Latest Posts

• Revolution Medicines Maps Out an IPO to Reach Cancer’s Frontiers

  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 »

  Frank Vinluan1/17/20

• Bio Roundup: EQRx’s Ambitions, Nektar No Vote, New Frazier Fund & 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 »

  Frank Vinluan1/17/20

• FDA Panel Votes Down Nektar Opioid Painkiller, Asks for More Data

  [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 »

  Frank Vinluan1/14/20

• Generation Bio Pockets $110M for Next Wave of Gene Therapy, IPO Plans

  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 »

  Frank Vinluan1/13/20

• Roche Pays $40M to Use Amunix Pharma’s Half-Life Extension Tech

  Roche will pay Amunix Pharmaceuticals $40 million up front to use the company’s proprietary technology to discover and develop new drugs outside of the oncology space.

  The clinically validated platform—XTEN—is a proprietary unstructured polypeptide, which when attached to molecules, can extend... Read more »

  Melissa Fassbender1/13/20

• Allogene, SpringWorks to Test Drug Combo in Multiple Myeloma Trial

  Springworks Therapeutics and Allogene Therapeutics have agreed to collaborate on a clinical trial to test a combination of an investigational cancer drug from each biotech in patients with multiple myeloma.

  The experimental treatment from Springworks, nirogacestat, is one of the four... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo1/13/20

• Eli Lilly Gets Skin in the Eczema Game With $1.1B Deal for Dermira

  Eli Lilly has agreed to acquire dermatology drug developer Dermira and its late-stage atopic dermatitis drug for $1.1 billion.

  Lilly (NYSE: LLY) will pay $18.75 per share, a 2.2 percent premium over Dermira’s closing stock price on Thursday. But the... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan1/10/20

• Biotech Roundup: Drug Pricing Promises, Bone Disease Data, IPO Plans & 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 »

  Sarah de Crescenzo1/10/20

• Novome Lands $33M to Tweak a Gut Microbe Into a Metabolic Therapy

  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 »

  Frank Vinluan1/8/20

• Black Diamond Lines Up IPO as Lead Cancer Drug Nears Clinic

  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 »

  Frank Vinluan1/7/20

• Bio Roundup: FDA Approvals, Intrexon’s Shift, Melinta Bankruptcy & More

  In the week leading up to Christmas, six drugs won FDA approvals. The decisions covered insomnia, migraine, and several different forms of cancer.

  The FDA’s final tally for the year totaled 48 new drug approvals. If you’re keeping score, that compares... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan1/3/20

• After Antitrust Challenges, Illumina and PacBio Throw in Towel on Merger

  DNA sequencing machine maker Illumina will have to find another way to “read” long pieces of genetic material as well as short stretches, the genomic giant’s bailiwick. Its $1.2 billion proposal to acquire long-read capability by buying rival Pacific Biosciences ended... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo1/3/20

• Bio Roundup: Amarin’s Approval, FTC v. Illumina, a $120M Deal & More

  As national politics dominates the news in the final days of the decade, we at Xconomy are wrapping up the year with some big moves by the FDA, including an approval of the first drug OK’d reduce heart risk in patients... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo12/20/19

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• Triplet Therapeutics Unveils $59M to Try Hairpin Fix for Huntington’s

  Huntington’s disease drug research has focused mainly on the genetic roots of the rare neurodegenerative disorder. Triplet Therapeutics is taking a different tack by targeting a DNA repair mechanism gone awry, an approach that CEO Nessan Bermingham says could offer a... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan12/17/19

• Bio Roundup: Sarepta’s Approval, Merck M&A, Drug Price Bill & More

  If you’re keeping track, FDA drug approvals have been on a tear in the past month with several decisions coming well ahead of their targeted dates. And then there’s Sarepta Therapeutics.

  Late Thursday, the FDA announced approval of the Cambridge,... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan12/13/19

• Amgen’s Osteoporosis Drug Wins European Nod, With a Heart Warning

  An osteoporosis drug developed by Amgen now has marketing approval in Europe, but it carries a warning that the medicine can raise the risk of cardiovascular problems.

  Romosozumab (Evenity) treats postmenopausal woman who have osteoporosis, a disease that weakens bones, making... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan12/12/19

• Iterum’s Antibiotic for Super Bugs Falls Short in Phase 3, Shares Sink

  Iterum Therapeutics’ bid to bring patients a new antibiotic that’s safer than currently available drugs has fallen short of the main efficacy goal of a late-stage clinical trial. But the company is pinning its hopes on another Phase 3 study that... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan12/11/19

• BridgeBio Pharma Onboards Eli Wallace to Lead Oncology Programs

  Palo Alto, CA-based BridgeBio Pharma (NASDAQ: BBIO) has named Eli Wallace as its chief scientific officer in residence for oncology. In this role, Wallace will oversee the company’s current drug discovery projects, while helping identify and develop new oncology programs.... Read more »

  Melissa Fassbender12/9/19

• Bio Roundup: Biogen at CTAD, Sage’s Stumble, Astellas’s $3B Offer & More

  It’s been a roller-coaster year for those hoping for new drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease, a leading cause of death with rising treatment costs and no clear answer yet as to its cause.

