The first drug for neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is available to patients following the FDA’s approval of the AstraZeneca treatment earlier this year. Biotech startup NFlection Therapeutics is vying to be runner-up, but its founders say they can eventually win out with a drug that takes a different approach than the commercialized pill while also […]

The federal government’s Operation Warp Speed has made its biggest financing award yet, promising $1.6 billion to a Maryland biotech to help advance its investigational COVID-19 vaccine and ready millions of doses in preparation for its possible success. Gaithersburg, MD-based Novavax, which has never before brought a product to market, announced the federal award Tuesday. […]

Here’s a look back at some of the life science industry’s executive appointments, departures, and retirements from recent weeks: —Pacific Biosciences (NASDAQ: PACB) CEO Michael Hunkapiller and Chief Financial Officer Susan Barnes are retiring. —Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) appointed Ray Jordan as chief corporate affairs officer. —Aridis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ARDS) appointed Hasan Jafri its chief medical officer. […]

MEI Pharma and its Swiss partner Helsinn are ending a Phase 3 study of an investigational cancer drug for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after an interim analysis indicated it was unlikely to meet the trial’s main goal of helping patients live longer. San Diego-based MEI (NASDAQ: MEIP), licensed the compound, pracinostat, from a […]

Annexon Biosciences, a biotech founded in late 2014 by former Elan Pharmaceuticals executives, has added $100 million to its coffers to move its two clinical-stage programs along and to continue advancing its preclinical pipeline. The South San Francisco-based company is developing drugs for patients with autoimmune and neurodegenerative disorders that are caused by an abnormal […]

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical won FDA approval Tuesday for a therapy that treats a group of rare metabolic disorders that render the body unable to convert a certain type of fat—such as those found in olive oil, fish, and nuts—into energy. People who have long-chain fatty acid oxidation disorders (LC-FAOD) typically manage the condition with dietary changes […]

A growing population of people with software experience plus an interest in life sciences is boosting drug development in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to panelists at an Xcelerating event. Innovation in the San Francisco Bay Area may first bring to mind tech behemoths like Facebook and Google. But some drug development companies in […]

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 development activities to save cash in case the radio silence it says it has […]

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) asset, etranacogene dezaparvovec (“EtranaDez” for short), the companies announced late Wednesday. Netherlands-based uniQure will […]

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 coffers and get its two lead drug candidates into mid-stage clinical trials as potential […]

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 by president and CEO Niall O’Donnell (pictured), the San Diego-based company launched last year […]

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 Monday that it has agreed to pay $886 million for ArcherDx—$325 million in cash […]