Latest Posts

• New Xconomy Special Report: Biopharma and Tech Innovators Summer 2020

  Even during the most difficult of times, the life science sector continues to push forward with innovation. The recent rapid progression of drug development, diagnostic tests, and healthcare tools has propelled us into new territory that was unthinkable – or even... Read more »

  Editors6/29/20

• The 2020 National Xconomy Awards Expands, Goes Virtual & Reopens Nomination Period

  The 2020 National Xconomy Awards – celebrating the best in biotech innovation and entrepreneurship – just got bigger!
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  We’re excited to announce the expansion of the 2020 National Xconomy Awards. Presented in a digital format, the 2020... Read more »

  Editors6/29/20

• With Peanut Patch in FDA Purgatory, DBV Plans Layoffs to Stretch Cash

  DBV Technologies still expects to receive an FDA decision in early August for its peanut allergy patch.But on Friday the company, which is headquartered in the southern outskirts of Paris, said it would start layoffs and scale down its drug... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/26/20

• Eye Inflammation Dooms AbbVie Wet AMD Drug to an FDA Rejection

  The FDA has rejected an investigational AbbVie drug for the “wet” form of age-related macular degeneration, dealing a setback to the company’s bid to wrest market share from blockbuster drugs currently used to treat the condition.

  According to AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan6/26/20

• Artiva Bio Raises $78M to Broaden Access to Cancer Cell Therapies

  Creating cell therapies for cancer is a complex process. The business case for them has proven tricky, too.

  Biotech veterans Tom Farrell and Peter Flynn have teamed up to start a new San Diego company that aims to develop allogeneic, or... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/26/20

• 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

• CSL Behring Bolsters Hemophilia Lineup With Deal for uniQure’s Gene Therapy

  CSL Behring is joining the chase for a genetic treatment for hemophilia by acquiring a uniQure gene therapy that’s already in late-stage testing.

  King of Prussia, PA-based CSL Behring is paying $450 million up front to acquire the uniQure (NASDAQ: QURE... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan6/25/20

• FDA Official: New “Playbook” Needed for CMC Reviews of Gene Therapy Products

  A “new playbook” is needed to ensure consistent chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) reviews for gene therapy products, the lack of which is hindering the development of these products, asserted a top official at the US Food and Drug Administration .... Read more »

  Joanne S. Eglovitch6/25/20

• Relay Lays $200M IPO Plan to Fund Tests of Protein Motion Cancer Drugs

  Sophisticated computational tools have guided Relay Therapeutics in its efforts to develop new drugs based on analysis of the movement and shape of disease-causing proteins.

  Now the Cambridge, MA, biotech is looking to tap the public markets to bulk up company... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/25/20

• La Jolla Pharma Steps In With Better Offer, Wins Tetraphase Bidding War

  It’s common for antibiotics developers to run into financial trouble these days but what’s unusual is seeing a bidding war erupt for one of them. The competition for Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals now has a new winner: La Jolla Pharmaceutical.

  San Diego-based... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan6/24/20

• AsclepiX Emerges With $35M and an Eye Drug Challenger to Eylea, Lucentis

  The body’s natural process for healing wounds has led AsclepiX Therapeutics to a novel approach to treating diseases of the eye. The startup is now gearing up to test its technology in humans, and it has raised $35 million in Series... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan6/24/20

• Reneo Readies for Global Test of Drug for Rare Mitochondrial Disease

  Reneo Pharmaceuticals has encouraging results from an early trial of a compound it is advancing for rare diseases characterized by impaired mitochondria—our cells’ energy generators—and the company says it is now designing a large global study of its drug candidate.

  Headed... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/23/20

• Gilead Grabs Option to Acquire Pionyr & Its Clinic-Bound Immunotherapies

  Effective checkpoint inhibitors facilitate immune cells’ ability to recognize and target tumors. But for some patients this approach to treating cancer doesn’t work. Pionyr Immunotherapeutics aims to help those people by developing antibody drugs that take a new approach toward boosting... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/23/20

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• Invitae Makes a Precision Oncology Push With $886M Deal for ArcherDx

  Cancer treatment is increasingly moving toward targeted therapies based on the genetics of a patient’s tumor and Invitae is ensuring it gets its share of this growing market with a deal to acquire precision oncology startup ArcherDx.

