January 29th, 2020 Xconomy Boston — Digital therapeutics company Biofourmis has appointed Jaydev Thakkar as its chief operating officer, and Milan Shah as its chief technology officer. Thakkar joins Boston-based Biofourmis after 14 years at Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN), where he was most recently director of digital health and innovation. Shah joins from cybersecurity firm Uptycs,… Continue reading Biofourmis Adds Jaydev Thakkar, Milan Shah to C-Suite
Author: Xconomy Online News
Spring Bank Pharma Ends Hepatitis B Work After Death in Clinical Trial
January 29th, 2020 Xconomy Boston — Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals is stopping work on an experimental treatment for hepatitis B virus after serious side effects, including one patient death, were reported in a mid-stage study. The Spring Bank (NASDAQ: SBPH) drug, inarigivir soproxil, was the company’s lead therapeutic candidate. No details were released about the side… Continue reading Spring Bank Pharma Ends Hepatitis B Work After Death in Clinical Trial
BioIntelliSense Debuts ”Sticker” Sensor to Capture Patient Data Remotely
January 28th, 2020 Xconomy Boulder/Denver — Subtle changes can presage a worsening of a chronic condition, but symptoms may not become apparent to a patient until it’s time to call an ambulance. BioIntelliSense, a Denver-based digital health startup, has developed a wearable sensor meant to monitor patients’ vital signs remotely and provide near real-time data… Continue reading BioIntelliSense Debuts ”Sticker” Sensor to Capture Patient Data Remotely
Flagship Adds Fertility-Focused Ohana Biosciences to Biotech Family
January 27th, 2020 Xconomy Boston — About 7 million couples in the US have difficulty getting or staying pregnant. A new biotech is using insights into the biology of male reproductive cells—the sperm that must meet its female equivalent, an egg cell, for fertilization to occur—to develop products meant to make assisted reproductive technologies such… Continue reading Flagship Adds Fertility-Focused Ohana Biosciences to Biotech Family
Quench Bio Springs From Atlas With $50M for a New Take on Inflammation
January 27th, 2020 Xconomy Boston — Cells die all the time in a controlled manner that’s perfectly normal. But the way cells die matters. Sometimes cell death is violent, sparking inflammation believed to contribute to disease. Quench Bio aims to develop drugs that stop the uncontrolled forms of programmed cell death, potentially halting inflammatory disease.… Continue reading Quench Bio Springs From Atlas With $50M for a New Take on Inflammation
Bio Roundup: Coronavirus Concerns, Sarepta’s CRL, Eye Drug OK’d & More
January 24th, 2020 Xconomy National — Company news slowed somewhat this week, perhaps as some took the federal Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday away from the office and others recovered from back-to-back meetings and late nights at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. However, a new coronavirus believed to stem from Wuhan, China, captured the… Continue reading Bio Roundup: Coronavirus Concerns, Sarepta’s CRL, Eye Drug OK’d & More
Kura Oncology Chief Medical Officer Plans to Step Down Next Month
January 23rd, 2020 Xconomy San Diego — Kura Oncology (NASDAQ: KURA) announced Thursday that its chief medical officer, Antonio Gualberto, would step down on Feb. 7 “to pursue other opportunities.” In a research note, SVB Leerink analyst Jonathan Chang said Gualberto was leaving Kura to take over as head of development at an “large Asian… Continue reading Kura Oncology Chief Medical Officer Plans to Step Down Next Month
After AstraZeneca, Osbourn Reflects on Roles at CAT & MedImmune
January 23rd, 2020 Xconomy National — MedImmune, AstraZeneca’s biologics division, is no more. The pharmaceutical giant announced last year that the name would be retired as part of a research and development restructuring. Before MedImmune became an AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) business unit, it was a standalone biologics company. In 2007, AstraZeneca paid $15.2 billion to… Continue reading After AstraZeneca, Osbourn Reflects on Roles at CAT & MedImmune
CEOs of Women’s Health Companies Fight to Open Investment Floodgates
January 22nd, 2020 Xconomy San Diego — Talking about sex with potential investors? For EvoFem Biosciences CEO Saundra Pelletier, it’s the first item on the docket. Her company recently submitted Amphora, a non-hormonal contraceptive gel, to the FDA for review. EvoFem (NASDAQ: EVFM)—and the rest of the women’s health sector—will know by midyear whether the… Continue reading CEOs of Women’s Health Companies Fight to Open Investment Floodgates
Of Science and Sea Urchins: Researchers Plumb Oceans for Biological Insights
January 21st, 2020 Xconomy Boston — The ocean is home to more biodiversity than anywhere else on the planet—making it a largely untapped source of opportunity for researchers studying marine organisms as a source of novel drug leads. “The unique adaptations of marine organisms have made them valuable models for biomedical research, enhancing our understanding… Continue reading Of Science and Sea Urchins: Researchers Plumb Oceans for Biological Insights