Clinical-stage genetic medicines company Wave Life Sciences and GSK have announced a strategic collaboration to advance oligonucleotide therapeutics, including Wave’s WVE-006 preclinical RNA editing program targeting alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD). The discovery collaboration has an initial four-year research term. It combines GSK’s unique insights from human genetics, as well as its global development and commercial capabilities, […]

Cambridge startup Clear Creek Bio has announced that it will collaborate with Pfizer to develop inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease (PLpro) for the oral treatment of COVID-19. PLpro is an essential enzyme, which, along with the main protease (Mpro), plays an important role in viral replication. This program will expand Pfizer’s innovative anti-infective pipeline […]

Building on the CRISPR gene-editing system, MIT researchers have designed a new tool that can snip out faulty genes and replace them with new ones, in a safer and more efficient way. Using this system, the researchers showed that they could deliver genes as long as 36,000 DNA base pairs to several types of human […]

At its November meeting, the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) approved three new life sciences lab development projects for downtown Boston: At 125 Lincoln Street,on the border between the Leather District and Chinatown, Oxford Properties plans to convert a dilapidated building housing parking, retail, and office space, into a new, 11-story research and development building […]

Results from Eisai’s large global Phase 3 confirmatory clinical study of lecanemab have been presented at the 2022 Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease (CTAD) conference in San Francisco, California. Lecanemab is an investigational anti-amyloid beta (Aβ) protofibril antibody for the treatment of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) with confirmed presence of […]

The Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) has released its Life Sciences Action Agenda in response to ongoing life sciences development throughout the City of Boston. In an effort to support the industry’s built environment needs, while addressing concerns from the public in relation to the location and design of these developments, the Life Sciences Action Agenda […]

Boston biotech Jnana Therapeutics has raised $107 million in a Series C financing led by Bain Capital Life Sciences. The proceeds from the funding will be used to progress the company’s lead program in phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare genetic metabolic disease, through a clinical proof-of-concept (POC) study, and to advance additional wholly owned, potential first-in-class […]

Biogen has appointed Christopher Viehbacher as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors, effective November 14. Viehbacher succeeds Michel Vounatsos, who has led the company since 2017. Viehbacher has extensive international experience in both large pharmaceutical companies and entrepreneurial biotech companies. After 20 years with GlaxoSmithKline, he served as […]

Moderna and Merck have announced plans to jointly develop and commercialize a personalized cancer vaccine pursuant to the terms of its existing Collaboration and License Agreement. The vaccine, based on mRNA technology, is currently being evaluated for patients with high-risk melanoma in a Phase 2 clinical trial being conducted by Moderna. “We have been collaborating […]

Waltham-based giant Thermo Fisher Scientific is poised to acquire UK-based specialty diagnostics company The Binding Site Group for $2.6 billion, continuing a string of acquisitions spanning several years. Upon completion of the transaction, expected in the first half of 2023, The Binding Site will become part of Thermo Fisher’s Specialty Diagnostics segment. The Binding Site […]