  San Francisco-based Invitae announced... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan6/22/20

• Sarepta Inks Codiak Deal to Explore Combining Exosomes, Muscle Meds

  Tiny, naturally occurring particles called exosomes shuffle molecular payloads between cells, facilitating intercellular communication. Codiak Biosciences’ focus is using those nanoparticles to more safely deliver a range of medicines to specific cell types.

  Now the Cambridge, MA-based biotech has teamed up... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/22/20

• This Week’s AI & Drug Discovery Conference Xcelerating Life Sciences San Francisco Features insitro, Atomwise, twoXAR, InterVenn, Engine Biosciences & More

  Join Xconomy online this Thursday, June 25 for Xcelerating Life Sciences San Francisco: The AI, Big Data, and R&D Boom forum and networking event to explore the latest technology and business trends in AI and drug development through the lens of... Read more »

  Editors6/22/20

• 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

• Timing Is an Essential Element of Cell & Gene Therapy Product Development

  The science underpinning the latest investigational cell and gene therapies is complex enough. But the rapid advance of technologies that support development of these kinds of drugs presents logistical considerations, too.

  “Drug development is an interesting process because it takes five... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/19/20

• 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

• In Microbiome Milestone, Finch Therapeutics C. diff Pill Bests Placebo

  Ten years ago Mark Smith was at MIT doing basic research into the microbiome. Now, as CEO of Finch Therapeutics Group, Smith has hard data to back up his company’s thesis that using “good” bacteria as a therapeutic can best a... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/19/20

• Alpine Immune Sciences Lands AbbVie as R&D Partner for Lupus Drug

  Alpine Immune Sciences’ lupus drug candidate now has AbbVie lined up to continue the compound’s development.

  The drug, ALPN-101, is ready for Phase 2 testing, which will be conducted by Seattle-based Alpine. The deal announced Thursday grants AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV)... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan6/18/20

• Engrail Therapeutics Launches With $32M to Develop New Neuro Drugs

  Typically a new biotech assembles a group of investors that collectively puts in the money a fledgling company requires to develop or acquire potential therapies.

  Engrail Therapeutics, which emerged from stealth Thursday with $32 million in outside financing, landed its entire... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/18/20

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• 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

• Frazier Launches Lassen to Advance Antibodies Against Fibrosis, Cancer

  Lassen Therapeutics, a biotech that is developing antibodies as potential treatments for fibrosis, rare diseases, and cancer, debuted Wednesday with $31 million in Series A financing.

  The San Diego-based company says it will use the money to accelerate its antibody programs,... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/17/20

• C4 Therapeutics Adds $170M to Test Protein Degraders in the Clinic

  C4 Therapeutics, a biotech developing small molecules designed to take advantage of a cellular mechanism as a way to treat disease, has raised $170 million in venture equity and debt to start human testing.

  The Watertown, MA-based firm is among a... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/16/20

• GSK Expands Synthetic Lethality Scope With $120M Ideaya Bio Alliance

  GlaxoSmithKline got its first taste of synthetically lethal cancer therapies via an acquisition. Now it’s trying for a bigger bite of this emerging drug class through a research alliance with Ideaya Biosciences that spans three of the biotech’s programs, all slated... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan6/16/20

• Exec Search Underway at PacBio After CEO, CFO Announce Plans to Retire

  Gene sequencing company Pacific Biosciences of California is seeking two new leaders in the wake of retirement announcements by a pair of longtime top executives.

  PacBio (NASDAQ: PACB) president and CEO Michael Hunkapiller plans to retire by year’s end, and... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/16/20

• Pharma Partnering: Perspectives from Xcelerating Life Sciences Panel

  At some point, every biotech weighs whether to forge ahead alone or team up with a larger company that has the scientific know-how, clinical trial experience, or the cash to keep a program going. For early-stage developers of cell and gene... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan6/16/20

• Jazz Pharma Gets Quick FDA OK for New Small Cell Lung Cancer Drug

  The FDA on Monday approved a new drug for patients with advanced small cell lung cancer, permitting the treatment to be marketed based on less evidence than it traditionally requires in order to speed its path to market.

  Madrid-based PharmaMar, which... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/15/20

• Akili Interactive’s Video Game for ADHD Gets the FDA All Clear

  The newest attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) treatment comes with instructions unlike any other therapy: Press “PLAY.”

  Akili Interactive was awarded FDA clearance on Monday for EndeavorRx, a “digital therapeutic” developed to treat ADHD through a video game experience. The regulatory... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan6/15/20

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