Recent posts and comments

• MLK Day

  Posting will be light today as Xconomy’s offices are closed in observation of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service.

  For those of you looking for a way to pitch... Read more »

• A123Systems Invests in Fisker, Virtify Finds $15M, ATG Acquires InstantService, & More Boston-Area Deals News

  Dealmaking was steady across the tech and life sciences industries in New England this week.

  —Enterprise software firm Progress Software (NASDAQ: PRGS) of Bedford, MA, acquired Santa Clara, CA-based Savvion... Read more »

• Genzyme Reaches Agreement with Activist Investor, Charles River Closes Shrewsbury Lab, Lycera Comes to Cambridge, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

  It was another crazy-busy week for New England’s life sciences firms, many of which closed small-to-medium sized venture financings. I’ll talk about those as part of Friday’s deals roundup, but in... Read more »

• Quattro Scooped Up By Apple, Medtronic Invests in GI Dynamics, EMC Acquires Archer, & More Boston-Area Deals News

  New England’s tech and life sciences companies hit the ground running in the new year, inking a host of deals this week.

  —Data storage giant EMC of Hopkinton, MA, made a bold move into... Read more »

• Mullen to Relinquish Biogen Idec Reins, Joule to Test Ethanol Tech, Dicerna to Team with Kyowa Hakko Kirin, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

  I’ve got a couple weeks’ worth of New England life sciences news to catch you up on, so let’s dive in.

  —Shares of Watertown, MA-based pSivida (NASDAQ: PSDV) jumped more than 50... Read more »

• Enjoy the holidays, and watch this space…

  The boys and I will be taking some much needed time off for the next week and a half, so posting will be light in the main blog and News Xpress sections. But... Read more »

• Biogen Drops Facet Bid, Aveo Reveals IPO Ambitions, Pfizer Partners with Adimab, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

  New England’s drug developers and device makers are squeezing in a few more partnerships, acquisitions, financings, and strategic moves before the year’s end.

  —Acceleron Pharma, the Cambridge, MA-based biotech that’s building its own... Read more »

• Aveo Aims for $86M Debut, Exagrid Snags $16M, PatientKeeper Adds $13M, & More Boston-Area Deals News

  In honor of the eighth day of Hanukah, here are the top eight deals of the last week.

  —Lexington, MA-based Cubist Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CBST) inked a deal to acquire San Diego-based... Read more »

• Biogen Idec Board in Flux, Cubist Acquires Calixa, ImmunoGen Drug Passes Clinical Test, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

  Gadzooks, was this a busy news week for the biotech, devices, and healthcare IT sectors in New England. Here’s the lightning round version:

  —Luke examined Cambridge, MA-based Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB)’s e... Read more »

• 5AM Gathers $200M Fund, Advanced Cell Technology Advances with $2.8 Million, Gloucester Picked up for $640M, & More Boston-Area Deals News

  Lots of deals to report this week from New England tech and life sciences companies.

  —Gloucester Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, MA, agreed to an acquisition by Summit, NJ-based Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG). Gloucester... Read more »

• Facet Rejects Biogen’s Latest Offer

  The board of Redwood City, CA-based Facet Biotech (NASDAQ:FACT) unanimously recommended that shareholders reject the latest tender offer from Cambridge, MA-based Biogen Idec (NASDAQ:BIIB), saying that the... Read more »

• A Graceful Exit for Gloucester, Pink Slips at Sermo, A Half a Billion Bucks for Vertex, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

  New England’s life sciences firms and their investors seemed to be exchanging some early holiday gifts this week.

  —Vertex (NASDAQ: VRTX) completed the latest in a string of large financing and... Read more »

• $443 million for Vertex, $25.5M for Forma, $8M for Contour Semiconductor, & More Boston-Area Deals News

  The dollar amounts ranged from the modest (FitnessKeeper) to the mammoth (Vertex) for New England tech and life sciences deals this week.

  —Boston’s FitnessKeeper, maker of the RunKeeper iPhone application, raised $400,000... Read more »

• Forma Gets a $25.5M Fix, Novartis Bids Idera Adieu, Alnylam CEO Talks Strategy, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

  Somewhere between the turkey prep and the post-pie catatonia, folks at New England’s life sciences companies managed to make some news.

  —Idera Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IDRA), a developer of DNA- and RNA-based drugs,... Read more »

• Xconomy is Growing; You Could Be Part of It

  In the two and a half years that we’ve been live, Xconomy has been lucky to have some of the world’s best innovation journalists covering some of the nation’s most fascinating innovation... Read more »

• Ironwood Nabs $75M in Deal With Japanese Firm, Gloucester Drug Gets FDA Approval, Alnylam Branches Into Biomanufacturing Tech, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

  Several of New England’s life sciences firms had good news to report this week.

  —Ryan gave a run-down of the key insights to emerge from our Xconomy Forum on pharma innovation. Sirtris... Read more »

• Pulmatrix Pulls in $30.2M, GenArts Gobbles Up Wondertouch, BioVex Bags $30M, & More Boston-Area Deals News

  Several of New England’s tech and life sciences firms got juicy deals the past week and a half.

  —Boston’s RunMyErrand, an online clearinghouse where busy people can find helpers for odd jobs, raised... Read more »

• Vertex and Ironwood Drugs Fare Well in Clinical Trials, Pulmatrix Breathes in $30.2M, IRobot Launches Healthcare Unit, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

  A number of New England’s life sciences companies had good news to report this week.

  —Cambridge, MA-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) reported results from clinical trials that indicate its experimental hepatitis... Read more »

• Spark, Bezos Back Aviary, American Well Nabs $10M, Virdante Banks $30M, & More Boston-Area-Deals News

  An unusually high percentage of this week’s New England tech and life sciences deals came from companies based in Boston proper. What’s up with that?

  —Spark Capital of Boston led a... Read more »

• European Regulators Question Antigenics and Biogen Idec Drugs, BioAssets Bags $30M in Option Deal, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

  Europe’s drug regulators were not kind to a couple of Massachusetts biotech firms this week, but other New England life sciences companies had happier news to report.

  —European drug regulators turned down Lexington,... Read more »