  Clearing proteins, such as amyloid and tau, was... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo12/6/19

• Roche Notches FDA Nod in Lung Cancer, Amps Up Competition With Merck

  A Roche immunotherapy has won an additional FDA approval as a first-line treatment for non-small lung cancer, bolstering the product’s competitive stance versus one from Merck.

  The FDA approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq) for adults whose non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan12/4/19

• Stemonix, Atomwise Team Up on Drug Discovery With MicroOrgans and AI

  Two venture-backed startups that have developed technologies intended to speed up the drug discovery and development process are combining those tools in a bid to achieve their goals together.

  San Francisco-based Atomwise has developed deep learning techniques for use in structure-based... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo12/3/19

• Veracyte Aims to Expand Diagnostics Reach With $50M NanoString Deal

  [Updated 12/4/19, 4:01 p.m. ET. See below.] Veracyte, a company whose tests help physicians make treatment decisions, is adding technology from NanoString to the fold to expand its diagnostic capabilities.

  South San Francisco-based Veracyte (NASDAQ: VCYT) announced Tuesday... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan12/3/19

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• Astellas Bets On Gene Therapy With $3B Audentes Acquisition Offer

  Japanese drug giant Astellas Pharma announced late Monday it has agreed to buy Audentes Therapeutics, which is developing gene therapies for rare neuromuscular diseases.

  It’s an all-cash deal worth $3 billion, with the Astellas offer of $60 per share representing a... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo12/3/19

• Global Blood’s Sickle Cell Drug Wins FDA Approval Ahead of Schedule

  The FDA on Monday approved a Global Blood Therapeutics treatment for sickle cell disease, three months before the agency’s decision was expected.

  Regulators evaluated the drug, voxelotor (Oxbryta), under a pathway that allows for a speedier review using less evidence than... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/25/19

• Ferring and Blackstone Team Up to Fund Gene Therapy Firm With $570M

  Ferring Pharmaceuticals and Blackstone Life Sciences have formed a new company to commercialize a bladder cancer gene therapy that is currently in late-stage clinical testing.

  The new company, FerGene, is a subsidiary of Swiss pharmaceutical company Ferring, which is investing $170... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/25/19

• Five Questions With a16z’s Vijay Pande on AI and Making New Drugs

  In startup world these days, the word “biotech” is increasingly accompanied by “computational” and two, two-letter initialisms: AI and ML.

  Those tools—artificial intelligence and machine learning, respectively—have been around for decades, but in recent years have become faster and cheaper, accelerating... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo11/25/19

• Bio Roundup: So Long Celgene, RNAi’s Arrival, Pharma in 2020 & More

  Bristol-Myers Squibb this week completed its acquisition of Celgene, a $74 billion deal that creates a pharmaceutical juggernaut. And all it took was the largest asset sale ever required by federal antitrust regulators.

  As the Federal Trade Commission reviewed Bristol’s (NYSE:... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/22/19

• Liquid Biopsy Firm Lucence Plans Bay Area Buildout With $20M in Tow

  Lucence, a genomic medicine company developing blood-based tests for cancer screening and treatment selection, announced this week the close of a $20 million Series A funding round led by IHH Healthcare.

  CEO and founder Min-Han Tan (pictured) says the investment will... Read more »

  Melissa Fassbender11/20/19

• Biopharma Execs Remain Optimistic Despite Political Headwinds

  Drug pricing debates and uncertainty associated with Brexit are the issues most likely to keep biopharmaceutical executives awake at night. Nevertheless, senior figures remain optimistic about the industry’s prospects in 2020. These are among the major findings of a survey of... Read more »

  Mike Ward11/20/19

• Myovant to Seek FDA OK on Pill to Treat Advanced Prostate Cancer

  A drug candidate once shelved by Takeda Pharmaceutical (NYSE: TAK) has found new life within Roivant Sciences spinout Myovant as a potential once-daily oral hormone therapy for patients with advanced prostate cancer.

  The Brisbane, CA-based biotech company (MYSE: MYOV)... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo11/19/19

• Underdog Launches With $4M to Target “Toxic” Form of Cholesterol

  Underdog Pharmaceuticals has launched with nearly $4 million in seed funding to develop treatments for atherosclerosis, a progressive condition in which arteries become clogged with substances such as fats and cholesterol, which restricts blood flow.

  Based in Mountain View, CA, Underdog... Read more »

  Melissa Fassbender11/18/19

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