Another venture capital firm that backs biotechs has raised a multimillion-dollar fund—money the firm, Cambridge, MA-based Atlas Venture, says it will use to continue creating and funding companies that are working to create new medicines. Atlas revealed Friday that it closed its 12th fund after raising $400 million, a total that pushes the amount the […]

Our immune systems are designed to monitor for signs of foreign molecules, and among the first responses to such signals of potential danger are the formation of structures called inflammasomes. But the innate immune system’s natural inflammatory reaction, a protective mechanism meant to tackle any impending infection or injury, may also cause damaging inflammation in […]

Grail, a clinical-stage company developing cancer tests intended to detect early signs of the disease from a small blood sample, has agreed to invest $100 million in a new outpost planned for Research Triangle Park, NC. The new Grail site will have a laboratory and warehouse space, Gov. Roy Cooper announced Tuesday after an agreement […]

Samumed added Michael White to its leadership team as its chief scientific officer. He was most recently CSO for tumor cell biology at the Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) oncology R&D group. White’s prior experience includes more than 20 years at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where his roles included professor of cell biology, associate director […]

Forma Therapeutics has developed a pipeline of small molecules aimed at rare blood disorders and cancers, but it aims to advance two—investigational treatments for sickle cell disease and for advanced prostate cancer—and find partners for the rest of them. Now the Watertown, MA-based company is considering tapping the public markets to add enough funds to […]

Human DNA holds secrets that, once uncovered, have led scientists to develop a number of treatments for disease. A slew of biopharmas and biotechs—not to mention national health systems—have hoovered up genetic data from millions of people in hopes of leveraging the information contained within to drive their R&D. Variant Bio, which debuted Thursday with […]

The US FDA’s formal guidance on development of COVID-19 treatments and preventative agents takes a broadly flexible approach to Phase 2 and 3 trial design, repeatedly indicating a willingness to consider varied options while urging sponsors to discuss their trials plans with the agency earlier rather than later. “FDA is committed to supporting all scientifically […]

Merck exited the holiday weekend with some fireworks of its own, announcing three major programs on Tuesday all related to investments in finding ways to treat and prevent COVID-19. The Kenilworth, NJ-based pharma giant said it had inked an agreement to acquire Austrian vaccine developer Themis, which has a COVID-19 candidate in preclinical development; develop […]

COVID-19 has ravaged the economy, and it was expected to quash the IPO market, too. But the biotech sector is defying the pandemic with crossover financings and freshly minted public companies. On Friday, three firms added their names to the list of life science companies preparing to join the public markets. Gene therapy company Generation […]

The FDA on Thursday approved a Sunovion Pharmaceuticals treatment for Parkinson’s disease, giving patients a new way to take an old drug. The Sunovion product, Kynmobi, is a formulation of apomorphine hydrochloride, a drug that treats “off” episodes experienced by Parkinson’s patients. These are times when the standard of care drug, levodopa, wears off and […]

Biotechs are increasingly looking to leverage a mechanism cells use to get rid of unwanted proteins to drug targets previously considered out of reach. Roche ponied up $135 million upfront this week to work with Vividion Therapeutics in search of small molecules that use that “protein degradation” process to do just that. The drug discovery […]

Oligomerix this week added William Erhardt to its executive team as chief medical officer. Erhardt was most recently senior vice president, head of clinical development & operations at Pfizer (NYSE: PFE). New York-based Oligomerix, which is headquartered at the Ullmann Research Center for Health Sciences within the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, is developing small […]