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• Alnylam Gets Quick FDA OK for Second RNAi Rare Disease Drug

  [Updated 11/21/19, 10:05 a.m. See below.] An Alnylam Pharmaceuticals drug developed to treat a rare, inherited metabolic disorder won FDA approval on Wednesday, the second regulatory nod the company has received for a drug that turns off a gene... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/20/19

• Liquid Biopsy Firm Lucence Plans Bay Area Buildout With $20M in Tow

  Lucence, a genomic medicine company developing blood-based tests for cancer screening and treatment selection, announced this week the close of a $20 million Series A funding round led by IHH Healthcare.

  CEO and founder Min-Han Tan (pictured) says the investment will... Read more »

  Melissa Fassbender11/20/19

• Biopharma Execs Remain Optimistic Despite Political Headwinds

  Drug pricing debates and uncertainty associated with Brexit are the issues most likely to keep biopharmaceutical executives awake at night. Nevertheless, senior figures remain optimistic about the industry’s prospects in 2020. These are among the major findings of a survey of... Read more »

  Mike Ward11/20/19

• France-Based Tissium Boosts US Work After Closing €38.75M Series B

  Tissium is targeting Boston’s biotech scene to advance its platform of proprietary biopolymers after building out its manufacturing capabilities in France.

  Backed by a €38.75 million ($42.78 million) Series B funding round, the company is moving forward with several development programs... Read more »

  Melissa Fassbender11/20/19

• Myovant to Seek FDA OK on Pill to Treat Advanced Prostate Cancer

  A drug candidate once shelved by Takeda Pharmaceutical (NYSE: TAK) has found new life within Roivant Sciences spinout Myovant as a potential once-daily oral hormone therapy for patients with advanced prostate cancer.

  The Brisbane, CA-based biotech company (MYSE: MYOV)... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo11/19/19

• Reata Rakes In $505M to Advance Development of Two Rare Disease Drugs

  Reata Pharmaceuticals on Tuesday closed a stock sale, raising $505.1 million to advance the company’s two lead drug candidates to regulatory review.

  Reata’s stock price jumped last week after the company announced its investigational drug, bardoxolone methyl (bard), met the main... Read more »

  Melissa Fassbender11/19/19

• Novo Ventures Commits $25M to Grow Discovery “Greenhouse” in Boston

  Novo Ventures has committed up to $25 million (€23 million) over a five-year period to fund seed-stage drug discovery projects at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in a deal which it says will propel it into the Massachusetts biotech... Read more »

  Melissa Fassbender11/19/19

• With “Inflection Year” Ahead, Ovid Adds Novartis’s Tardio to C-Suite

  About five years ago, former Teva Pharmaceutical CEO Jeremy Levin launched Ovid Therapeutics with a plan to develop treatments for rare brain diseases.

  Now, with the completion of a clinical trial on the horizon anticipated to provide enough data to file... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo11/18/19

• Underdog Launches With $4M to Target “Toxic” Form of Cholesterol

  Underdog Pharmaceuticals has launched with nearly $4 million in seed funding to develop treatments for atherosclerosis, a progressive condition in which arteries become clogged with substances such as fats and cholesterol, which restricts blood flow.

  Based in Mountain View, CA, Underdog... Read more »

  Melissa Fassbender11/18/19

• Alkermes Eyes Brain Disorders and Beyond With $100M Deal for Rodin

  [Updated 5:55 p.m. See below.] Rodin Therapeutics has limited data from human studies about its neurodegeneration drug, but the company’s new approach to treating brain disorders has proven attractive enough for Alkermes to plunk down $100 million to buy... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/18/19

• ResTORbio’s Respiratory Drug Flunks Phase 3 Test, Shattering Shares

  A resTORbio respiratory drug has failed a late-stage test, and the company is stopping further development of the compound for lung infections in elderly patients.

  In the first of two Phase 3 studies, ResTORbio on Friday released preliminary data showing that... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/15/19

• Biotech Roundup: Gottlieb v. Juul, Solid Slumps, Avidity Gets $100M & More

  Lung injuries connected to the use of electronic cigarettes have topped 2,000 and killed 40 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

  It’s still unclear whether the cases are tied to legally sold products or devices modified by... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo11/15/19

• Daré to Add Microchip-Based Birth Control to Women’s Health Portfolio

  The list of activities our smartphones can control grows daily. Transfer money? It’s simple. Order groceries? That, too. Turn off the bedroom lights? Check.

  How about contraception?

  Advancing new forms of birth control is a central focus at Daré Bioscience (NASDAQ:... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo11/15/19

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• Startup X-37 Raises $14.5M to Expand on AI-Powered Drug Discovery

  Launched just last year, artificial intelligence-powered drug discovery company X-37 now has raised $14.5 million in Series A financing to expand its development programs.

