Latest Posts

• Illumina to Acquire Cancer Diagnostics Developer Grail in $8B Deal

  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 less than two weeks after Menlo... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan9/21/20

• Bio Roundup: SeaGen Scores, Dyne’s Debut, Microbiome Moves & 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 »

  Frank Vinluan9/18/20

• Moderna CMO Talks COVID-19 Vaccine at Xcelerate Next Week

  The Xcelerate Keynote Series has added Moderna CMO Tal Zaks to the expert lineup of speakers set to present next Monday, Sept. 21.

  As you likely know, Moderna is one of the front-runners in the COVID-19 vaccine race, and we look... Read more »

  Editors9/16/20

• Xconomy Awards On-Demand ‘Meet the Finalists’ Webcast Series Continues This Week

  The 2020 National Xconomy Awards complimentary two-week, 11-part, on-demand Meet the Finalists daily webcast series continues each day this week at 11 a.m. ET. Registration is complimentary and includes access to a networking app with already more than 400 life science... Read more »

  Editors9/14/20

• Join Xconomy Next Week at the Virtual Xcelerate Keynote Series at Biotech Week Boston

  Presented by Xconomy, the online Xcelerate Keynote Series at Biotech Week Boston on Monday, Sept. 21 places a spotlight on life science leaders who are breaking new ground with methods and solutions in R&D, planning, and production that are improving patient... Read more »

  Editors9/14/20

• Bio Roundup: COVID-19 Pact, Gavreto Approval, Generative Biology & More

  COVID-19 research efforts are often characterized as a race between companies, a description that reflects the urgency to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. The description is not quite right. A race has one winner and public health officials have... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan9/11/20

• Grail Files to Go Public; 5 More Life Science Firms Join the IPO Queue

  Grail, a company developing blood tests intended to detect cancer well before symptoms show, is taking its pitch to a broader swath of investors. The diagnostics company is looking ahead to potential commercialization of its technology as early as next year,... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan9/9/20

• Grifols Moves Deeper Into Proteome R&D With $146M Deal for Alkahest

  Alkahest, a company that analyzes blood proteins to develop therapies that address neurological disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, is set to be acquired by partner Grifols in a $146 million deal.

  Grifols (NASDAQ: GRFS) announced Tuesday that it is acquiring the... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan9/8/20

• Bio Roundup: Pharma M&A, AbbVie’s Cancer Bet, Biofourmis Bucks & More

  Labor Day is just around the corner and many people are looking forward to a last chance to celebrate the waning days of summer. But ahead of the holiday weekend, biopharmaceutical companies were hard at work closing deals.

  Food conglomerate Nestlé... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan9/4/20

• Early Bird Sale for Xcelerate at Biotech Week Boston Ends This Friday

  Don’t miss out on savings for this year’s online Xcelerate Keynote Series at Biotech Week Boston – our early bird sale ends this Friday!

  Speakers include:

  • Jeff Baker – Deputy Director, Office of Biotechnology Products, FDA
  • Michelle McMurry-Heath – President & CEO, BIO
  ... Read more »

  Editors8/31/20

• Biotech Roundup: FDA Culpa, Tricida Trips, Freenome’s Funding & More

  Among the casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic: the credibility of government agencies entrusted with protecting public health.

  The FDA this week granted emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma as a treatment for infection by the novel coronavirus. FDA Commissioner Stephen... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan8/28/20

• FDA Adds Plasma as 2nd COVID-19 Treatment Under Emergency Guidelines

  The FDA has authorized the use of plasma from people who have recovered from infection by the novel coronavirus as a treatment for hospitalized COVID-19 patients, a move widely perceived as influenced by political pressure given the lack of clear evidence... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo8/24/20

• Bio Roundup: J&J Buyout, BioMarin Rebuffed, Poseida on Hold & More

  While business is historically slow in August, this month seems to be bucking the trend, just like so many other unexpected developments in 2020. Perhaps life sciences executives have been less distracted by summer excursions this year in a world in... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo8/21/20

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• Bio Roundup: Seres Soars, MesoBlast Vote, Duchenne Decision & More

  The road of drug development is rife with detours and disappointments but Seres Therapeutics showed this week that course corrections can work. Four years after its microbiome therapy failed in a mid-stage study, the company reported early positive data from a... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan8/14/20

• F2G Lands $60M for a New Tack on Taking Out Rare Fungal Infections

  Fungal infections might not immediately come to mind as rare diseases, but growing resistance to older drugs means that patients who develop these infections have limited treatment options. Biotech company F2G aims to give these patients another choice. As the startup... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan8/12/20

• Bio Roundup: A Telehealth Combo, FDA’s BCMA OK, Biogen’s Bet & More

  The novel coronavirus has driven the pharmaceutical industry to upend its research priorities. Big Pharma companies are focusing on vaccine development and a slew of biotechs are testing compounds, previously intended for a wide range of indications, as potential COVID-19 treatments.... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo8/7/20

• G1 Vets Launch Arc Therapeutics to Take on New Cancer Target

  Three early employees of G1 Therapeutics have launched a new oncology-focused company and raised $6 million to move a preclinical program licensed from their former employer into the clinic.

