Biotech SF: Prosetta Antiviral

Prosetta Antiviral's Vishwanath Lingappa.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Prosetta Antiviral Inc. -- one of San Francisco's oldest biotech companies -- signed a multi-year drug discovery and development deal that initially targets the AIDS virus, the companies said Tuesday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Prosetta will receive an upfront payment and research funding from Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY). Prosetta also will be eligible for milestone payments and royalties on worldwide sales, if any drugs emerge from the deal.

Some of my favorite stories.

• "The fight of his life" (2007)

Last year Mike Homer helped raise the money for 2,000 medical research computers. Now researchers are using that equipment in an attempt to save his life.

• "For reporter, CJD is more than a story" (2007)

Seven years ago -- nearly to the day -- my mother died of Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease.

• "A son's YouTube plea for Avastin" (2010)

Josh Turnage is your typical teenager, trying to discover what he wants to do in college and with his life. But a 7-minute, 41-second YouTube video he produced about his mother's fight with breast cancer may thrust him into a debate between drug makers and the agency that regulates them.

• "New device could knock out old dialysis technology" (2011)

Shuvo Roy has all the makings for the world's first implantable artificial kidney, thanks to nanotechnology and a web of nationwide collaborations.

All he needs now is $20 million.

Biotech SF

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

BMS, Prosetta ink HIV drug research deal