristol (NYSE: [[ticker:BMY]]) has sent Biogen (NASDAQ:[[ticker:BIIB]]), of … Continue reading “Bristol Flips Remnants of Adnexus, iPierian to Roche, Biogen For $470M”
With Ovid IPO, Ex-Teva CEO Levin Pitches Neuro Drug Plan to Wall Street
Ex-Teva Pharmaceutical and Bristol-Myers Squibb executive Jeremy Levin is once again on the verge of running a publicly traded company—this time, a small startup biotech. Startup Ovid Therapeutics, which Levin formed in New York a few years ago to develop treatments for rare brain diseases, has just filed paperwork outlining an IPO. The move isn’t … Continue reading “With Ovid IPO, Ex-Teva CEO Levin Pitches Neuro Drug Plan to Wall Street”
Talk NY Bio With Schadt, Varmus & More on May 31: Discount Ends Today
Time is running out to get a $100 early bird discount for Xconomy’s latest biotech party in the Big Apple: New York Biotech Seizes the Momentum, at the Alexandria Center for Life Science on May 31. For New York biotech, the future is now. City and state governments have heard the call and committed $1.15 … Continue reading “Talk NY Bio With Schadt, Varmus & More on May 31: Discount Ends Today”
Frequency Nabs $32M, Will Push Hearing-Loss Drugs To Human Studies
Hearing loss, which affects millions of Americans with no effective drugs to fight it, has become a ripe field for biotech investment. The latest example is Frequency Therapeutics, which sprung from MIT earlier this year and has just corralled a big round of funding. The Woburn, MA-based startup has raised a $32 million Series A … Continue reading “Frequency Nabs $32M, Will Push Hearing-Loss Drugs To Human Studies”
Emulate’s “Organ-on-a-Chip” Tech Picked for FDA Research Partnership
[Updated 4/11/17, 9:44 a.m. See below.] Experimental drugs encounter their earliest tests in petri dishes and animals, but these tests can fall short of predicting what happens in humans. The life sciences industry has been pursuing what many hope is a better way: packing human cells into tiny chips developed as stand-ins for organs. This … Continue reading “Emulate’s “Organ-on-a-Chip” Tech Picked for FDA Research Partnership”
The Otonomy Story and the Human Impact of Innovation
[Editor’s note: Jay Lichter will discuss his personal odyssey in drug development on April 19 at The Xconomy Forum on the Human Impact of Innovation. Online registration is here.] I am a pharmaceutical scientist and a biotech venture capitalist. I start companies that are focused on creating new drugs. So when my doctor told me … Continue reading “The Otonomy Story and the Human Impact of Innovation”
OncoMed Shares Sink as One Drug Fails, Bayer Kicks Back Two Others
OncoMed Pharmaceuticals got a double dose of bad news on Monday. For the second time, one of its stem cell drugs has failed to help pancreatic cancer patients. And what’s more, partner Bayer has passed on options to two of its other cancer drugs. Redwood City, CA-based OncoMed (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OMED]]) said this morning that demcizumab, … Continue reading “OncoMed Shares Sink as One Drug Fails, Bayer Kicks Back Two Others”
Bio Roundup: Gottlieb Talks Vax, Acorda’s Axe, Adams, 23andMe & More
In the nation’s capital, healthcare and life sciences were on center stage. Or stages, actually. On Capitol Hill, FDA commissioner nominee Scott Gottlieb, the drug industry’s favorite pick, told senators his extensive industry ties wouldn’t cloud his judgment or create conflicts. At a downtown convention center, Joe Biden slammed the Trump administration’s budget-cutting plans. And … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: Gottlieb Talks Vax, Acorda’s Axe, Adams, 23andMe & More”
AACR Review: Biden Fired Up, Incyte Doubles Up, BMS Up And Down
The American Association for Cancer Research held its annual meeting this week in Washington, DC, a convenient venue for former Vice President Joe Biden to deliver a broadside against the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts in science funding. For Biden, it’s personal. In the final year of the Obama administration, he championed a push for … Continue reading “AACR Review: Biden Fired Up, Incyte Doubles Up, BMS Up And Down”
Some Cause for Optimism in Hired’s Research on Gender Wage Gap
Amid the ongoing conversation about gender discrimination in the tech industry, and recent sexual harassment claims against some of its biggest names, here’s some sort-of good news about women in tech: When companies make job offers to both men and women, women receive lower salary offers 63 percent of the time for the same job, … Continue reading “Some Cause for Optimism in Hired’s Research on Gender Wage Gap”
FDA Nominee Scott Gottlieb To Anti-Vaccine Crowd: Get Over It
In what passes for a short hearing these days in Washington, DC, the Trump White House’s pick to run the Food and Drug Administration, Scott Gottlieb, spent less than three hours fielding questions from a Senate committee Wednesday morning. Amid predictable splits between Republican praise for his past industry experience and Democrat fire over potential … Continue reading “FDA Nominee Scott Gottlieb To Anti-Vaccine Crowd: Get Over It”
