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  • Using venture world's lessons to battle Alzheimer's
    Aug 30, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    He hopes his foundation can bring about a similar transformation in medical research.It all started about 10 years ago, when McCance's wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, a degenerative neurological disorder. To apply that principle in the nonprofit context, the Cure Alzheimer's Fund needed to hire the equivalent of a go-to-market person, McCance says. It raised about $15 million between 2005 and 2009, with about half coming from the founders.
  • Health care, job engine for state, is pulling back
    Aug 29, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    Not anymore.The stalwart of the state economy is struggling these days as expenses rise, patient visits decline, reimbursements shrink, and pressure to control health care costs intensifies. Insurers have boosted copayments and deductibles to hold down premium increases at the same time incomes are under pressure and the employment outlook uncertain.
  • Biotechs watching Sanofi bid
    Aug 27, 2010 — Boston Herald
    ...(NYSE:SNY) ' attempt to buy Cambridge-based Genzyme Corp. (NASDAQ:GENZ) is raising concerns about how the Bay State's biotech industry and enonomy will fare if Genzyme is purchased by a foreign firm. The two sides in the drama continued to make moves yesterday. Genzyme said it was ramping up production of two key drugs, Cerezyme and Fabrazyme, it had previously scaled back due to woes at its Allston Landing manufacturing plant. The announcement was seen as a signal by Genzyme to...
  • Cambridge's Anchor gets a $10m lift from investors
    Aug 23, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    The firm wants to develop drugs that target mutated enzymes that are believed to be culprits in feeding certain cancer cells' addiction to specific nutrients that enable them to grow out of control. The idea sounds simple: wipe out the mutated enzymes, starve the cancer cells to death. In the end, Schenkein says, the best way to bring in the capital his company needed to stay ahead in this field was through a large corporate partnership.
  • Biotechs have big appeal for drug makers
    Aug 11, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    Last month, German pharmaceutical giant Merck KGaA (OOTC:MKGAY) completed its purchase of Millipore, a Billerica life sciences company, for $6.9 billion. But like other publicly traded companies, Amag has an obligation to shareholders to consider any offers that come along, Pereira said. Icahn successfully prodded Biogen Idec into briefly putting itself up for sale two years ago, though the company later said it could not find a buyer.
  • Genzyme talks trigger patient jitters
    Aug 8, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    Those diseases - known as Fabry, Gaucher, and Pompe - cause waste materials to build up in the body, shutting down vital organs and weakening muscles and bones. Genzyme appears close to being bought, most likely by the much larger French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE:SNY) SA. The company strives to be "more than just the name on the pill bottle in the medicine cabinet,'' said Sue Bruhn, senior vice president in charge of strategic planning.
  • Genzyme's in play, and it's all about price
    Aug 3, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    Market watchers said Genzyme could fetch $75 to $80 a share - or even more, if competing offers emerge.
  • GENE MAKEOVERS
    Aug 2, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    And existing treatments can be as dangerous as the diseases. Enter gene therapy. Stephen A. Sherwin, chairman of BIO, the biotechnology industry's national trade organization, both compared gene therapy to the development of monoclonal antibodies. It took two decades for monoclonal antibody therapy to advance enough to help patients.
  • S.F. firm says it has genetic keys to cheaper fuel
    Aug 2, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    The scientist wanted to know more about how this enzyme performs this task, in concert with other metabolites and precursors in the biological pathway.
  • Ideas percolate in Innovation District
    Jul 26, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    I need these small companies in a building like this. If I can't get that huge employer to come in here and bring 400 or 500 jobs at one time, maybe smaller companies [can] come in and take up some space. Their airy lab has the familiar hallmarks of a startup.Outside its windows, workers repair a 950-foot-long naval freighter parked in one of the largest drydocks on the East Coast.
  • Personalized medicine still lures venture capitalists
    Jul 26, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    It takes years to develop these products.''We've reported on a flurry of deals in personalized medicine this month. While a lot of VCs are clearly shooting for lower-risk and more incremental short-term bets, Mohr Davidow's latest investments don't appear to be following that trend. It is developing a drug targeting depression that lacks the side effects, such as weight gain and sexual dysfunction, of existing treatments.
  • Impasse ends on jobless benefits
    Jul 21, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    Brown said he opposes increasing the federal deficit to pay for the $34 billion proposal. Even with unemployment benefits, he said, he was dipping into his savings and retirement accounts to pay his mortgage, insurance, and other basic expenses. The benefits extension started in February as one piece of a broader jobs package that included many provisions to restore business tax breaks and increase Medicaid payments to state governments.
  • Dems have votes to extend jobless aid
    Jul 20, 2010 — Boston Herald
    ...extend unemployment insurance is by adding more than $30 billion to our nation's astronomical debt," Brown said of the Senate majority leader. "There have been numerous proposals offered in the Senate, including my legislation, to extend unemployment insurance by stopping the spending spree in Washington and using unspent stimulus funds." Lawmakers have battled for weeks over legislation extending benefits to workers who have been out of a job for long stretches of time.
