Frank Vinluan
Frank is a business journalist with more than a decade of experience covering various aspects of technology and life sciences. Based in Raleigh, he was a staff writer at the Triangle Business Journal covering technology, biotechnology and energy before joining MedCityNews.com as North Carolina bureau chief. Prior to moving to North Carolina’s Research Triangle in 2007 he held business reporting positions at The Des Moines Register and The Seattle Times. Frank has a bachelor’s degree in history from Carleton College and a master’s degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois Springfield.
Recent posts
[Corrected 5/31/19, 8:48 am ET. See below.] Pharmaceutical companies that make or market opioids have found themselves in legal hot water, and much of the heat is coming from... Read more »
[Updated, 12:57 p.m. See below.] Vertex Pharmaceuticals is already a leader in cystic fibrosis therapies. The company is placing its bet on an experimental drug that could strengthen its... Read more »
Diabetes treatments available today include shots and pills intended to restore the hormone balance that leads to healthy blood sugar levels. Whole Biome aims to accomplish the same thing—but with a... Read more »
The biotech IPO train is rolling onward, with five more companies climbing aboard. The companies, ranging from a late-stage firm looking to finance Phase 3 studies to preclinical companies laying... Read more »
After Stoke Therapeutics closed $90 million in financing last fall, CEO Ed Kaye signaled his biotech would seek more cash through an IPO soon. The preclinical-stage biotech is now officially... Read more »
If Nektar Therapeutics wins FDA approval this summer for an opioid painkiller it designed to be less addictive than other opioids, another company will usher the new product onto the market.... Read more »
Ideaya Biosciences and Bicycle Therapeutics priced their IPOs late Wednesday, raising a combined $110 million to continue clinical trials of their respective experimental cancer drugs.
South San Francisco-based Ideaya raised $50... Read more »
Agrilyst, an agtech startup that has commercialized software that helps manage indoor farms and greenhouses, is unveiling a new name and additional capital. The company is now called Artemis and it... Read more »
In healthy people, viruses are kept in check by the immune system. But for immunocompromised patients, such as those undergoing transplant procedures, a viral infection is potentially deadly. AlloVir is developing... Read more »
Merck has reached a deal to acquire Peloton Therapeutics, and its Phase 3-ready kidney cancer drug, for $1.05 billion.
Under the agreement announced Tuesday, Merck (NYSE: MRK) will pay the... Read more »
Generic drugs are supposed to give consumers more choices and a counterweight to more costly branded medications. During his tenure as FDA commissioner, Scott Gottlieb often spoke about generics as a... Read more »
Microbes designed by Ginkgo Bioworks are used in consumer products such as fragrances and beverages, and they’re undergoing research for applications in agriculture and medicine. The synthetic biology company has been... Read more »
When a biotech startup is ready to test an experimental therapy it faces a pricey choice: Should it make its drug in-house, or hire a contract manufacturer? The decision is particularly... Read more »
It will be hard to top last year’s flurry of biotech companies joining the public markets, but this week is shaping up to be the busiest for life science IPOs in... Read more »
Goldfinch Bio set out to build a database of patients with kidney diseases, which it could study to understand the biology and genetics of kidney disorders in order to develop better... Read more »
The first new class of migraine drugs in decades won FDA approval last year. But the companies who commercialized these new therapies and their potential competitors are already planning new,... Read more »
A Beyond Meat burger is coming to a location near you—and soon. The food technology company’s upsized IPO has raised $241 million to finance plans to bring its plant-based “meat” to... Read more »
Drugs that treat dogs and cats are some of Elanco’s fastest growing products, and the animal health company is poised to make that category even bigger through a deal to buy... Read more »
The road to every new drug approval is littered with the remains of earlier failures. Biopharmaceutical companies don’t like to talk about the failures. But it’s earnings season now, so some... Read more »
[Updated 1:49 p.m. ET. See below.] An experimental Gilead Sciences treatment for the severe fatty liver disease NASH failed to beat a placebo in Phase 3 testing—the second time... Read more »