InTeahouse Accelerator Wants Startups to Think Globally, Build Locally
There’s a new startup accelerator program in town, and it’s got an international flavor. This week, InTeahouse announced the launch of its “InSeven” investment program that will provide capital, office space, and other resources to startups working in robotics, advanced materials, life sciences, cleantech, telecommunications, new media, and financial technology. In a crowded field of … Continue reading “InTeahouse Accelerator Wants Startups to Think Globally, Build Locally”
Slowdown Continues in First-Quarter VC Funding—and Top 10 Deals
Is a caution flag flying? While U.S. venture firms refueled last year by raising a near-record $51.6 billion, they also eased off the throttle in terms of their investment activity during the first quarter of 2017, according to data released today by Seattle-based PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). According to the latest … Continue reading “Slowdown Continues in First-Quarter VC Funding—and Top 10 Deals”
William Polvino Named CEO of Bridge Medicines
Drug discovery firm Bridge Medicines has appointed William Polvino CEO. Polvino most recently served as president and CEO of Denmark-based Veloxis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VELO]]), and ran Helsinn Therapeutics before that. Bridge, based in New York, launched last October to extend the work of the non-profit Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Institute. With Polvino’s appointment, Bridge says interim … Continue reading “William Polvino Named CEO of Bridge Medicines”
To Infinity and Beyond: Julian Adams on Missteps and His New Job
Julian Adams left Boston pharma Millennium Pharmaceuticals in 2003 having accomplished a rare feat. A medicinal chemist by training, Adams helped shepherd along a drug known as bortezomib (Velcade) that was the first-ever approved inhibitor of the proteasome, the cell’s garbage disposal unit. It was an approach most people thought would never work. “Everybody was … Continue reading “To Infinity and Beyond: Julian Adams on Missteps and His New Job”
How Battling New Epidemics Helps Fight Age-Old Killers
Washington state has reported nearly 300 cases of mumps this winter and experts predict this may be the state’s worst flu season in years, a stark reminder of how dangerous even familiar viruses can be. While the Ebola and Zika outbreaks have dominated the headlines in recent years, they are part of a paradigm we … Continue reading “How Battling New Epidemics Helps Fight Age-Old Killers”
MS Drug Patent Rulings Give Biogen Win, Acorda Loss in Separate Suits
Biogen has won a patent case concerning its top-selling multiple sclerosis drug, allowing the company to keep exclusive rights on the pill without paying royalties to a European biotech that made claims on the drug. But in a separate case also decided today, Acorda Therapeutics lost four patents covering its flagship drug, a potentially significant … Continue reading “MS Drug Patent Rulings Give Biogen Win, Acorda Loss in Separate Suits”
Bio Roundup: New Drug Bonanza, Vertex’s Triple Play, CAR-T Race & More
As far as singular weeks go for biotech, this was a big one. Three highly anticipated drugs were approved. One is the first injectable medication for eczema. Another might help fend off the recurrence of ovarian cancer. And a third offers hope for people with severe forms of multiple sclerosis. Another drug, a new combination … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: New Drug Bonanza, Vertex’s Triple Play, CAR-T Race & More”
Next Stop on Father’s Duchenne Quest: Wall Street? Solid Raises $50M
It wasn’t too long ago that Ilan Ganot was a J.P. Morgan banker. Then his son, Eytani, was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and he ended up the head of a startup trying to find an array of treatments for the progressive, deadly genetic disease. Now it appears that journey might return Ganot to a … Continue reading “Next Stop on Father’s Duchenne Quest: Wall Street? Solid Raises $50M”
With New Data, Vertex Touts Backbone Of Future Cystic Fibrosis Drugs
With new data released this evening, Vertex Pharmaceuticals is closer to bringing its third cystic fibrosis treatment to market, which would mean the company’s product line could potentially treat upwards of 40 percent of the roughly 70,000 people with the disease worldwide. The late-stage data for the combination of ivacaftor, already approved as Kalydeco, and … Continue reading “With New Data, Vertex Touts Backbone Of Future Cystic Fibrosis Drugs”
FDA OKs Eczema Injection; Owners Regeneron, Sanofi Set $37K Price
For the more severe cases of eczema—inflamed skin that can range from annoying dry patches to painful swelling, oozing, and cracking—there’s a new injectable medicine on the market that will cost tens of thousands of dollars a year. The FDA approved today dupliumab (Dupixent) for adults whose condition cannot be controlled with topical creams. The … Continue reading “FDA OKs Eczema Injection; Owners Regeneron, Sanofi Set $37K Price”
