Latest Posts

• Bio Roundup: Biogen at CTAD, Sage’s Stumble, Astellas’s $3B Offer & More

  It’s been a roller-coaster year for those hoping for new drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease, a leading cause of death with rising treatment costs and no clear answer yet as to its cause.

  Clearing proteins, such as amyloid and tau, was... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo12/6/19

• Bio Roundup: So Long Celgene, RNAi’s Arrival, Pharma in 2020 & More

  Bristol-Myers Squibb this week completed its acquisition of Celgene, a $74 billion deal that creates a pharmaceutical juggernaut. And all it took was the largest asset sale ever required by federal antitrust regulators.

  As the Federal Trade Commission reviewed Bristol’s (NYSE:... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/22/19

• Biopharma Execs Remain Optimistic Despite Political Headwinds

  Drug pricing debates and uncertainty associated with Brexit are the issues most likely to keep biopharmaceutical executives awake at night. Nevertheless, senior figures remain optimistic about the industry’s prospects in 2020. These are among the major findings of a survey of... Read more »

  Mike Ward11/20/19

• Biotech Roundup: Gottlieb v. Juul, Solid Slumps, Avidity Gets $100M & More

  Lung injuries connected to the use of electronic cigarettes have topped 2,000 and killed 40 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

  It’s still unclear whether the cases are tied to legally sold products or devices modified by... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo11/15/19

• Neuroscience Is Taking the Spotlight at Xconomy’s Bay Area Xchange

  These are heady times for neuroscience research. Startups developing new approaches to brain disorders are raising money to advance their discoveries toward clinical trials. One failed neuro drug is getting another shot.

  On Nov. 19 in San Francisco, we’ll... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/11/19

• Bio Roundup: Feds Sue Gilead, Biogen Eyes China, CRISPR’d Kidneys & More

  During the state of the union address this year, President Trump pledged to end HIV transmission within the next decade. A key part of that plan is an HIV prevention drug made by Gilead Sciences. That drug has now become the... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/8/19

• AI Can Unlock Health Data’s Potential, But Access Is Still Difficult

  When Mark Bakken formed the healthcare technology investment firm HealthX Ventures nearly five years ago, he says hospitals, insurers, and other potential buyers of digital health products were less open to conversations with the kinds of early-stage healthtech startups Bakken’s... Read more »

  Jeff Bauter Engel11/7/19

• AstraZeneca Chooses China for R&D and AI Centers, $1B Biotech Fund

  AstraZeneca says it will establish centers for drug research and artificial intelligence development in China. The pharmaceutical giant has also set up a $1 billion fund to foster biotech innovation in that country.

  The move—which was announced at the China International... Read more »

  Gareth Macdonald11/6/19

• GE Healthcare Opens Startup Labs at Former AstraZeneca UK R&D Site

  The doors have opened at a GE Healthcare-supported open-access lab for startups at AstraZeneca’s former global center for oncology research and development at Alderley Park, the largest bioscience research campus in the UK.

  The AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) site in Macclesfield,... Read more »

  Dan Stanton11/6/19

• Biotech Roundup: Novartis on Hold, AMAG Vote, Neuro News & More

  The brain has stymied many efforts to develop new neuroscience drugs, leading a number of big pharmaceutical companies to pull back on such R&D work. This week, Amgen joined them.

  Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) is ending its research and early development... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan11/1/19

• FDA Halts Novartis Gene Therapy Study Amid Animal Safety Concerns

  Novartis must stop enrollment of a clinical trial testing its gene therapy for a rare, muscular disorder after safety concerns surfaced in data from an animal study.

  The FDA put a partial clinical hold on a Phase 1/2 study testing the... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan10/30/19

• Venture Investors Bets on Healthcare, and Milwaukee, With $75M Fund

  Venture Investors is going all-in on healthcare with its latest venture fund.

  Launched in 1982, Venture Investors (VI) is the oldest venture firm in Wisconsin, and one of the older VCs in the US. Historically, early-stage life sciences and healthcare startups... Read more »

  Jeff Bauter Engel10/28/19

• Bio Roundup: Biogen’s Reversal, FDA Moves Fast, a CF Cocktail & More

  Earlier this year, it seemed that companies testing Alzheimer’s disease treatments based on a long-held hypothesis as to its cause—brain deposits of a protein called beta amyloid—were giving up the ghost.

  Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) was among them. The drug maker... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo10/25/19

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• Bio Roundup: Ichnos Emerges, Beyond CAR-T, BridgeBio Bails & More

  New brand-name drugs typically grab the life science headlines. A venture capital firm will invest tens of millions to develop one and a pharmaceutical company hopes to recoup hundreds of millions by selling it. But a shortage of one particular chemotherapy... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan10/18/19

• Nuance & Microsoft Team Up on Conversational AI for Doctors’ Offices

  Nuance Communications’ plan to lighten the clerical burden on physicians is coming into focus, and it involves an assist from tech giant Microsoft.

  Nuance (NASDAQ: NUAN), the 27-year-old speech recognition technology pioneer, in February revealed it’s developing a device that... Read more »

  Jeff Bauter Engel10/17/19

• Bio Roundup: Nobel Prizes, Placebo Effect Rises, ICER’s Fire & More

  Congrats to this year’s Nobel Prize winners in medicine… although, we have to ask: For the US researchers who are honored, isn’t there something crushing about a call in the middle of the night from Sweden, interrupting a dream about... Read more »

  Alex Lash10/11/19

• The Placebo Effect Is Hobbling New Psychiatric Drugs. What Can Stop It?

