So far this year four privately held companies have made the transition to trading on the public markets.
By month’s end, five more are anticipated to join the class of 2020 initial public offerings—and four of those are in life sciences,... Read more »
Company news slowed somewhat this week, perhaps as some took the federal Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday away from the office and others recovered from back-to-back meetings and late nights at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. However, a new coronavirus... Read more »
Epizyme won accelerated FDA approval Thursday for a drug developed to treat the rare cancer epithelioid sarcoma (ES).
The regulatory decision for the Epizyme (NASDAQ: EPZM) drug, tazemetostat (Tazverik), covers patients 16 or older whose ES has advanced or spread... Read more »
[Updated 7:25 p.m. See below.] Safety concerns stymied Sarepta Therapeutics’ attempt to win FDA approval last August for golodirsen (Vyondys 53), its second Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug. But an appeal of the decision led to a surprise reversal by... Read more »
CRISPR gene editing offers the potential to selectively edit the genetic mutations causing inherited diseases, but Emendo Biotherapeutics CEO David Baram contends it’s not precise enough. A large number of genetic diseases can’t be addressed by current CRISPR approaches and the... Read more »
The ocean is home to more biodiversity than anywhere else on the planet—making it a largely untapped source of opportunity for researchers studying marine organisms as a source of novel drug leads.
“The unique adaptations of marine organisms have made them... Read more »
Cancer research has revealed proteins known to play a role in the disease, but with no known way of stopping what they do. In pharmaceutical parlance, they’re “undruggable.”
Revolution Medicines is trying to drug the undruggable with small molecules that block... Read more »
Perhaps the most talked-about news at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference this week was a new startup that launched with $200 million and an ambitious claim that its first drug would be approved within five years, and 10 in total within... Read more »
Neon Therapeutics closed 2019 by curtailing its cancer vaccine programs and laying off 24 percent of its workforce, part of a corporate restructuring aimed at finding a new path for the company. That new path will now be as a division... Read more »
Startup nference has closed a $60 million Series B financing round to expand the use of its augmented intelligence platform in clinical research and drug development.
Mayo Clinic and NTT Venture Capital joined previous investors Matrix Partners and Matrix Capital Management,... Read more »
[Updated 1/15/2020, 8:51 a.m. See below.] As the nation grapples with the ongoing opioid crisis, an FDA advisory panel on Tuesday unanimously voted against recommending approval of a Nektar Therapeutics painkiller that would add a new compound to the... Read more »
Scan the landscape of experimental medicines in development today and you’ll spot Schrödinger’s handiwork. The company’s software has helped discover compounds that are now advancing in the pipelines of several drug developers.
Schrödinger isn’t shying away from that work. But as... Read more »
Continuing to make headlines in the neurodegenerative disease space, Biogen on Monday announced a deal to acquire a clinical-stage Pfizer asset that has potential applications in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, for $75 million.
Cambridge, MA-based Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) could end... Read more »
JP Morgan’s annual healthcare conference convenes in San Francisco this week and Generation Bio CEO Geoff McDonough is betting gene therapy will be among the discussion topics. While such therapies now offer ways to address some rare diseases that previously had... Read more »
A letter signed by 215 people involved in the biopharma industry, including CEOs and investors, published Wednesday promised to put the “interests of patients first.”
Six CEOs, including five who run public companies, co-authored the letter. Signatories agreed to what they... Read more »
[Updated 2:42 p.m. See below.] The next neuroscience drug that joins Biogen’s pipeline might come from the research of startup CAMP4 Therapeutics.
The two Cambridge, MA-based companies are starting an alliance that will use CAMP4’s technology to find genetic... Read more »
Solid Biosciences is slashing its workforce, including two top executives, in order to devote the company’s remaining resources to its experimental gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
The corporate restructuring announced Thursday comes two months after the FDA placed a hold... Read more »
Food gurus tout the benefits of eating spinach and kale, but some people are better off leaving them on the plate. A molecule in these leafy greens contributes to hyperoxaluria, a condition characterized by kidney stones at first and serious organ... Read more »
Apellis Pharmaceuticals wants to offer patients who have an ultra-rare blood disease another treatment option. The drug developer Tuesday revealed late-stage clinical trial data suggesting its experimental therapy works better than a blockbuster Alexion Pharmaceuticals medicine that is currently the standard... Read more »
Takeda is teaming up with MIT to advance projects intended to enhance its understanding of how to best use artificial intelligence to solve some of the biopharma industry’s biggest challenges.
The Japanese company (NYSE: TAK) will fund six to 10... Read more »
Cancer research is leading some companies to molecular targets that have eluded new medicines. Phase 1-ready biotech Black Diamond Therapeutics hopes its approach to such cancer targets leads it to the public markets.
Black Diamond filed paperwork with securities regulators late... Read more »
In the past seven years BioIntervene has been working to develop “ultra-selective” compounds to target an adenosine receptor associated with pain relief.
Now the San Diego-based biotech has $30 million and a chief scientific officer, Charles Cohen, to guide its lead... Read more »