  • Proposals sought for industrial park
    Jul 20, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    ...life sciences, and medical research companies. The Boston Redevelopment Authority began soliciting proposals yesterday for a 3.4-acre plot at 3 Dolphin Way, formerly used by the Cavalier Coach Corp., and a 3.25-acre parcel that previously hosted Boston Sand and Gravel Co. Acceptable uses include high-tech manufacturing; life sciences; research and development; seafood processing; cold storage; general manufacturing; and aquaculture related industries. Bidders should also emphasize...
  • Concert Pharmaceuticals offers inside glimpse
    Jul 19, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    Tung invented Concert's core technology, which it has used to swap certain hydrogen atoms in approved drugs with deuterium atoms to make the drugs safer and potentially last longer. This means deuterium drugs could be less toxic in the liver. Deuterium could make the drug potent in the bloodstream for longer than the original drug, possibly enabling patients to do without Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) ' booster drug, ritonavir.
  • Brown's jobless bill wins little support
    Jul 17, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    But as the Republican senator from Massachusetts prepared to cast another vote next week against an extension of benefits for jobless Americans, he expressed frustration. For example, Brown's plan would eliminate $8 billion in funding planned for high-speed rail and other railroad projects, according to Brown aides. About a week later, he voted with Democrats to end debate on a $138 billion bill that included unemployment extensions.
  • Venture funding slips in N.E. in latest quarter
    Jul 16, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    Venture capital activity in New England dropped significantly in the second quarter of the year, despite a healthy increase for the nation as a whole.Nationally, venture capitalists invested $6.5 billion in start-up and growth companies in the second quarter, up 34 percent from the previous quarter, and made 906 deals, up 22 percent, according to the MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association.But in New England, venture investments slid...
  • Marblehead science firm eyeing Salem
    Jul 13, 2010 — The Salem News
    It's a tool we have used sparingly, but we think judiciously. ... "We're excited about growing the Technology Way corridor in a way that facilitates light manufacturing.
  • Amazon pitches cloud computing for gene research
    Jul 12, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    And Amazon has made it a high priority to become the company that stores genomic data in a cheaper and more accessible way. Customers, Singh says, "have started looking at the cloud very seriously as a possible option.''Amazon's rented server model has attracted partners and customers all over the country. Singh would not be specific.There are still major barriers for Amazon.
  • Failure to extend jobless benfits worries Lynch, governors
    Jul 11, 2010 — The Eagle-Tribune
    That compares to a national rate of 9.7 percent in May. New Hampshire's average weekly unemployment benefit is $275, he said. New Hampshire's U.S. senators split on the recent extension bill. Democrat Jeanne Shaheen supported it, and Republican Judd Gregg opposed it, objecting to borrowing money to pay for the extension.
  • Another drug giant bringing jobs to Mass.
    Jul 8, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    It also owns a small manufacturing facility in Canton. The new cancer operation in Cambridgeport will boost those numbers considerably. BiPar is based outside San Francisco.Sanofi-Aventis, which also has major operations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and elsewhere in the United States, already has two blockbuster cancer drugs. Taxotere, a chemotherapy drug used to treat breast cancer, prostate cancer, and other types of cancers, generated $2.8 billion in sales last year.
  • Coming attractions in life sciences
    Jul 4, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    Supporting the formation of new life sciences start-ups are wealthy "angel'' investors and venture capital firms. The company is expected to employ about 1,500 people in Massachusetts by 2015, according to a spokesperson. Follica Inc., a company with employees in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, is working on a drug-device combination that could stimulate the growth of new hair follicles.
  • Biogen chooses scientist as chief
    Jul 1, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    He said the company's priority is to launch five new drugs in the next three years and to hire a new head of research and development.
  • BRIEF
    Jun 30, 2010 — Boston Herald
    ...vote against a massive jobs bill, U.S. Sen. Scott Brown today will announce a plan to fund unemployment insurance, summer jobs and Medicaid programs via dipping into stimulus funds and cutting "unnecessary spending." Brown, who has been getting pounded by liberal activists for a vote against a multibillion-dollar jobs bill, said his legislation wouldn't add to the nation's debt, unlike the plan he opposed last week. "Believe it or not, there is about $37 billion in stimulus...
  • Censored
    Jun 29, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    Apparently, the state of Massachusetts has provided data and approved medical research studies, but then censored the findings.The solution is simple. The state agency that approved the project immediately prohibited the researcher from presenting, reporting, or publishing the data anywhere. This means that it must first grant unequivocal freedom for researchers to present or publish findings.
  • EDITORIAL
    Jun 29, 2010 — Boston Herald
    ...and portrays ours as a state hostile to the biotech and medical device industries. Yep, just the image we want in this economy, and with the Patrick administration spending $1 billion to woo the life sciences industry . . . Then of course there is the collateral damage -- the function space that doesn't get booked for a training session, the printing company that loses out on the notepad or pen orders. No-gift absolutists are crying foul, but the Legislature and the Patrick...
