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.
FDA Clears Aerie’s Combo Glaucoma Drug, But Will it Sell?
The FDA late Tuesday approved a new type of glaucoma drug from Aerie Pharmaceuticals that, in clinical testing, beat the generic eye drops known as prostaglandin analogues (PGAs) that are typically... Read more »
The Life, Troubles, and Celgene Legacy of Deal Guru George Golumbeski
George Golumbeski is one of the most prolific dealmakers in the biopharmaceutical world. But the deal that changed his life is a pact he made with himself when he was ten... Read more »
Data in Hand, Alnylam to Seek OK for Second RNAi Drug
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals this morning released new data that it believes to be good enough to bring the second-ever RNA interference medicine to market, a treatment for a potentially deadly, rare genetic... Read more »
After AGTC Deal Flops, Biogen Bets $800M on Gene Therapy Rival Nightstar
Biogen’s biggest recent foray into gene therapy, an ill-fated pact with AGTC, didn’t pay dividends. So the company this morning agreed to buy a rival, Nightstar Therapeutics, and its portfolio of... Read more »
Bio Roundup: Pharma in DC, Bristol-Cel in Trouble, Roche Gets A Spark
Could a shareholder revolt doom the planned marriage of Bristol-Myers Squibb and Celgene? Analysts have hinted at the possibility since the two companies shook hands in January, but the threat... Read more »
Sarepta Touts More Gene Therapy Data, Snaps Up Myonexus For $165M
Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SRPT) has been steadily building up its gene therapy capabilities for a few years now, and it took two more steps forward on that front this morning.... Read more »
Blackstone, Novartis Start Up Anthos With $250M and a Heart Drug
Blackstone Life Sciences, the biopharma investing arm of private equity firm Blackstone Group, has made its first strike. It has joined with Novartis (NYSE: NVS) to start a new biotech,... Read more »
No Details, But AstraZeneca Touts PARP Drug Win in Pancreatic Cancer
It’s no secret that so-called PARP inhibitors, a new class of cancer drugs, have struggled to gain traction commercially, even as they’ve shown promise treating multiple tumor types. But today... Read more »
Oyster Point Gets $93M To Clear Up Dry Eye With a Nasal Spray
Dry eye disease affects millions of people in the U.S., and while several treatments, mostly eye drops, are available, they all have flaws. An emerging startup called Oyster Point Pharmaceuticals is... Read more »
Roche Bets $4.8B on Spark Therapeutics and the Future of Gene Therapy
Roche has agreed to buy Spark Therapeutics for $4.8 billion, the latest strong signal that major pharmaceutical companies are ready to gamble on the promise of gene therapy despite its uncertain... Read more »
With New Data, Intercept On Track for First-Ever Approved NASH Drug
The first-ever marketed medicine for the fatty liver disease known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, could be on the horizon. The data, from a closely watched drug known as obeticholic acid,... Read more »
Passage Bio Gets $116M As Wilson, Yamada Team Up On Gene Therapy Again
Longtime biopharmaceutical executive Tachi Yamada helped keep the work of gene therapy pioneer James Wilson alive 20 years ago when Wilson was mired in controversy and the emerging field was in... Read more »
Losing “Scalps”? Despite Pharma Fear, A Split on Trump Rx-Price Plans
Despite angry presidential tweets and other anti-pharma rhetoric, the drug industry has benefited under the Trump administration, thanks in part to a massive corporate tax cut.
Indeed, for nearly two decades,... Read more »
Matching Amgen, Regeneron to Cut List Price of Heart Drug by 60%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and partner Sanofi are cutting the list price of their heart drug alirocumab (Praluent) by 60 percent, the latest acknowledgement that the treatment—which has shown a striking ability to... Read more »
Bio Roundup: New CRISPR Feud, A NY Splash, Pharma vs. Congress & More
If you’re into congressional spectacles, stay tuned later this month.
A group of top biopharma executives—the full roster isn’t known yet—will testify at a Feb. 26 hearing before the Senate... Read more »
With Its First Human Data, Solid Slips in Duchenne Gene Therapy Race
The race to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy with gene therapy, a one-time, potentially long-lasting treatment, is being closely watched. But new data from Solid Biosciences cast doubt on whether the... Read more »
NYCEDC Finally Puts Its NY Bio Fund to Work With $60M For HiberCell
It’s been a question posed for years by many around the New York biotech scene: What is going on with the New York City Economic Development Corp.’s $150 million biotech fund,... Read more »
With $100M MeiraGTx Deal, J&J Signals Bigger Move Into Gene Therapy
Gene therapy has come of age over the past few years. And Johnson & Johnson this morning gave its biggest signal yet that it wants in on the emerging field.
J&J... Read more »
All Eyes on Biogen as Roche Alzheimer’s Drug Flunks Final Test
Roche this morning added yet another failure to the ever-growing number of experimental Alzheimer’s disease drugs to crumble in late-stage human testing.
The Swiss pharma and partner AC Immune (NASDAQ: ACIU... Read more »
Neurocrine Pays $165M to Bankroll Voyager’s Gene Therapy for Parkinson’s
[Updated, 11:40 a.m. ET, see below] The road to potential approval for Voyager Therapeutics’ experimental gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease got a bit longer, and more expensive, last year.... Read more »
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