Gene therapy researchers were converging on a holy grail. A few years ago, researchers at labs and companies reported they had engineered viruses that could ferry corrective genes deep into the brain, giving potential entry to a new world of treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and a slew of rare genetic diseases. This summer, after years…
Adam Feuerstein is a senior writer and biotech columnist, reporting on the crossroads of drug development, business, Wall Street, and biotechnology. He is also a co-host of the weekly biotech podcast The Readout Loud and author of the newsletter Adam’s Biotech Scorecard. You can reach Adam on Signal at stataf.54. Damian Garde is a reporter…
This is the online version of ASH in 30 Seconds, STAT’s report from the American Society of Hematology meeting. Sign up for the email version here. We hear most of the country is freezing. We wouldn’t know. We’re in Orlando, Fla. where the temps are in the low 80s. Over the next four days, STAT…
Damian Garde is a reporter at large, live and feature journalism, covering the global drug industry and contributing to STAT’s industry-leading events. NEW YORK — Vinay Prasad, the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccines regulator, blamed “misleading media narratives” for the escalating criticism of his leadership amid turmoil and plummeting morale at the agency. Prasad’s…
Solve Therapeutics has completed a $120 million unlabelled round as it advances a pair of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for cancer that use its proprietary linker technology. San Diego-based Solve has welcomed some new investors in the financing, which was led by cancer-focused venture capitalist firm Yosemite and takes the total raised by the start-up to…
Anglo-Swiss life sciences investment company Medicxi has raised €500 million (around $579 million) for its sixth fund, which will focus on supporting ‘asset-centric’ companies at all stages of drug development. The new Medicxi V fund will concentrate on “building and backing innovative biotechnology companies with clear product visions to transform patient care,” said the firm…
WASHINGTON — Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and many top deputies are scheduled to speak alongside industry executives and health activists at a daylong MAHA event on Wednesday that has not been publicly disclosed by administration officials or event organizers. The event, called the MAHA Summit, is to take place at the gilded Waldorf…
Isabella Cueto covers the leading causes of death and disability: chronic diseases. Her focus includes autoimmune conditions and diseases of the lungs, kidneys, liver (and more). She writes about intriguing research, the promises and pitfalls of treatment, and what can be done about the burden of disease. You can reach Isabella on Signal at isabellacueto.03….
Our round-up of biotech financings is led this week by Braveheart Bio, a San Francisco biotech that has launched with $185 million, a lead drug for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), and Biogen CEO Chris Viehbacher as its chair. Braveheart’s small molecule candidate, selective cardiac myosin inhibitor BHB-1893, could be a rival to Bristol Myers Squibb’s already…
BOSTON — Over the last year, venture capitalist Noubar Afeyan has watched his signature creation, Moderna Therapeutics, go from perhaps the world’s most celebrated company, hailed for helping ease a once-in-a-century pandemic, to a target of government officials promoting falsehoods about mRNA technology. Those attacks, Afeyan warned Thursday, would not end with Moderna or mRNA…
