CStone Pharmaceuticals has touted its experimental drug sugemalimab as potentially the best in its class of cancer immunotherapies. Pfizer is placing a bet on that promise by making a $200 million equity investment in CStone for rights to that drug in... Read more »
Praxis Precision Medicines kept mostly quiet about its research on central nervous system disorder (CNS) drugs until May, when it emerged from stealth and revealed $100 million in cumulative financing. Now the company is aiming to raise about that amount... Read more »
Had things turned out differently, scientists at Galecto might be watching their idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis drug candidate develop in the hands of a big pharmaceutical company. But Bristol Myers Squibb passed on its option to acquire Galecto leaving the biotech to... Read more »
In biotech, you can go home again. Four years ago, Illumina spun out cancer diagnostics startup Grail. This week, the gene sequencing giant announced it is acquiring Grail in an $8 billion cash and stock deal.
Grail set out with the... Read more »
Many drugs work by binding to a protein and blocking it. Technology for eliminating disease-causing proteins altogether remains experimental, but this approach has gained ground in the past year with hundreds of millions of dollars raised and compounds advanced into clinical... Read more »
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has no cure and few available treatments but the past decade has revealed new knowledge about the pathology of the disease. Libra Therapeutics is turning that research into potential therapies, and it now has $29 million to... Read more »
The key to Athira Pharma’s approach to Alzheimer’s disease is already inside each of us: a repair mechanism that can regenerate damaged neurons. What’s needed to begin the process is a pharmacological kickstart.
Athira (NASDAQ: ATHA) is developing a drug... Read more »
The 2020 National Xconomy Awards complimentary two-week, 11-part, on-demand Meet the Finalists daily webcast series continues this Tuesday and Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET. Registration is complimentary and includes access to a networking app with already more than 600 life science... Read more »
[Updated, 3:45 pm ET.] Grail is set to be acquired for $8 billion by Illumina, the gene sequencing giant that formed the cancer diagnostics developer and spun it out as a separate company four years ago. The announcement comes... Read more »
Gilead Sciences CEO Daniel O’Day has spoken openly about acquisitions as a way to build up the company’s drug pipeline. This week, it made its biggest buy yet.
The $21 billion Immunomedics acquisition brings to Gilead a cancer drug that many... Read more »
Dyne Therapeutics, a company developing genetic medicines for rare muscular disorders, has raised $233 million in an IPO that topped the preclinical-stage biotech’s projections.
Late Wednesday, Dyne priced its offering of about 12.3 million shares at $19 each. The Waltham, MA-based... Read more »
The US is doing more in the COVID-19 space than anywhere in the world due to the strength of its innovative ecosystem, says Michelle McMurry-Heath, president & CEO of life sciences advocacy group Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). But such innovation is... Read more »
When Seres Therapeutics reported positive late-stage data for its experimental microbiome treatment last month, scientists at Finch Therapeutics cheered the results from the rival company whose lead drug candidate addresses the same gut infection they aim to treat.
Positive data, no... Read more »
