Latest Posts

• Bio Roundup: Pelosi’s Reveal, Alder’s Deal, Biogen’s Fails & More

  Boston, San Francisco, and a few other metro areas might dominate the US life sciences, but some weeks, all bio-related eyes are on the nation’s capital. Health concerns about vaping continue to mount, and the feds could get involved. Meanwhile, try... Read more »

  Alex Lash9/20/19

• Boston Tech Watch: DataRobot, IBM-MIT, Firefly, Aliro, Embr & More

  More money is flowing into AI research at MIT, thanks to an expansion of the Institute’s partnership with computing giant IBM; DataRobot announces its $200 million-plus funding round; a tech startup aims to democratize access to quantum computers: these items and... Read more »

  Brian Dowling9/20/19

• Pelosi, Dems Unveil Price Plan: Are 25 Drugs Enough for Negotiation?

  With the 2020 election just over a year away, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has unveiled the Democratic Party’s answer to public discontent over high prescription drug prices.

  A preview of the plan was leaked last week. Today’s announcement doesn’t... Read more »

  Alex Lash9/19/19

• New Deals May Double $240M Funding For MIT-IBM AI Lab, Director Says

  When MIT and IBM launched a joint research lab in 2017, the New York-headquartered company pledged $240 million over a decade to chip away at the fundamental obstacles keeping artificial intelligence from transforming industries like healthcare and cybersecurity.

  Now, the Cambridge,... Read more »

  Brian Dowling9/19/19

• High-Flying Ginkgo Nets Another $290M to Program Cells Like Computers

  Ginkgo Bioworks, a synthetic biology specialist that has become worth billions, has raised another $290 million to expand the breadth of a technology that tinkers with a cell’s genetic code and reprograms it—like programming a computer.

  Boston-based Ginkgo uses a combination... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan9/19/19

• Aliro Technologies Lands $2.7M to Help Developers Go Quantum

  It’s still a ways off before visions of all-powerful encryption-breaking quantum computers come to pass. But the new quantum technologies here today are already beginning to make a dent in the world of high-performance computing.

  Imperfect as these computers may be—now... Read more »

  Brian Dowling9/18/19

• Lundbeck Paying Nearly $2B for Alder to Follow Migraine Rivals to Market

  Denmark’s neuroscience-focused pharma firm Lundbeck has agreed to pay $1.95 billion to acquire Seattle-based Alder BioPharmaceuticals to boost its late-stage pipeline and biologics capabilities.

  Barely a year at the helm, Lundbeck CEO Deborah Dunsire (pictured) is making her second major acquisition... Read more »

  Mike Ward9/16/19

• Why Menlo Ventures Backed Construction Tech Firm Fieldwire

  [Corrected 9/17/2019, 8:58 a.m, and 9/18/19, 4:53 p.m. See below.] Fieldwire, whose mobile app helps builders and construction crews coordinate their work, announced today it has lined up a total of $33.5 million across two newly disclosed fundraising... Read more »

  Bernadette Tansey9/16/19

• BACEless: Eisai, Biogen Pull Plug on Alzheimer’s Drug in Final Stage

  Add another once-promising Alzheimer’s disease drug to the scrap heap.

  Eisai and Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) are halting a Phase 3 test after an independent safety review concluded the risks of experimental Alzheimer’s drug elenbecestat outweigh the benefits. The companies did... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan9/13/19

• Cloudflare’s $525M IPO Emboldens Already-Confident Internet Booster

  [Updated 9/13/19, 11:40 am ET. See below.] Cloudflare has had its share of controversy, and is in a market with a wide range of more established competitors, from Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud to Cisco Systems and Palo... Read more »

  David Holley9/13/19

• Boston Tech Watch: Neural Galaxy, Link Ventures, & More Epstein Fallout

  The funding deals ramped up this week in Boston, and the drip, drip, drip of details about the MIT Media Lab and Jeffrey Epstein continued to form an unwelcome puddle for university administrators. Read on for all the details.

  —Joi Ito,... Read more »

  Brian Dowling9/13/19

• Booming CS Demand Brings Ex-Acquia CEO Back to His UW Roots

  Tom Erickson was ready to retire to Australia. But then the Wisconsin native and veteran technology executive got an offer from his alma mater that he decided he couldn’t pass up.

  This month, the University of Wisconsin-Madison named Erickson founding director... Read more »

  Jeff Bauter Engel9/13/19

• The Winners of the 2019 Xconomy Awards Boston Are…

  Even after three years, it doesn’t get any easier to choose the winners of the Xconomy Awards in Boston. There were multiple deserving winners in each category this year. But after much discussion and debate among our judges and... Read more »

  Jeff Bauter Engel9/12/19

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• John Halamka, Livongo Health & AI Progress at X·CON on Oct. 22

  The consumerization of healthcare is accelerating. Within five years, a “significant percentage” of healthcare services will be run through mobile apps and other digital tools, predicts John Halamka, a Boston-based doctor and prominent digital health expert.

  Halamka shared his prognostication in... Read more »

  Jeff Bauter Engel9/12/19

• FDA Doesn’t Shell Peanut Allergy Drug Pre-Hearing, Aimmune Shares Climb

  Peanut allergy sufferers know they need to stay away from certain foods that can put them in danger. But what about accidental exposure? Even trace amounts of peanut protein in their food or someone else’s can trigger an allergic reaction that... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan9/11/19

• After Investing, GSK to Buy Out Celiac Drug Developer Sitari Pharma

  GlaxoSmithKline is acquiring a startup it helped launch in 2013 as part of an alliance with life sciences venture capital firm Avalon Ventures.

