The lack of diversity in clinical trials is a serious problem that’s persisted for decades. Black Americans—who make up 20 percent of US multiple myeloma patients and are twice as likely to be diagnosed—have only accounted for 4.5 percent of participants in multiple myeloma trials since 2003. Asian Americans—who make up nearly 6 percent of […]

The FDA on Friday approved a Gilead Sciences drug developed for treating mantle cell lymphoma, paving the way for the company to commercialize its second cancer cell therapy. Approval for the drug, brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus), covers patients whose cancer has relapsed or has not responded to earlier treatments. Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD) added the therapy to […]

Triplet Therapeutics has appointed Alan Buckler to serve as chief scientific officer, the same role he held most recently at Scholar Rock (NASDAQ: SRRK). Buckler’s experience also includes positions at Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB), the Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research, and Axys Pharmaceuticals. Cambridge, MA-based Triplet launched last year with $49 million in financing to support […]

John Connolly joined the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) as its new chief scientific officer. He was most recently CSO at Singaporean clinical-stage cell therapy company Tessa Therapeutics, which in 2017 struck up an alliance with PICI to develop next-generation cancer treatments. Connolly is an associate professor at National University of Singapore and an […]

The biotech IPO queue has added two more companies. Freeline Therapeutics and Checkmate Pharmaceuticals have each filed the regulatory paperwork to offer shares to the public. Freeline is raising cash to ensure that its lead program, a prospective hemophilia B gene therapy, keeps pace in the race to develop and commercialize a genetic treatment for […]

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RYTM) has appointed David Meeker, its chairman, to serve as CEO. He succeeds Hunter Smith, the company’s interim CEO and chief financial officer. Smith will continue serving as CFO. Meeker joined the Rhythm Pharma board in 2015 and has been its chairman since 2017. His experience also includes executive positions at the […]

Venture capitalists like nothing more than pattern matching, and Domain Associates has identified one it especially prefers: licensing drug candidates from a Japanese biopharma and setting up a US company to move it through testing until Big Pharma starts nosing around. It’s a roadmap the VC firm, which has offices in San Diego and Princeton, […]

Flagship Pioneering has appointed Guillaume Pfefer to serve as CEO-partner of the venture capital firm. He will also become CEO of Kintai Therapeutics, one of the Cambridge, MA-based firm’s portfolio companies. Pfefer worked most recently at GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK), where he was senior vice president and global vaccine leader for Shingrix, the company’s shingles vaccine. […]

Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate stimulated production of antibodies to the novel coronavirus in all of the patients tested in an early-stage study, and the company says the data support the selection of which dose to test in a pivotal clinical trial slated to begin at the end of July. When the Cambridge, MA-based company initially […]

Nagesh Manhanthappa, the founding employee of Scholar Rock (NASDAQ: SRRK) and its president and CEO for the past eight years, has decided to step down, the company announced Tuesday. No reason was given. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech said Mahanthappa is also leaving the board of directors on Aug. 1 but will continue to serve as […]

Turning Point Therapeutics (NASDAQ: TPTX) appointed Andrew Partridge as executive vice president and chief commercial officer. Partridge most recently served as chief operating officer and CCO at privately held Centrexion Therapeutics, a Boston company developing treatments for chronic pain. Previously he was with Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX), where he ended a five-year stint as senior […]

Cash flowed throughout the life sciences ecosystem this week as Blackstone (NYSE: BX) raised a record-setting life sciences fund, companies of all stages announced new financings, and money continued to find its way to those working on efforts to treat or prevent COVID-19. Financiers poured $100 million or more into at least three biotechs, a […]