Latest Posts

• Startup X-37 Raises $14.5M to Expand on AI-Powered Drug Discovery

  Launched just last year, artificial intelligence-powered drug discovery company X-37 now has raised $14.5 million in Series A financing to expand its development programs.

  Co-founded by Atomwise and a team from Velocity Pharmaceutical Development, the San Francisco, CA-based company uses Atomwise’s... Read more »

  Melissa Fassbender11/14/19

• Neuroscience Is Taking the Spotlight at Xconomy’s Bay Area Xchange

  These are heady times for neuroscience research. Startups developing new approaches to brain disorders are raising money to advance their discoveries toward clinical trials. One failed neuro drug is getting another shot.

  On Nov. 19 in San Francisco, we’ll... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/11/19

• Looking to Level Up in NASH, Novo Nordisk Licenses Ube Drug Candidate

  Danish diabetes giant Novo Nordisk took another step this week in its efforts to establish a presence in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, a metabolic disorder closely related to diabetes that is anticipated to become the leading cause of liver transplants in... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo11/8/19

• Bio Roundup: Feds Sue Gilead, Biogen Eyes China, CRISPR’d Kidneys & More

  During the state of the union address this year, President Trump pledged to end HIV transmission within the next decade. A key part of that plan is an HIV prevention drug made by Gilead Sciences. That drug has now become the... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/8/19

• Arkuda Unveils $44M and a Protein Restoration Approach to Dementia

  The onset of one of the most devastating forms of dementia often comes with a misdiagnosis. Personality and behavioral changes in a patient can spark a hypothesis of depression or psychosis. Memory problems rouse suspicion of Alzheimer’s disease. By the... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/7/19

• AI Can Unlock Health Data’s Potential, But Access Is Still Difficult

  When Mark Bakken formed the healthcare technology investment firm HealthX Ventures nearly five years ago, he says hospitals, insurers, and other potential buyers of digital health products were less open to conversations with the kinds of early-stage healthtech startups Bakken’s... Read more »

  Jeff Bauter Engel11/7/19

• AstraZeneca Chooses China for R&D and AI Centers, $1B Biotech Fund

  AstraZeneca says it will establish centers for drug research and artificial intelligence development in China. The pharmaceutical giant has also set up a $1 billion fund to foster biotech innovation in that country.

  The move—which was announced at the China International... Read more »

  Gareth Macdonald11/6/19

• GE Healthcare Opens Startup Labs at Former AstraZeneca UK R&D Site

  The doors have opened at a GE Healthcare-supported open-access lab for startups at AstraZeneca’s former global center for oncology research and development at Alderley Park, the largest bioscience research campus in the UK.

  The AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) site in Macclesfield,... Read more »

  Dan Stanton11/6/19

• Biotech Roundup: Novartis on Hold, AMAG Vote, Neuro News & More

  The brain has stymied many efforts to develop new neuroscience drugs, leading a number of big pharmaceutical companies to pull back on such R&D work. This week, Amgen joined them.

  Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) is ending its research and early development... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/1/19

• FDA Halts Novartis Gene Therapy Study Amid Animal Safety Concerns

  Novartis must stop enrollment of a clinical trial testing its gene therapy for a rare, muscular disorder after safety concerns surfaced in data from an animal study.

  The FDA put a partial clinical hold on a Phase 1/2 study testing the... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan10/30/19

• With Ex-Medivation Exec Hung at Helm, Nuvation Nabs $275M for Cancer

  Nuvation Bio peeked out from stealth mode Monday to reveal $275 million in financing and an executive team stacked with biotech veterans.

  The cancer drug developer, which has offices in New York and San Francisco, is led by founder, president, and... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan10/28/19

• UK Regulator Has “Competition Concerns” Over Illumina-PacBio Tie-Up

  Nearly one year after DNA sequencing machine maker Illumina announced plans to acquire smaller rival Pacific Biosciences, antitrust regulators in the UK say the merger could stifle competition in the region and reduce industry innovation.

  The Competition and Markets Authority... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo10/25/19

• Bio Roundup: Biogen’s Reversal, FDA Moves Fast, a CF Cocktail & More

  Earlier this year, it seemed that companies testing Alzheimer’s disease treatments based on a long-held hypothesis as to its cause—brain deposits of a protein called beta amyloid—were giving up the ghost.

  Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) was among them. The drug maker... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo10/25/19

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• Bio Roundup: Ichnos Emerges, Beyond CAR-T, BridgeBio Bails & More

  New brand-name drugs typically grab the life science headlines. A venture capital firm will invest tens of millions to develop one and a pharmaceutical company hopes to recoup hundreds of millions by selling it. But a shortage of one particular chemotherapy... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan10/18/19

• Plexium Debuts With $28M and a New Take on Protein Degradation Drugs

  Even as researchers discover more links between specific proteins and human disease, it’s still hard to find small molecules or antibodies that can bind to those drug targets.

  San Diego biotech Plexium is the latest addition to the growing number of... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo10/17/19

• Healx Bags $56M to Advance Affordable, AI-Based Orphan Drugs

  Atomico, a European venture capital firm, has helped persuade Cambridge, UK-based Healx to return to the capital market a year earlier than anticipated. The biotech has just raised $56 million in Series B funding to bankroll its mission to use AI... Read more »

  Mike Ward10/17/19

• Nuance & Microsoft Team Up on Conversational AI for Doctors’ Offices

  Nuance Communications’ plan to lighten the clerical burden on physicians is coming into focus, and it involves an assist from tech giant Microsoft.