  Avalon said Tuesday that GSK (NYSE: GSK) has agreed to buy the company, Sitari Pharmaceuticals, which has... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo9/11/19

• Phil Sharp, CRISPR’ing the Heart & the Duchenne Data Gap on Oct. 17

  Phil Sharp is one of the godfathers of biotech. He’s an MIT biologist, Nobel laureate and, as a Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) co-founder, one of the people responsible for turning Kendall Square into the biopharma epicenter it is today.

  Next month,... Read more »

  Ben Fidler9/11/19

• After First Look at House Drug Plan, Stocks Rise Slightly

  The first details of the long-awaited House Democrat plan to lower drug prices leaked out Monday night, with elements that have long been anathema to the biopharma industry and its supporters in Washington.

  While the world digested the details Tuesday, however,... Read more »

  Alex Lash9/10/19

• Herceptin Inventors, Immunology Pioneers Take Home 2019 Lasker Awards

  This year’s Lasker Awards, the US’s most prestigious biomedical honor, are going to five scientists whose work led to a critical breast cancer treatment and significant basic research advances that have helped pave the way for immunotherapy.

  H. Michael Shepard, Dennis... Read more »

  Ben Fidler9/10/19

• Shopify Buys 6 River Systems for $450M to Boost Fulfillment Centers

  Ecommerce software company Shopify will purchase warehouse robotics startup 6 River Systems in a $450 million deal aimed at improving logistics in its new system of fulfillment centers.

  Based in Waltham, MA, 6 River Systems makes robotic carts for order fulfillment... Read more »

  Brian Dowling9/10/19

• Challenging CRISPR, Trucode Raises $34M for New Gene-Editing System

  Gene-editing technology offers the potential to treat inherited disorders with selective edits and corrections to an afflicted individual’s genetic code. But with such molecular tinkering comes with the risk of unintended changes to the genome.

  Biotech startup Trucode Gene Repair is... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan9/10/19

• Amazon, With More WA Workers than Microsoft, Eyes Adding 10K More

  Jeff Bezos and company are looking for a few good men and women—well, perhaps more than a few, especially in and around Amazon’s home turf.

  Buoyed by years of staggering growth but also facing a tight labor market, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN... Read more »

  Jeff Buchanan9/9/19

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• Epstein Fallout: Joi Ito Resigns From MIT Media Lab, Multiple Boards

  The ripple effects from a report Friday in The New Yorker about ties between the MIT Media Lab and disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continue to spread. After Joi Ito resigned as the Media Lab’s director on Saturday,... Read more »

  Brian Dowling9/9/19

• As New CEO of Cerevel, Coles Moves From One Neuro Startup to Another

  Tony Coles, the biotech veteran who once steered Onyx Pharmaceuticals into a $10 billion buyout, has left one neurology startup to join another.

  Coles on Monday was named the CEO of Cerevel Therapeutics, a Boston company that Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)... Read more »

  Ben Fidler9/9/19

• At Big Lung Cancer Meeting, Lights Shine on KRAS, Drug Combos & More

  The treatment landscape for lung cancer has shifted significantly over the past few years, and more changes could be on the way. At the World Conference on Lung Cancer in Barcelona this weekend a number of drug makers trotted out... Read more »

  Ben Fidler9/9/19

• Frequency Plans IPO for Hearing Loss Drug & More Regenerative Meds

  Hearing loss affects millions of Americans but to date, there are no FDA-approved medicines to treat them. Frequency Therapeutics is developing a hearing loss drug that taps into the body’s regenerative capabilities. As the company prepares to advance the experimental treatment... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan9/6/19

• Bio Roundup: MedCo’s Pricing Plan, Vertex’s Gamble, uBiome Undone

  Being first to market with a new type of drug brings advantages. The first mover sets the bar for what physicians, payers, and patients can expect of that medicine and how much it costs. It grabs market share that followers have... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan9/6/19

• Boston Tech Watch: MIT Epstein, Notarize Cash, New Carbonite Execs

  For a week shortened by the Labor Day holiday heralding the coming end of summer, the past few days yielded their fair share of Boston-area technology business news. Read on for a roundup of the news.

  —MIT Media Lab co-founder Nicholas... Read more »

  Brian Dowling9/6/19

• Novartis & IFM Team Up Again, With Buyout Option for Autoimmune R&D

  IFM Therapeutics has lined up another pact with a big pharma company, and it’s the second one in less than a year with Novartis.

  Boston-based IFM Therapeutics announced Thursday that Novartis (NYSE: NVS) has agreed to pay the research and... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan9/5/19

• Cogito Raises $20M to Expand Call Center Emotional Intelligence

  Cogito CEO Joshua Feast isn’t convinced that artificial intelligence will topple the staffing model for call centers. Customer service is not destined—at least anytime soon, he believes—to be handed off completely to voice assistant chatbots that can handle all the problems... Read more »

  Brian Dowling9/5/19

• SF’s Ginger Raises $35M in Burgeoning Digital Therapeutics Market

  Ginger, a San Francisco-based digital health startup developing software to help patients manage mental and behavioral health conditions, announced Wednesday it has raised $35 million from investors to offer its service to more people who experience stress, depression, and other conditions.... Read more »

  Jeff Buchanan9/4/19

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