Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Biotech Day: Wednesday morning's national biotech news wrap

From the 40 business journals of American City Business Journals …

Bluebird Bio raises $60M with Shire for gene therapies (Boston Business Journal)
Cambridge biotech Bluebird Bio has raised $60 million in a Series D financing, the company reports. Shire plc (Nasdaq: SHPGY) was a strategic investor on the round, which brought in Deerfield Partners, RA Capital, Ramius Capital Group and two undisclosed "blue chip public investment funds," Bluebird announced in a news release.

Gladstone, film maker Jesse Dylan collaborate as research institute rebrands (San Francisco Business Times)
The times they are a-changin’ at the Gladstone Institutes, thanks in part to a Dylan. The San Francisco biomedical research organization said Tuesday that it is launching a new website, tweaking its name and teaming with award-winning film maker Jesse Dylan on a series of short films about Gladstone scientists, supporters and patients who benefit from research. Dylan, the son of legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, with his film company Wondros won an Emmy Award for its 2008 “Yes We Can” presidential campaign ad about Barack Obama. 

BioCryst gets good news on gout treatment (Triangle Business Journal)
Durham-based drug company BioCryst on Tuesday announced positive clinical trial results for its proposed gout treatment ulodesine. The phase two trials of ulodesine were consistent with previously reported findings and that means BioCryst will continue to push the drug forward – but the company may not be doing it alone.

Medivation nets $10M as prostate cancer drug moves toward approval (San Francisco Business Times)
Medivation Inc. landed $10 million from partner Astellas Pharma Inc. after the Food and Drug Administration said the San Francisco drug developer's late-stage experimental prostate cancer treatment will get a priority review. The milestone payment to San Francisco-based Medivation (NASDAQ: MDVN) is based on the FDA's acceptance of the company's new drug application, Medivation said Tuesday.

Medicago earns $1M milestone payment for flu vaccine (Triangle Business Journal)
Canadian drug company Medicago has earned a $1 million milestone payment after producing more than 10 million doses of the H1N1 flu vaccine in one month – a feat accomplished at its Durham facility. The product completion was a key milestone under an agreement with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to test capabilities in the event of a deadly flu outbreak.

Cynosure hits 52-week high on record revenue (Boston Business Journal)
Aesthetic medical device company Cynosure (Nasdaq: CYNO) saw its shares surge more than 12 percent, to a new 52-week high, on news that the company’s revenues for the second quarter grew 50 percent year over year. The Westford, Mass., company booked revenue of $39.6 million in the second quarter of 2012, up from $26.3 million for the same period in 2011.

Genentech's Lucentis restores diabetic vision loss, FDA says (San Francisco Business Times)
Genentech Inc.'s eye drug Lucentis improved the vision of people with a type of blindness associated with diabetes, drug regulators said in a report Tuesday, according to the news agency BloombergThe report came in advance of a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee meeting Thursday in which Genentech hopes to expand the use of Lucentis from wet age-related macular degeneration to patients with diabetic macular edema.

Life sciences company bringing 25 jobs to Florida (South Florida Business Journal)
Life science company Somahlution will move from Fargo, N.D., to Jupiter, where it could create 25 jobs over three years, the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County announced Tuesday. The developmental-stage company has secured a 13,000-square-foot facility for its headquarters, research and development and laboratory space.

Emergent Technologies-based Caisson Biotech names CEO (Austin Business Journal)
Caisson Biotech LLC, a company funded and managed by Austin-based Emergent Technologies Inc., has named a new president and CEOGlenn Nedwin has been tapped to lead the Oklahoma City-based biopharmaceutical company that creates patented drug delivery technology, according to a press release.

No comments:

Post a Comment