OK, I’m not usually a big fan of end-of-the-year lists. But given that Xconomy Seattle has been up and running for almost exactly six months (since June 16), Luke and I thought it would be fun and informative to share our site’s top 10 most-read stories so far—and why we think they were important or special.

The list is an interesting mix of stories that captures the spirit of what we’re doing here at Xconomy, and it also gives a pretty balanced retrospective on the events of the past half-year. The stories represent our commitment to cover all sorts of innovation in the Northwest, spanning technology, life sciences, breaking news (both good and bad), and in-depth features and analysis.

So, without further ado, here are the 10 most-read Xconomy Seattle stories of the past half-year:

10. Microsoft’s BizSpark Reaches Out to Startups

This piece covered how Microsoft relates to the startup community, through a review of the first 30 days of its BizSpark program.

9. It Came From the Hutch

The untold story of how Tysabri, the most effective multiple sclerosis drug on the market, was invented in a lab right here in Seattle.

8. Immune Design Raises $18M to Build Vaccine Company

Readers were excited to hear about one of the bigger venture financing deals of the year in Seattle, led by a team of superstars in immunology.

7. Heller Ehrman Dissolves

This was bad news based on a layoff filing from Washington State’s Employment Security Department. A global law firm with a large Seattle office, known for its work in the tech and life sciences community, has left the scene.

6. Amgen Scientist Vs. Bone Cancer

The story of a 13-year quest: how the persistence of a Seattle scientist at Amgen may pay off in the coming year, through a new drug for bone loss called denosumab.

5. Nathan Myhrvold Holds Court

An exclusive, in-depth interview with Nathan Myhrvold of Intellectual Ventures. The former Microsoft chief technology officer and founder of Microsoft Research covered everything from ping-pong with …Next Page »

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Maybe everybody’s rushing to scratch things off the to-do list before the holidays, but this was one of the busiest weeks of the year we’ve seen in Seattle biotech news. Here are the highlights.

—Seattle Genetics had a big week. The Bothell, WA-based biotech company (NASDAQ: SGEN) said follow-up data in a clinical trial of its “empowered antibody” for Hodgkin’s disease and related lymphomas showed it’s getting better at causing complete remissions, and the effect appears to be long-lasting. Another drug passed an interim safety analysis.

—Alan Frazier, who oversees $1.8 billion for Frazier Healthcare Ventures, sat down with me for an exclusive interview. He had some interesting advice for how companies can adapt to one of the worst busts in the industry’s 30-year history.

—An effective malaria vaccine has eluded scientists for a century, so I stopped by to interview Stefan Kappe of Seattle Biomedical Research Institute to find out why he’s so excited about a new approach. I made sure to track down Kappe in advance of our Xconomy Forum tonight, which focuses on next-generation vaccines in development.

—Alder Biopharmaceuticals, a Bothell, WA-based developer of antibody drugs, received some good fortune in time for the holidays. Its leading competitor, Switzerland-based Roche, was hit with a delay from the FDA that is expected to slow down its plans to commercialize a rheumatoid arthritis drug by at least a year. This could give little Alder a chance to catch up.

—We broke the unfortunate news here last Friday that Calypso Medical Technologies laid off 36 workers, or about one-fifth of its staff, to conserve cash in the downturn. To see an updated list of layoffs at Seattle life sciences companies, click here.

—Some life sciences companies and organizations are still hiring in Seattle, so I set out to track down this information, despite the drumbeat of layoff news. If anybody out there knows of big names I’m missing, please send me a note at editors@xconomy.com.

—ZymoGenetics (NASDAQ: ZGEN) said its sole marketed product, recombinant thrombin for surgical bleeding, didn’t cause any immune reactions when given to patients who were at risk of getting that complication. The company will use this data to try to persuade doctors it has a safer alternative than the standard drug made from cow blood, by Bristol, TN-based King Pharmaceuticals.

—The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center raised $2.2 million in donations for its scientific programs Saturday night, at its annual Hutch Holiday Gala. The center plans to funnel …Next Page »

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It was a very slow week for deals in the Northwest, with layoffs and other bad news dominating the headlines. But there were still a few deals in biotech, software, and e-commerce.

—The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle raised more than $2.2 million in donations for its research programs at its annual holiday gala, as Luke Timmerman reported. More than half the money, $1.2 million, will be used to expand immunotherapy clinical trials in the late stages of disease.

—Seattle-based nonprofit PATH is investing $3 million in a vaccine candidate against pandemic flu, as Luke reported. The vaccine, which is intended to mimic “bird flu,” is being developed by Gaithersburg, MD-based Lentigen.

—Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Hopkinton, MA-based storage giant EMC (NYSE: [[ticker: EMC]]) expanded their partnership to improve data security for customers across networks and data centers, as our Boston colleague Ryan McBride reported. The deal, whose financial terms were not disclosed, will put technology from EMC’s security division, RSA, into certain Microsoft products, such as Windows Server 2008.

—Seattle-based Amazon completed its acquisition of Victoria, BC-based AbeBooks, an online marketplace for used and rare books. The deal was originally announced August 1. With this purchase, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) also owns 40 percent of LibraryThing, a literary social site based in Cambridge, MA, that competes with Seattle-based Shelfari (another recent Amazon acquisition).

—Not a deal, but words of wisdom from two of Seattle’s most prominent deal-makers. Luke did an exclusive interview with Alan Frazier, founder of Seattle-based Frazier Healthcare Ventures. Frazier discussed why the traditional venture model is broken, and what companies need to do to adapt. And I sat in on a great talk by Nick Hanauer, founding partner of Seattle-based Second Avenue Partners and an early investor in Amazon, as he spoke about how to spot breakthrough ideas and companies.

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Alan Frazier controls one of the world’s biggest life sciences venture capital funds, so it would only be natural that he’d like to hide under a rock these days. But he was still willing to sit down with me at his 32nd floor office in downtown Seattle this week for a wide-ranging talk about the shellacking his industry is taking in the financial markets, and how biotech companies can adapt.

Frazier, for those who don’t know, is the founder and managing partner of Seattle-based Frazier Healthcare Ventures. The company, founded in 1991, has raised seven venture funds with a total of $1.8 billion for emerging biotech, medical devices, and healthcare services companies. Before that, he was one of the early executives at Seattle-based Immunex during its fast-growing 1980s heyday.

To hear Frazier talk now, the days when VCs could gamble on a promising technology and a driven management team, with the idea of creating the next Amgen, Genentech, or Immunex, are history. “The traditional venture capital model is broken,” he says.

Here’s what he had to say, edited for length and clarity. (Despite some grim observations, you won’t need to take a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor like Prozac after reading this.)

Xconomy: You’ve been through a lot of downturns in your career before in biotech, like 1994 and 2001-2002 being the most recent. What’s different about this one?

Alan Frazier: The downturn is not just over the last two months. It really began two and a half years ago, when IPOs started to represent only a liquidity event, not a profit event. I think it’s challenging the traditional biopharma venture model. It’s more significant than we’ve ever seen in the past. That doesn’t mean biopharma venture is dead, it’s just different.

X: How’s it different?

AF: The venture capitalists will be making two very different types of investments than they have traditionally made. One is that VCs will be investing in public companies as a private security, a PIPE, or sometimes known as a VIPE, a venture investment in a public equity. They’ll also do companies like Calistoga Pharmaceuticals, with more targeted types of enterprises whose ultimate exit is a sale, not an IPO.

X: Is the traditional venture-backed biotech model broken?

AF: Yes. It’s broken, or at least …Next Page »

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