  Co-founded by Atomwise and a team from Velocity Pharmaceutical Development, the San Francisco, CA-based company uses Atomwise’s... Read more »

  Melissa Fassbender11/14/19

• Bayer and Dewpoint Ink Deal for Drugs R&D at New Frontier of Biology

  [Updated, 12:15 p.m. See below.] Inside of a cell, some proteins and RNA are concentrated in liquid droplets that assemble in formation during a variety of cellular functions. Dewpoint Therapeutics is making headway understanding the role these droplets play... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/14/19

• Calporta, Started by Avalon Ventures-GSK, Is Acquired by Merck

  Another of the biopharma startups created as part of a collaboration between San Diego investment firm Avalon Ventures and GlaxoSmithKline has been acquired—but not by GSK.

  Instead, the company, Calporta Therapeutics, is being absorbed by Merck (NYSE: MRK), which is... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo11/13/19

• Avidity Bio Adds $100M to Advance R&D of Muscle Disorder Drugs

  Earlier this year, Avidity Biosciences and Eli Lilly began a partnership to develop new drugs based on the biotech’s technology for delivering genetic material to cells. On Wednesday, Lilly was among a group of investors that joined a $100 million financing... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/13/19

• Reata’s Kidney Drug Hits Goals of Key Study, Paves Way for FDA Filing

  About half of all patients with the most severe form of Alport syndrome, a rare, genetic type of chronic kidney disease, will need dialysis or a transplant by age 25.

  On Monday, Reata Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RETA) announced that its investigational... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo11/12/19

• FDA Again Halts Solid Bio’s Duchenne Gene Therapy Clinical Trial

  The FDA has stopped a clinical trial testing a Solid Biosciences gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy after a patient developed complications associated with the experimental treatment.

  Cambridge, MA-based Solid Bio says the problems deemed to be related to the gene... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/12/19

• Roche Challenger to Biogen’s SMA Drug Succeeds in Pivotal Study

  A Roche drug in development as a treatment for spinal muscular atrophy achieved the main goals of a key study, helping to build the case that the drug could challenge a Biogen therapy already approved for the rare disorder.

  Roche announced... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/11/19

• Neuroscience Is Taking the Spotlight at Xconomy’s Bay Area Xchange

  These are heady times for neuroscience research. Startups developing new approaches to brain disorders are raising money to advance their discoveries toward clinical trials. One failed neuro drug is getting another shot.

  On Nov. 19 in San Francisco, we’ll... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/11/19

• Looking to Level Up in NASH, Novo Nordisk Licenses Ube Drug Candidate

  Danish diabetes giant Novo Nordisk took another step this week in its efforts to establish a presence in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, a metabolic disorder closely related to diabetes that is anticipated to become the leading cause of liver transplants in... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo11/8/19

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• Anemia Drug From Acceleron Pharma and Celgene Wins FDA Approval

  [Updated 6:41 p.m. See below.] A drug that Celgene and Acceleron Pharma developed to treat low red blood cell levels in patients who have a rare blood disorder now has regulatory clearance to enter the market.

  The FDA on... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/8/19

• Bio Roundup: Feds Sue Gilead, Biogen Eyes China, CRISPR’d Kidneys & More

  During the state of the union address this year, President Trump pledged to end HIV transmission within the next decade. A key part of that plan is an HIV prevention drug made by Gilead Sciences. That drug has now become the... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/8/19

• eGenesis Lands $100M to Advance CRISPR-ed Pig Kidney to Human Test

  Biotech startup eGenesis, which is applying gene editing to animal organs in order to make them suitable for human transplant, has raised $100 million to ramp up work on its kidney program and bring it into human testing.

  The Series B... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/7/19

• Arkuda Unveils $44M and a Protein Restoration Approach to Dementia

  The onset of one of the most devastating forms of dementia often comes with a misdiagnosis. Personality and behavioral changes in a patient can spark a hypothesis of depression or psychosis. Memory problems rouse suspicion of Alzheimer’s disease. By the... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/7/19

• AI Can Unlock Health Data’s Potential, But Access Is Still Difficult

  When Mark Bakken formed the healthcare technology investment firm HealthX Ventures nearly five years ago, he says hospitals, insurers, and other potential buyers of digital health products were less open to conversations with the kinds of early-stage healthtech startups Bakken’s... Read more »

  Jeff Bauter Engel11/7/19

• AstraZeneca Chooses China for R&D and AI Centers, $1B Biotech Fund

  AstraZeneca says it will establish centers for drug research and artificial intelligence development in China. The pharmaceutical giant has also set up a $1 billion fund to foster biotech innovation in that country.

  The move—which was announced at the China International... Read more »

  Gareth Macdonald11/6/19

• Biogen Adds Two More Biosimilars in $100M Deal with Samsung Bioepis

  Biogen is bolstering its strategy of selling biosimilars—lower-cost versions of biological drugs that are losing patent protection—with a $100 million deal for rights to two eye products. The drug maker is also expanding its biosimilar scope to include China.

  Cambridge, MA-based... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/6/19

• GE Healthcare Opens Startup Labs at Former AstraZeneca UK R&D Site

  The doors have opened at a GE Healthcare-supported open-access lab for startups at AstraZeneca’s former global center for oncology research and development at Alderley Park, the largest bioscience research campus in the UK.

  The AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) site in Macclesfield,... Read more »

  Dan Stanton11/6/19

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