  Sixteen years ago, Kim Witczak’s husband died by his own hand, turning her world upside down. He had just begun taking an antidepressant off-label for insomnia, and she believes an undisclosed side effect of the drug drove him to suicide. Compelled... Read more »

  Alex Lash10/10/19

• WI Watchlist: Epic, Shine, Venture Investors, Stratatech & More

  It’s time to catch up on some of the latest happenings across Wisconsin’s innovation communities:

  —Shine Medical Technologies said it struck a deal to receive $50 million in financing from funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management. The money will support the... Read more »

  Jeff Bauter Engel10/9/19

• Five Years After Y Combinator First Admits Biotechs, They’re Dug In

  Five years ago, the big tech incubator Y Combinator started to welcome life sciences companies into its sizable startup classes, which had previously nurtured entrepreneurs in information technology almost exclusively.

  That opening to biotech startups in 2014 was controversial at the... Read more »

  Bernadette Tansey10/9/19

• Nobel Prize in Medicine Goes to 3 Who Showed How Cells Sense Oxygen Levels

  Oxygen’s importance in cellular processes has long been known. But the work to understand how cells sense and adapt to changes in oxygen levels has led to medical insights and potential treatments for anemia, cancer, and more—and today, it has turned... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan10/7/19

• Fetch Rewards Grabs $25M, Plans to Double Staff as Growth Accelerates

  Fetch Rewards’ pivot seems to be paying off. The Madison, WI-based mobile app startup has pulled in $25 million from investors to help it capitalize on a surge of new users and business partners.

  The fresh funding was revealed in a... Read more »

  Jeff Bauter Engel10/4/19

• Bio Roundup: PARP Progress, A New Commish, IPO-Palooza & More

  It’s been a strange up and down ride for PARP inhibitors, a relatively new class of cancer drugs.

  Named for the tumor protein they target, PARPs rebounded after a big clinical setback in 2011 and have been at the center of... Read more »

  Ben Fidler10/4/19

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• Nuance Spinout Cerence Vies With Tech Giants in Voice-AI for Auto

  A new mobility company, Cerence, is making its public-market debut Wednesday, and its first CEO, Sanjay Dhawan, says he’s been meeting with more than 50 investors in recent weeks to talk up its prospects.

  Cerence is a spinout from pioneering... Read more »

  Bernadette Tansey10/2/19

• ESMO 2019: PARP and Prostate, SeaGen’s Win, KRAS Update & More

  The European Society for Medical Oncology meeting has wrapped up in Barcelona, the last major clinical cancer conference until December’s annual ASH meeting for blood diseases. We’ve highlighted a few top stories for you.

  Amid all the fuss over cell, gene,... Read more »

  Ben Fidler10/1/19

• Biotech Roundup: Vaping Toll Rises, NASH News, Akcea Shakeup & More

  Lung injuries linked to electronic cigarettes have topped 800 cases, including 12 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public health officials aren’t sure whether the injuries are from legally sold products made by companies such as... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan9/27/19

• Report: IPO Activity Picking Back Up Following Quiet, Volatile Q3

  While the headlines may be dominated by news of WeWork putting its IPO on hold after reports about its questionable corporate governance, the overall initial public offering market is doing just fine. So far, 127 US companies went public in the... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo9/25/19

• FDA Decision Expands Market for Exact Sciences’ Cologuard Test

  Exact Sciences has taken another step toward ramping up sales of its flagship product, a non-invasive, stool-based screening test for colorectal cancer. The FDA has approved the test, Cologuard, for eligible, average-risk patients ages 45 and older, which expands the... Read more »

  Jeff Buchanan9/23/19

• Bio Roundup: Pelosi’s Reveal, Alder’s Deal, Biogen’s Fails & More

  Boston, San Francisco, and a few other metro areas might dominate the US life sciences, but some weeks, all bio-related eyes are on the nation’s capital. Health concerns about vaping continue to mount, and the feds could get involved. Meanwhile, try... Read more »

  Alex Lash9/20/19

• Pelosi, Dems Unveil Price Plan: Are 25 Drugs Enough for Negotiation?

  With the 2020 election just over a year away, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has unveiled the Democratic Party’s answer to public discontent over high prescription drug prices.

  A preview of the plan was leaked last week. Today’s announcement doesn’t... Read more »

  Alex Lash9/19/19

• WI Watchlist: MSI Data, Cellular Dynamics, WARF, Redox, & More

  It’s time to catch up on recent news in Wisconsin’s innovation community. Read on for details.

  —MSI Data, a Milwaukee-based business that develops software for organizations in the equipment distribution and service contractor industries, said it received an investment... Read more »

  Jeff Buchanan9/18/19

• Why Menlo Ventures Backed Construction Tech Firm Fieldwire

  [Corrected 9/17/2019, 8:58 a.m, and 9/18/19, 4:53 p.m. See below.] Fieldwire, whose mobile app helps builders and construction crews coordinate their work, announced today it has lined up a total of $33.5 million across two newly disclosed fundraising... Read more »

  Bernadette Tansey9/16/19

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