Bio Roundup: Trumpcare Wavers, Amgen Courts Payers, Critics Circle PTC
Who knew healthcare could be so complicated? This week, President Trump and the GOP saw first hand, as a feverish rally to get their healthcare bill through the House of Representatives on Thursday stalled before a vote. Elsewhere in Washington DC, drug pricing continued to be a political football. Two well known congressional drug pricing … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: Trumpcare Wavers, Amgen Courts Payers, Critics Circle PTC”
IRX Therapeutics Names Mark Leuchtenberger President and CEO
Cancer immunotherapy developer IRX Therapeutics has appointed Mark Leuchtenberger president and CEO. John Hadden, founder and prior CEO of New York-based IRX, will remain a director of the company. Leuchtenberger’s experience includes executive and senior management positions at Chiasma (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CHMA]]), Acusphere, Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Therion Biologics, and Biogen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]). IRX also named Monil Shah … Continue reading “IRX Therapeutics Names Mark Leuchtenberger President and CEO”
Amid Gender Gap Talk, Mentor Network Emerges For Women In Health, Bio
It’s been more than a year since an infamous party with hired models in cocktail dresses captured the biotech community’s attention at the 2016 J.P. Morgan conference. There has been plenty of talk since about closing biotech’s notable gender gap. At this year’s J.P Morgan conference, for example, a group of 100 life science executives … Continue reading “Amid Gender Gap Talk, Mentor Network Emerges For Women In Health, Bio”
Building a Local Innovation Ecosystem
Co-authored with Rudy Gadre, general partner at Founders’ Co-op. Western Washington is already home to some of the most innovative people, companies, and academic programs in the world. And yet we should be doing much more to connect and support our local innovators, to attract more agents of change to the region, and to help them … Continue reading “Building a Local Innovation Ecosystem”
Sanders, Cummings to PTC: Price Duchenne Steroid at Import Cost
[Updated, 5:30 pm E.T., see below] PTC Therapeutics inherited a drug pricing controversy last week when it paid $140 million for deflazacort (Emflaza), a steroid used to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy. So it’s no surprise that just six days after the deal, congressional drug price hawks Bernie Sanders and Elijah Cummings have come calling. Sen. … Continue reading “Sanders, Cummings to PTC: Price Duchenne Steroid at Import Cost”
Coffee Meets Bagel Starts Premium Model to Push In-App Currency
Dating app Coffee Meets Bagel is launching a premium service that gives subscribers information about their potential suitors’ activities and makes it easier for them to access and spend the in-app currency that makes the company money. The premium subscription costs $34.99. Coffee Meets Bagel doesn’t charge for its basic services, but it does let … Continue reading “Coffee Meets Bagel Starts Premium Model to Push In-App Currency”
After a Clinical Trial Death, FDA OKs New Tests of Akashi’s Duchenne Drug
Akashi Therapeutics has been cleared by the FDA to resume testing an experimental Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug roughly a year after a patient taking the treatment died in a clinical trial. Now the question is whether the Cambridge, MA, company can get the funding to support a new study. Akashi plans to start a new … Continue reading “After a Clinical Trial Death, FDA OKs New Tests of Akashi’s Duchenne Drug”
Join David Baltimore, Nicole Glaros, Nathan Myhrvold, & More at Our Napa Summit
Year after year, Xconomy has gathered exemplary business leaders, investors, and far-seeing technologists to our most prestigious event—The Napa Summit. This year is no different. Come join us in the heart of wine country on June 8 and 9 to listen to visionary speakers and connect with fellow innovators. The Napa Summit is by invitation-only, … Continue reading “Join David Baltimore, Nicole Glaros, Nathan Myhrvold, & More at Our Napa Summit”
Xconomy’s EXOME Presents: New York Biotech Seizes the Momentum
For New York biotech, the future is now. City and state governments have heard the call and committed $1.15 billion to the life sciences scene—and vowed to bring more lab space online to start and grow local companies. A growing number of biotech incubators are popping up. Venture firms are on the ground scouting universities … Continue reading “Xconomy’s EXOME Presents: New York Biotech Seizes the Momentum”
Join Varmus, Foley & More at NY Biotech Seizes the Momentum on May 31
It’s not an understatement to say 2017 is a crucial year for the growth of the life sciences industry in New York. This past year, city and state governments agreed to put $1.15 billion into the sector in the Empire State. It was part of a sprawling plan to bring lab space online, nurture local … Continue reading “Join Varmus, Foley & More at NY Biotech Seizes the Momentum on May 31”