  The startup, Research Triangle Park, NC-based Arc Therapeutics, is headed by Patrick... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo8/6/20

• Bio Roundup: Cerevel’s Shell, Thrive’s Rise, Drug Price Drama & More

  The biotech IPO market is buzzing but Cerevel Therapeutics is showing that there’s more than one path to the public markets. This week the neuroscience drug developer reached a deal to merge with publicly traded Arya Sciences Acquisition Corp II.

  If... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan7/31/20

• Bio Roundup: Jazz Drug OK’d, Gilead’s Bet, Moderna Patent Decision & More

  EQRx launched in January during the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference with an audacious pledge to create 10 new drugs in as many years and then sell them at “dramatically” lower prices than existing medicines. But it offered few specifics about how... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo7/24/20

• FDA Lifts CymaBay Drug Hold, Tests to Resume in Rare Liver Disease PBC

  The FDA has lifted a hold on clinical trials for an experimental CymaBay Therapeutics drug in three liver diseases, clearing the way for tests to resume in all of them. But the company won’t be pressing forward in the biggest one,... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan7/23/20

• Bio Roundup: Moderna Publishes, Life Science Cash, AdComm Votes & More

  If it seems like biotech investments have defied the financial headwinds of the pandemic, maybe it’s because they have. In the second quarter, 16 of the top 25 largest early-stage venture capital deals were investments in life science companies.

  The figures... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan7/17/20

• Last Chance for Xconomy Awards Nominations – Deadline is Friday, July 17

  Have you had your say yet? The 2020 National Xconomy Awards represent the very best our life science industry has to offer. It is our privilege to recognize emerging companies and technologies, highlight groundbreaking business collaborations and strategies, celebrate corporate responsibility... Read more »

  Editors7/15/20

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• Bio Roundup: Blackstone’s Billions, Biogen Finishes Filing, Novavax at “Warp Speed” & More

  Cash flowed throughout the life sciences ecosystem this week as Blackstone (NYSE: BX) raised a record-setting life sciences fund, companies of all stages announced new financings, and money continued to find its way to those working on efforts to treat... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo7/10/20

• Novavax Gets $1.6B in Operation Warp Speed Funding for COVID-19 Vaccine

  The federal government’s Operation Warp Speed has made its biggest financing award yet, promising $1.6 billion to a Maryland biotech to help advance its investigational COVID-19 vaccine and ready millions of doses in preparation for its possible success.

  Gaithersburg, MD-based Novavax,... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo7/7/20

• PacBio CEO, CFO Plan Retirements and More People on the Move

  Here’s a look back at some of the life science industry’s executive appointments, departures, and retirements from recent weeks:

  —Pacific Biosciences (NASDAQ: PACB) CEO Michael Hunkapiller and Chief Financial Officer Susan Barnes are retiring.

  —Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) appointed... Read more »

  Editors7/7/20

• Bio Roundup: Gilead’s Pionyr Grab, Relay to IPO, Unicorn Sana & More

  Uncertainty related to the continued spread of the pandemic continued to consume most of the oxygen in the room this week, but life sciences news outside of that arena continued apace.

  Once considered all but shuttered, the IPO market again saw... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/26/20

• Shattuck Labs Nabs $118M for Cancer Drugs Like Keytruda, But Better

  Checkpoint inhibitors do one thing: release the molecular brake that keeps immune cells from recognizing and targeting tumors. This cancer immunotherapy approach has saved countless lives and turned drugs from Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb into blockbuster products.

  But what if... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan6/19/20

• Bio Roundup: A Royal IPO, Akili Arrives, Orca Bio Surfaces & More

  The biggest life sciences deal this week involves a company that doesn’t discover or develop drugs, or even sell them. Yet its mark is found on pharmaceutical products spanning the entire sector.

  Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ: RPRX) acquires the royalty rights... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan6/19/20

• Orca Bio Surfaces With $192M and Recipes for “Custom” Cell Therapies

  The cancer cell therapies available today are made by tweaking a patient’s own immune cells to better recognize and fight the disease. Orca Bio is developing what it says is the next generation of cell therapy: custom preparations made without modifying... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan6/17/20

• FDA Reverses Authorization for Use of Antimalarials to Treat COVID-19

  The FDA on Monday revoked its emergency authorization permitting use of the antimalarial drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat the novel coronavirus, citing a lack of evidence of their efficacy.

  In late March the agency authorized the drugs, which President Donald... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/15/20

• GlaxoSmithKline Keeps Oncology 2.0 Growth Plans on Track

  [Corrected 6/17/20, 1:48 pm PT. See below.] GlaxoSmithKline’s years-long oncology resurgence is on track to have two new drugs approved in the US in mid-2020, after the company won a key first-line ovarian cancer indication for Zejula (niraparib) in... Read more »

  Mandy Jackson6/12/20

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