Ben is former Xconomy 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.
Bio Roundup: Surprise News, a Gene Therapy Mess & a CAR-T Step
Gene therapy has become one of the hottest fields in biomedicine, with two treatments approved in the US already and several more on the way. But surprise news this week regarding... Read more »
Bayer Buys Out BlueRock, Betting at Least $240M More on Cell Therapy Work
Versant Ventures and Bayer have started several biotechs together. But today marks the first time the German drug maker takes a step further and buys one of them: cell therapy developer... Read more »
FDA: Despite “Manipulated” Data, $2M Gene Therapy Should Stay on Market
[Updated, 7:12 pm ET, see below] The FDA on Tuesday said that some data supporting the spinal muscular atrophy gene therapy Zolgensma was “manipulated” before its May 24 approval... Read more »
GlycoMimetics Sickle Cell Drug Flops as Others Creep Forward
New treatments could soon be on the way for sickle cell disease, an inherited and debilitating blood disorder. But a drug from GlycoMimetics won’t be among them.
GlycoMimetics (NASDAQ: GLYC)... Read more »
Amicus Offers First Look At Gene Therapy Work With Batten’s Data
Amicus Therapeutics bought a spinout of Nationwide Children’s Hospital last year as part of a plan to become a player in the emerging field of gene therapy. Today it is providing... Read more »
Merck Data Are Another Step for Immunotherapy in Breast Cancer
Merck this morning announced that a combination of its drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and chemotherapy succeeded in a Phase 3 study in breast cancer, a potentially notable advance for immunotherapy in treating... Read more »
Duchenne Advocates Start Casimir, Aiming to Capture Missing Data
Three years ago, the FDA made one of the most polarizing decisions in its history. It approved a drug for the rare genetic disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy on the slimmest of... Read more »
Bio Roundup: Leiden’s Exit, Depression Data, a New Pricing Bill & More
What will the legacy be of Jeff Leiden, the longtime CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals?
Vertex surprised Wall Street this week by announcing Leiden’s seven-year run will end next spring. In... Read more »
Jeff Leiden, Who Shaped Vertex Into a CF Force, to Switch Roles
Jeff Leiden, who helped steer Vertex Pharmaceuticals out of a crisis and into a profitable developer of cystic fibrosis medicines, will step down as the CEO of the Boston company next... Read more »
Bristol, With Another Lung Cancer Flop, Loses More Ground to Merck
Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) this afternoon revealed yet another setback for its cancer immunotherapy nivolumab (Opdivo) in lung cancer, boosting the outlook for rival Merck.
The New York pharma giant... Read more »
Gilead Ups Stake in Galapagos With $5B Deal to Jumpstart Its R&D
Gilead Sciences on Sunday looked to another firm to rejuvenate its research capabilities, agreeing to put more than $5 billion in cash into Galapagos NV and get access to a... Read more »
Neon’s Early Vaccine Study Is a Peek at Immunotherapy’s Third Wave
In this new age of cancer immunotherapy, two versions have been approved. The first are checkpoint inhibitors, which have begun to change the way skin, lung, and other cancers are treated... Read more »
As Sangamo Touts Data, BioMarin Preps Hemophilia Gene Therapy For FDA
[Updated 7/8/19, 9:22 am. See below.] Gene therapy for hemophilia is as close as it’s ever been to market. And the race to get there got more heated this... Read more »
Bio Roundup: Duchenne Race, Warren v. Gottlieb, A $599 Genome & More
As we pause to celebrate the 4th of July, another birthday is top of mind: A third baby whose embryonic DNA was edited by Chinese scientist He Jiankui. As Xconomy reported... Read more »
Encoded Nabs $104M, Illumina’s Help, to Push Gene Therapy’s Limits
Despite the progress of gene therapy—a cutting edge medicine promising long-lasting effects from a single treatment—it remains a crude and limited tool. Startup Encoded Therapeutics has raised $104 million to join... Read more »
AbbVie to Pay $63B for Allergan to Prepare for Life Without Humira
[Updated, 10:11 am ET, see below.] Pharmaceutical giant AbbVie this morning agreed to acquire Allergan in a $63 billion deal meant to provide the pharmaceutical giant with enough revenue... Read more »
Colorectal Cancer Data Spurs Pfizer to Pay $11.4B for Array Bio
[Updated 11:02 a.m. See below.] Array BioPharma touted data less than a month ago that could shift the treatment landscape for some patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The data... Read more »
Bio Roundup: Roche-Spark Drags On, GSK Taps CRISPR, Diabetes News & More
Is one of the bigger biopharma acquisitions of the year in trouble?
This past week, antitrust regulators once again delayed Roche’s planned $4.8 billion buyout of gene therapy developer Spark Therapeutics... Read more »
Can AI Tools, $76M Lead BlackThorn to Targeted Psych Drugs?
It’s notoriously tough for experimental psychiatric drugs to succeed in clinical tests. BlackThorn Therapeutics wants to show that an AI-driven, precision approach can make it easier, and today it’s added another... Read more »
CymaBay Therapeutics Stumbles in NASH Race, Shares Fall
One of the entrants in the ultra-competitive race to develop treatments for the fatty liver disease known nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) suffered a setback in clinical testing today, but the company, Cymabay... Read more »
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