  • Regulus makes $750m deal with Sanofi-Aventis
    Jun 28, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    The idea behind Regulus and other microRNA-based efforts is to create drugs that can inhibit these specific stretches of RNA, which regulate how entire networks of proteins are expressed. Sanofi is also getting an option to expand its use of the technology, which could generate another $50 million for Regulus if it's exercised. Maraganore has helped build Cambridge-based Alnylam into a leading developer of experimental gene-silencing drugs, or RNA-interference therapies.
  • Unemployment numbers keep dropping
    Jun 23, 2010 — The Berkshire Eagle
    May was also the second consecutive month that Berkshire unemployment was lower than the state rate, which remained at 9.2 percent. Deval Patrick said the state has also experienced four months of job gains and that the increase in April was the highest in 17 years. In Great Barrington, unemployment dropped almost a full percentage point to 6.8 percent.
  • Tax credit debuts for life science firms
    Jun 21, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    ...tax credit that aims to spur more research and development on the best ways to treat chronic diseases will soon be available to Massachusetts' life science companies.Starting today, the Therapeutic Tax Credit is a two-year credit that businesses with 250 or fewer employees can apply for through the US Treasury Department.Senator John F. Kerry said the credit will help create jobs in the life, biological, and medical sciences (OOTC:MCLS) sectors.Robert K. Coughlin, president and...
  • Pfizer adds focus on rare diseases
    Jun 16, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    Edward Masciolo, most recently the founder and chief executive of Dapis Capital, a private equity firm investing in health care and life sciences businesses.
  • Genzyme's chief a master of survival
    Jun 15, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    In a Feb. 19 phone call, Icahn put Termeer on notice. Genzyme is developing a multiple sclerosis treatment that will compete with Biogen Idec's MS drugs. Earlier this year, after the challenge from Icahn surfaced, Termeer offered Whitworth a seat on the Genzyme board.
  • BIOTECHNOLOGY'S NEW FRONTIER
    Jun 14, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    Instead of merely ameliorating disease, can we increase healthy human life span? Academic researchers have shown the ability to cure diabetes entirely in animal models by replacing defective insulin-producing cells with new stem cells. In virtually every animal - from fruit flies, to mice, to monkeys - restricting calories increases healthy life span, acting via these aging genes.
  • Worker training money targeted
    Jun 12, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    But Patrick, using emergency powers to balance the budget, slashed it to $12 million in fiscal 2009. Only 51 companies - about one-quarter of the firms that applied - received grants this year. The Senate and House are negotiating the size of the fund for next year as they craft a compromise budget.
  • Mister Biotech
    Jun 11, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    After the events of this week, the title undeniably belongs to activist investor Carl Icahn. Genzyme changed and became a better-run company as a result of the proxy contest. Carl Icahn is the most important biotech figure in Massachusetts.Steven Syre is a Globe columnist.
  • Genzyme fends off looming proxy fight
    Jun 10, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    ...settlement with Genzyme'' that gives Icahn two board seats, said Denner, who manages Icahn's biotech portfolio. Icahn, in regulatory filings, criticized Genzyme management for what he said was a complacent response to a series of manufacturing problems, including a virus, at the company's Allston Landing production plant. He suggested shareholders should consider replacing Termeer, who has run Genzyme for 27 years.In their meetings with investors, company officials defended Termeer's...
  • Why cures are so hard to come by
    Jun 7, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    Pharmaceutical research and development is becoming too costly, lengthy, and risky.It may be surprising to many that an investment in discovering new drugs is an increasingly dicey proposition. Pharmaceutical companies are busy merging and significantly reducing research and development expenditures, or diversifying away from pharmaceutical drug discovery. The lengthy and risky nature of drug discovery is based in part on ever-expanding regulatory requirements.
  • Test might expedite detection of prostate cancer
    May 31, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    Xconomy reported recently that the Waltham company had raised $10 million of a planned $16.9 million round, based on Securities and Exchange Commission records. The company did not comment at the time, and it wasn't clear who the investors were.
  • Echoing Hub's recovery, Charlotte seeks to diversify
    May 30, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    German industrial conglomerate Siemens (NYSE:SI) said it would relocate a factory for electric-power turbines from Canada to Charlotte, adding 825 jobs to its existing operations there. Duke operates three nuclear plants in the Carolinas and is proposing to build a fourth 60 miles southwest of Charlotte. Many worried Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:WFC) would dismantle much of Wachovia's local operations after buying the Charlotte bank in late 2008.
  • What a bigger convention center could mean to Boston
    May 30, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    As executive director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, he is proposing to accomplish that through a dramatic expansion of the six-year-old Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. There are 1,700 hotel rooms within walking distance of the BCEC. The funding mechanisms set up in 1997 to build the BCEC were brilliant.
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