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.
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 »
Vertex Hums Along as AbbVie Snatches Up a Rival’s CF Drugs for $45M
AbbVie has just reworked a long-running deal with partner Galapagos NV, paying $45 million up front—a small sum for the pharmaceutical giant—to gain rights to all of the Belgian company’s experimental... Read more »
With $90M Round, Stoke Eyes a “Spinraza For Epilepsy” And a 2019 IPO
Ed Kaye stepped aside from Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SRPT) last year after leading the company through one of the most noteworthy and controversial drug approvals in recent memory, for the... Read more »
Bio Roundup: Prices on TV, Novartis Hearts Radio, Warp Drive’s End
Two new battlegrounds emerged this week in the nation’s ongoing drug pricing debate. The first involved television: The federal government hopes that blaring prices in TV ads will essentially pressure drug... Read more »
Alnylam Won’t Seek Quick FDA Nod For Second RNAi Drug
A few weeks ago, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals indicated it might seek a speedy FDA approval for what could be the second-ever RNA interference medicine to market. After meeting with regulators, however, the... Read more »
Bristol Stumbles in Lung Cancer Again as Rivals Play Catch-Up
Nivolumab (Opdivo) recently became the first immunotherapy ever approved for people with small cell lung cancer (SCLC), a particularly aggressive form of the deadly disease. But the lead given to its... Read more »
FDA OKs Akcea Rare Disease Drug, Setting Up Market Clash with Alnylam
For the second time since August, the FDA has approved a new treatment for a rare and deadly disease called hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis (hATTR). The agency’s nod for inotersen (Tegsedi) sets... Read more »
With Orchard’s IPO, GSK’s Old Gene Therapy Biz Gets a Wall Street Test
GlaxoSmithKline’s former gene therapy portfolio is headed to Wall Street—in the hands of Orchard Therapeutics.
The London, Boston, and San Francisco, CA, company has filed for an IPO, aiming to... Read more »
FDA Approves Roche Drug For All Hemophilia A Patients, But Rivals Loom
The treatment landscape for hemophilia is changing fast, and today marks a turning point. The FDA has just cleared Roche to sell its drug emicizumab (Hemlibra) to patients with any form... Read more »
Sarepta Touts New Data and a “Signal” With Duchenne Gene Therapy
For the first time, a gene therapy—a one-time, long-lasting treatment—has shown it may improve the lives of kids with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a deadly genetic disease with no cure. Patients in... Read more »
Bio Roundup: Amarin’s Stunner, Lung Cancer News, Data Dumps & More
Six years ago, a biotech called Amarin won FDA approval of a prescription fish-oil pill, Vascepa, because it could lower triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood. But Amarin didn’t... Read more »
With CRISPR’s Help, KSQ Touts 13 Cancer Drugs and Bags Another $80M
Can CRISPR-Cas9, the landmark genome editing tool, help speed up drug discovery? That was the pitch behind KSQ Therapeutics when it started up in 2015. Three years later, the Cambridge, MA,... Read more »
With New Data, Alnylam Could Seek Speedy OK For Second RNAi Drug
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals was just cleared to market the first-ever RNA interference medicine. The second one may not be that far behind.
Alnylam (NASDAQ: ALNY), of Cambridge, MA, said this morning... Read more »
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