Dynavax hires CFO from PDL Biopharma

Vaccine maker Dynavax Technologies Corp. hired Christine Larson as chief financial officer, a new position at the company. The Berkeley company (NASDAQ: DVAX) hired Larson eight months after she quit PDL Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ: PDLI), where she was also CFO and earned a salary of $400,000.

Slew of Bay Area drugs awaiting approval

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A bounty of new drugs from the labs of Bay Area companies could win Food and Drug Administration approval in the next few months.
At least 10 drugs — from an obesity treatment to cancer drugs — are candidates for FDA approval by the end of June. Industry observers said they didn’t know how that number compares with any previous six-month period.
One thing is sure: After the economic downturn pushed many investors away from the capital-intensive drug-development business, the cadre of potential new drugs represents a victory of sorts. Many drug developers — especially smaller ones — have carried their drugs within sight of the finish line by sheer will or grit.

FDA expands age range for Dynavax hepatitis B vaccine

Dynavax Technologies Corp. said the Food and Drug Administration agreed to expand the age range for use of the company’s Heplisav vaccine for hepatitis B.
Berkeley-based Dynavax (NASDAQ: DVAX) had expected it would only be able to use the vaccine on healthy adults 40 years old or older. But the FDA agreed to allow use in healthy adults age 18 to 70 years.
Dynavax, which has struggled to seek approval in the United States for Heplisav, called the change “a significant expansion.” It had once hoped to submit the application to the FDA in the third quarter of 2011.

Dynavax raises $64M in stock sale, chairman buys 160,000 shares

Dynavax Technologies Corp. raised a net of $64.5 million in a stock sale in which its chairman, Arnold Oronsky, bought 160,000 shares.
Berkeley-based Dynavax (NASDAQ: DVAX) sold 27.6 million shares in the offering, including 3.6 million sold by the underwriters — Cowen and Co. and William Blair & Co. — to cover overallotments. They bought the shares from Dynavax at $2.35 each and sold them to the public at $2.50 each.

Dynavax to get $3M in expanded deal with GSK

Dynavax Technologies Corp. added a new target to a research deal with giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC, and will get a $3 million milestone payment as a result.
Berkeley-based Dynavax (NASDAQ: DVAX) and GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) added a new “toll-like receptor,” TLR8, to their agreement. They plan to study TLR8 and seek an inhibitor of it to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Dynavax: Hepatitis vaccine does well in subpopulations

Dynavax Technologies Corp. said its Heplisav vaccine for hepatitis B did well in a Phase III test in so-called “hypo-responsive” groups of people, meaning men, obese people and smokers.

Dynavax gets $3M in reworked asthma deal with AstraZeneca

Dynavax Technologies Corp. will receive $3 million upfront after the Berkeley drug developer and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca amended a deal to accelerate a trial on an experimental asthma treatment.

Dynavax lands $600K SBIR grant for autoimmune inflammation study

Dynavax Technologies Corp. got a two-year grant of $600,000 for the study of autoimmune inflammation.
Berkeley-based Dynavax (NASDAQ: DVAX) got the money as a Small Business Innovation Research, or SBIR, grant. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases gave the money.

Dynavax hepatitis B vaccine effective but lots inconsistent

Shares of Dynavax Technologies Corp.plummeted 19 percent Wednesday after the Berkeley company company said its hepatitis B virus vaccine bested a current treatment but said lots of the vaccine were inconsistent.

Dynavax wraps up 2,400-patient hepatitis vaccine trial

Dynavax Technologies Corp. finished a Phase III test of its Heplisav hepatitis B vaccine candidate that enrolled 2,449 people.
Berkeley-based Dynavax (NASDAQ: DVAX) compared Heplisav to another vaccine, Engerix, in this year long test.
Results from the study should be ready in eight weeks.

Dynavax Q1 loss doubles to $18.5 million

Berkeley drug business Dynavax Technologies Corp. lost $18.5 million in the first quarter, more than double its loss of $9.2 million a year earlier.
The company (NASDAQ: DVAX) got a $6 million milestone payment from GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE: GSK) after the end of the March quarter.

Dynavax gets $6M for start of human test of lupus treatment

Dynavax Technologies Corp. will be paid $6 million for starting human testing of a potential lupus treatment.
Berkeley-based Dynavax (NASDAQ: DVAX) will get the payment from GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK), its partner on this project.
This is a Phase I trial, mainly to test the safety of the treatment, DV1179, which inhibits two Toll-like receptors, or TLRs, which affect the body’s inflammatory response.

Dynavax Technologies loses $15M in Q4, $57M in 2010

Vaccine and drug business Dynavax Technologies Corp. lost $15.1 million in the fourth quarter and $57.3 million in 2010.
The Berkeley business (NASDAQ: DVAX), which is developing a hepatitis B vaccine and a so-called “universal” flu vaccine, lost $30.2 million a year ago in the fourth quarter ended December.

Universal flu vaccine working well in early test — Dynavax

Dynavax Technologies Corp. said its universal flu vaccine candidate did well in Phase I testing last year, so the company is planning the next stage clinical trials.

Berkeley-based Dynavax (NASDAQ: DVAX) presented data from Phase Ia and Ib tests of the vaccine, N8295, at a vaccine conference in Geneva. The vaccine, Dynavax said, was “very safe and generally well tolerated” by the 54 test subjects.

Dynavax fills late-stage hepatitis vaccine trial