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

• 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

• 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

• Advisory Body Backs Aimmune Peanut Allergy Drug, Next Up: the FDA

  A panel of independent advisors to the FDA voted on Friday to recommend approval of an experimental peanut allergy drug from Aimmune Therapeutics. But concern about the risks of an allergic reaction to the therapy led the committee of mostly... 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

• Bio Roundup: Award Winners, Lung Data, Dems on Drug Pricing & More

  For decades, advanced lung cancer was a quick death sentence. That’s no longer a given, thanks in part to the arrival of immunotherapy. If a medical meeting in Barcelona this week was any indication, more help could be on the... Read more »

  Ben Fidler9/13/19

• SpringWorks and Satsuma Boost This Week’s Biotech IPO Haul to $595M

  Wall Street welcomed three life science companies to the public markets this week. 10x Genomics led the way Wednesday, followed by SpringWorks Therapeutics and Satsuma Pharmaceuticals on Thursday. Combined, the three companies raised more than $595 million from their IPOs.

  According... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan9/12/19

• 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 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

• 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

• 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

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• 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

• 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

• Bankrupt uBiome Says Founders May Have Misled Investors

  [Updated, 9/5/19, 1:17am. See below.] Less than a year after reeling in a $83 million investment round, privately held microbiome startup uBiome has filed for bankruptcy and says its founders might have misled those investors amid other potential... Read more »

  Alex Lash9/4/19

• Vir Bio Plans IPO to Fund Clinical Trials of Infectious Disease Drugs

  Vir Biotechnology assembled its pipeline of infectious disease compounds through deal-making with other drug developers, along with financial support from blue-chip venture capital firms and the non-profit Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Now the biotech is turning to the public markets... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan9/3/19

• As Cholesterol Drug Aces Big Test, MedCo CEO Open to Flexible Pricing

  The Medicines Co. (NASDAQ: MDCO) announced last week that its cholesterol-lowering medicine inclisiran, meant to be taken just twice a year, had passed a key test but offered no details. Some of those details arrived this morning.

  At a medical... Read more »

  Ben Fidler9/2/19

• Patent Challenge to Alexion Proceeds, But No Amgen Biosimilar Yet

  Three patents that extend the exclusivity of Alexion Pharmaceuticals’ franchise rare disease drug will now face a patent challenge from Amgen.

  On Friday, a court within the US Patent and Trademark Office agreed to a review of Amgen’s claims that three... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan8/30/19

• Robocalls Crowd Out Real Business Calls. This Startup Has an Answer.

  The ways in which robocallers try to dupe us are becoming almost as plentiful as the frequency of the calls.

  An unknown phone number was once all scammers needed to trick the average person into picking up the call. Now,... Read more »

  David Holley8/30/19

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• Bio Roundup: Cholesterol Check, J&J’s Opioid Hit, AbbVie’s Flop & More

  You might be camping, barbecuing, or sleeping on Monday. It’s Labor Day, after all. But in Paris, this cardiologist will be in a conference center, walking an audience through a slide deck packed with Phase 3 data for a new cholesterol-lowering... Read more »

  Alex Lash8/30/19

• $5.8B for Nothing: AbbVie Shelves Stemcentrx Drug After Latest Flop

  AbbVie has officially waved the white flag on the cancer drug that triggered its $5.8 billion buyout of Stemcentrx a few years ago.

  North Chicago, IL-based AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) said that rovalpituzumab tesirine, or Rova-T, failed another clinical trial—this time... Read more »

  Ben Fidler8/29/19

• ThoughtSpot Nabs $248M for Accessible Analytics, Nears $2B Valuation

  ThoughtSpot, a software company formed to make data analytics accessible for business staffers without data science expertise, announced today it raised $248 million in a Series E funding round that set its valuation at $1.95 billion.

  Sunnyvale, CA-based ThoughtSpot, founded... Read more »

  Bernadette Tansey8/28/19

• Celgene to Sell Blockbuster Drug to Amgen for $13B to Close BMS Deal

  Celgene is selling a blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug to Amgen for $13.4 billion cash, a deal needed to close the company’s pending $74 billion acquisition by Bristol-Myers Squibb.

  Bristol-Myers (NYSE: BMY) is still working to complete the proposed acquisition of... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan8/26/19

• New PCSK9 Cholesterol Drug Faces Tough Foe. (Hint: Not Cholesterol.)

  [Updated 8/26/19, 10:30am. See below.] Remember when the new wave of expensive cholesterol-lowering drugs—known as PCSK9 inhibitors—was supposed to give the healthcare system a financial heart attack?

  Far from it. Four years after approval the two PCSK9 blockers... Read more »

  Alex Lash8/26/19

• VMware: “We Bought Carbon Black for $2.1B!” Analysts: “Oh… Why?”

  The deal VMware unveiled this week to buy cybersecurity firm Carbon Black triggered a heaping share of skepticism.

  “I’m having a hard time with the Carbon Black acquisition,” said Jeffries analyst John Stephen DiFucci on a conference call with VMware executives.... Read more »

  Brian Dowling8/23/19

• GSK’s Cancer Comeback Continues With Data for Multiple Myeloma Drug

  An experimental GlaxoSmithKline treatment for multiple myeloma has achieved the main goal of a key study, and the drug maker plans to file for regulatory approval by the end of this year.

  GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) said Friday that treatment with... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan8/23/19

• Bio Roundup: Sarepta’s Stumble, Opioid Suits, Shkreli’s Legacy & More

  Biotech news tends to slow down in August but the past seven days have been busy for regulatory decisions. Three drugs and two devices won FDA nods.

  Not all companies were as fortunate. Several biotechs reported failed clinical trials or unfavorable... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan8/23/19

• New BC Biotech Chinook Reels in $65M to Tackle Kidney Disease

  About 15 percent of adults in the US, around 37 million people, are estimated to have chronic kidney disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control. They have very few therapeutic options and often progress to kidney failure, which is treatable... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo8/22/19

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