  Nuance (NASDAQ: NUAN), the 27-year-old speech recognition technology pioneer, in February revealed it’s developing a device that... Read more »

  Jeff Bauter Engel10/17/19

• ArsenalBio Launches With $85M for “Programmable” T Cell Therapies

  Cell therapies are made by tinkering with a patient’s immune cells so that they can better recognize and destroy cancer cells. These drugs give patients another treatment option for certain cancers that haven’t responded to anything else. ArsenalBio CEO Ken Drazan... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan10/17/19

• Eli Lilly Drug Acquired in Armo Deal Fails Pancreatic Cancer Test

  An experimental drug that was the centerpiece of a $1.6 billion Eli Lilly acquisition last year has now failed a pivotal test in pancreatic cancer.

  Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) said Wednesday that patients treated with its drug candidate pegilodecakin, plus... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan10/16/19

• Vir Bio’s IPO Brings In $143M for Tests of Hepatitis B Drug and More

  Vir Biotechnology has joined the public markets, raising $142.9 million to support clinical tests of its infectious disease drugs.

  The San Francisco firm offered 7.1 million shares priced at $20 each, which was the low end of the $20 to $22... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan10/11/19

• Bio Roundup: Nobel Prizes, Placebo Effect Rises, ICER’s Fire & More

  Congrats to this year’s Nobel Prize winners in medicine… although, we have to ask: For the US researchers who are honored, isn’t there something crushing about a call in the middle of the night from Sweden, interrupting a dream about... Read more »

  Alex Lash10/11/19

• The Placebo Effect Is Hobbling New Psychiatric Drugs. What Can Stop It?

  Sixteen years ago, Kim Witczak’s husband died by his own hand, turning her world upside down. He had just begun taking an antidepressant off-label for insomnia, and she believes an undisclosed side effect of the drug drove him to suicide. Compelled... Read more »

  Alex Lash10/10/19

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• Five Years After Y Combinator First Admits Biotechs, They’re Dug In

  Five years ago, the big tech incubator Y Combinator started to welcome life sciences companies into its sizable startup classes, which had previously nurtured entrepreneurs in information technology almost exclusively.

  That opening to biotech startups in 2014 was controversial at the... Read more »

  Bernadette Tansey10/9/19

• LabFellows Looks to Become “Operating System” For Life Sciences Cos.

  [Updated 7:21 p.m. 10/11. See below.] Scientists, no matter how sexy the research they’re conducting, aren’t immune from the administrative minutiae of office life.

  Such tasks steal time away from researchers’ main objectives. However, that wasn’t the problem San... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo10/8/19

• Nobel Prize in Medicine Goes to 3 Who Showed How Cells Sense Oxygen Levels

  Oxygen’s importance in cellular processes has long been known. But the work to understand how cells sense and adapt to changes in oxygen levels has led to medical insights and potential treatments for anemia, cancer, and more—and today, it has turned... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan10/7/19

• Unpack Digital Health’s Progress & Pitfalls at X·CON on Oct. 22

  Digital health is having a moment, thanks to a convergence of increasingly sophisticated computing technologies, a more favorable regulatory environment, and growing buy-in from hospitals, insurers, and patients. But plenty of challenges and questions remain.

  Join Xconomy on Oct. 22... Read more »

  Jeff Bauter Engel10/7/19

• Fetch Rewards Grabs $25M, Plans to Double Staff as Growth Accelerates

  Fetch Rewards’ pivot seems to be paying off. The Madison, WI-based mobile app startup has pulled in $25 million from investors to help it capitalize on a surge of new users and business partners.

  The fresh funding was revealed in a... Read more »

  Jeff Bauter Engel10/4/19

• Bio Roundup: PARP Progress, A New Commish, IPO-Palooza & More

  It’s been a strange up and down ride for PARP inhibitors, a relatively new class of cancer drugs.

  Named for the tumor protein they target, PARPs rebounded after a big clinical setback in 2011 and have been at the center of... Read more »

  Ben Fidler10/4/19

• Icosavax Lands $51M to Bring Vaccine for Respiratory Virus to Clinic

  Many vaccines are made from either a weakened virus or a protein taken from a virus. But so far, scientists haven’t had much luck developing such vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which causes an infection that is typically mild but... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan10/3/19

• Nuance Spinout Cerence Vies With Tech Giants in Voice-AI for Auto

  A new mobility company, Cerence, is making its public-market debut Wednesday, and its first CEO, Sanjay Dhawan, says he’s been meeting with more than 50 investors in recent weeks to talk up its prospects.

  Cerence is a spinout from pioneering... Read more »

  Bernadette Tansey10/2/19

• Can Ford’s Self-Driving Car Business Improve Austin’s Traffic Woes?

  Austin — There are so many great things about working from home. Spending all day with your pets is up there, but not having to commute is probably the best.

  It’s particularly nice to avoid commuting by car in a city... Read more »

  David Holley10/1/19

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