Amy Peterson has joined CytomX Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CTMX) as executive vice president and chief development officer. Peterson was most recently chief medical officer of immune-oncology at BeiGene (NASDAQ: BGNE). Her experience also includes positions at Medivation and Roche subsidiary Genentech. South San Francisco-based CytomX is developing antibody drugs that treat cancer.

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 chemotherapy, did not live longer than patients treated with chemotherapy alone, falling short of the […]

Dan Browne has stepped down as president and CEO of Revance Therapeutics (NASDAQ: RVNC) due to what the company describes as “a misjudgement in handling an employee matter.” The Newark, CA-based drug developer gave no other details. Browne has also resigned from Revance’s board of directors. Browne, a Revance co-founder, had been its CEO since […]

Eli Lilly won FDA approval for a migraine drug on Friday, giving the pharmaceutical giant a second medication that addresses the condition that causes millions of people to experience severe headaches and other debilitating symptoms. The FDA approved the drug, lasmiditan (Reyvow), as a treatment for acute migraine; it’s meant to be taken after the […]

Ra Pharmaceuticals, whose lead autoimmune disease drug candidate is viewed as a potential alternative to one of the most expensive medicines in the world, is being acquired by Belgian pharmaceuticals giant UCB in a $2.1 billion deal. According to terms announced Thursday, UCB will pay $48 in cash for each Ra Pharma share. That’s a […]

Matthew Young has been appointed chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Grail. He will start his new job at the Menlo Park, CA-based liquid biopsy developer on Oct. 28. Young is coming to Grail from Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: JAZZ), where he is executive vice president and chief financial officer. His new appointment is […]

It’s time to catch up on some of the latest happenings across Wisconsin’s innovation communities: —Shine Medical Technologies said it struck a deal to receive $50 million in financing from funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management. The money will support the ongoing construction of Shine’s medical isotope production facility in Janesville, as well as Shine’s […]

How did Phil Sharp, a kid from a small farm in Kentucky, become a Nobel prize winner and one of the godfathers of the biotech industry? How did Christine McSherry turn her youngest son’s devastating diagnosis into a crusade that aided in the approval of a drug for his disease? Sharp (pictured above) and McSherry […]

This summer Nestlé Health Science sold Prometheus Laboratories, a gastrointestinal disease diagnostics unit it had acquired eight years prior, to a low-profile San Diego biotech called Precision IBD. About a month ago, Precision—a drug and diagnostic developer that’s focused, as its name suggests, on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)—changed its name to Prometheus Biosciences and tapped […]

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 many buyouts and big alliances—Pfizer and Medivation, GlaxoSmithKline and Tesaro, AstraZeneca and Merck. Four […]

Following the late-stage failure of its lead program, an experimental gene therapy treatment for the most aggressive form of brain cancer, Tocagen will reduce its workforce by 65 percent, the company said Thursday. The layoffs will result in a staff of about 30 people by year’s end, Tocagen (NASDAQ: TOCA) said in the press release. […]

[Updated 5:58 p.m. PT. See below.] Organovo, a company developing technology to 3D print human tissue, announced two months ago that its dwindling cash is leading it to explore options that include merging with another firm. The San Diego biotech now has an offer from a familiar face close to home. Viscient Biosciences, a seven-person […]