Ben is Xconomy's Deputy Editor, Biotechnology. He is a seasoned business journalist that comes to Xconomy after a nine-year stint at The Deal, where he covered corporate transactions in industries ranging from biotech to auto parts and gaming. Most recently, Ben was The Deal’s senior healthcare writer, focusing on acquisitions, venture financings, IPOs, partnerships and industry trends in the pharmaceutical, biotech, diagnostics and med tech spaces. Ben wrote features on creative biotech financing models, analyses of middle market and large cap buyouts, spin-offs and restructurings, and enterprise pieces on legal issues such as pay-for-delay agreements and the Affordable Care Act. Before switching to the healthcare beat, Ben was The Deal's senior bankruptcy reporter, covering the restructurings of the Texas Rangers, Phoenix Coyotes, GM, Delphi, Trump Entertainment Resorts and Blockbuster, among others. Ben has a bachelor’s degree in English from Binghamton University.
To Cover Debts, Synergy Inks $200M Bankruptcy Sale to Bausch Health
Synergy Pharmaceuticals has spent years looking for a buyer. The developer of a struggling drug for two types of chronic constipation finally has one—now that it’s gone bankrupt.
New York-based Synergy... Read more »
Roche Vet O’Day Tapped to Shape Gilead’s Future as Hep C Sales Fall
Daniel O’Day, a veteran executive from Swiss pharma giant Roche, has been tapped for one of the top jobs in biotech. He’s been named the CEO of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD... Read more »
Bio Roundup: ASH Wrap, CRISPR Baby Fallout, Moderna’s Record IPO
The biggest yearly meeting for blood disease research has come and gone, and yet the stories to come out of the American Society of Hematology’s gathering in San Diego represent just... Read more »
Moderna Raises $604M and Nails Down Biotech’s Biggest IPO Ever
One of the biggest gambles in the history of the life sciences industry made it to Wall Street this evening when Moderna, a developer of messenger RNA drugs—an unproven technology with... Read more »
BCMA Day: At ASH ‘18, Cell Therapies For Myeloma Take Center Stage
The treatment landscape for multiple myeloma, a deadly cancer of the bone marrow that affects about 30,000 Americans every year, has changed significantly over the past decade. And more changes look... Read more »
ASH 2018: Three Up, Two Down as Big Blood Disease Meeting Rolls On
[Updated 4:37 p.m. See below.] Last week, Xconomy previewed the American Society of Hematology’s big meeting in San Diego, the largest medical gathering in the country on blood diseases.... Read more »
GSK Pays $5.1B For Tesaro, Setting Up “PARP” Battle With Rival AstraZeneca
GlaxoSmithKline on Monday agreed to pay $5.1 billion for Tesaro, becoming the latest firm to bet on a new type of cancer drug that has shown promise treating multiple tumor types... Read more »
Alkermes Schizophrenia Drug Heads To FDA, But Questions Linger
Alkermes got some much-needed good news on Thursday, announcing that an experimental schizophrenia drug fared better than a staple drug for the debilitating disease in a closely watched study. But is... Read more »
X4 Pharma Heads to Nasdaq Via Reverse Merger with Arsanis
A tough setback for Arsanis has given privately held X4 Pharmaceuticals the chance to go public.
Arsanis (NASDAQ: ASNS) and X4, two Boston-area biotech firms, agreed Tuesday morning to merge... Read more »
Genetic Medicine: FDA OKs 2nd Cancer Drug That Targets DNA, Not Tissues
[Updated 11/26/18. See below.] Going deeper into the new world of genetic medicine, the FDA has for the second time approved a drug that targets a tumor’s DNA fingerprint,... Read more »
After Head Injury Drug Fails, Edge Merges with Immuno-Oncology Firm PDS
An experimental head injury drug took Edge Therapeutics all the way to the public markets. But one failed clinical trial later and the company is now heading for the exits.
Edge... Read more »
Data Starts Stretch Run for UniQure’s Upgraded Hemophilia Gene Therapy
The race to treat hemophilia with gene therapy, a one-time, long-lasting infusion, is entering its final stages. And with new data released this morning, Dutch and Lexington, MA, firm UniQure has... Read more »
Eyeing $500M, Moderna Outlines Plans for Biotech’s Biggest IPO Ever
One of the biggest gambles in biotech history is about to be tested on Wall Street.
Moderna, the high-flying yet secretive developer of messenger RNA therapeutics, filed papers on Friday afternoon... Read more »
Bio Roundup: Midterm Fallout, Alzheimer’s Search, Postpartum Panel
There was plenty at stake in this week’s midterm elections, and not just in terms of political wins and losses. With congress now divided—Democrats took back control of the House and... Read more »
With FDA Panel’s Nod, First Postpartum Depression Drug Nears Approval
A panel of experts on Friday voted in favor of bringing what could be the first-ever drug approved specifically for postpartum depression to market. But should it get the expected green... Read more »
Alkermes Depression Drug Faces Long Odds After FDA Advisors Say No
An FDA advisory panel Thursday panned a new experimental drug for depression from Alkermes, meaning the agency is likely to reject the treatment by early next year.
By a 21 to... Read more »
Orchard, Fueled by GSK’s Ex-Gene Therapy Biz, Nets $200M in IPO
GlaxoSmithKline’s former gene therapy portfolio is at the center of a $200 million IPO, among the larger biopharma offerings on Wall Street over the last several years.
Orchard Therapeutics, a London,... Read more »
FDA Blasts Data, Trial Design For Alkermes Depression Drug
The FDA this morning has issued a scathing review of an experimental drug that could be, if the agency ends up approving it next year, a new option for the millions... Read more »
Free of Baggage, Dicerna Cuts Another RNAi Deal and Gets $200M
It wasn’t too long ago that pharma companies were abandoning the development of RNA interference medicines. But there are some small signs that interest has been rekindled. And Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, which... Read more »
Pursuing a “Crazy, Stupid” Idea & Photos From Disruptors in Boston
Michael Gilman was so close to retiring two years ago.
His company, Padlock Therapeutics, was just acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), and he was on his last week on... Read more »
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