Eli Lilly has announced the launch of the Lilly Institute for Genetic Medicine and an investment of approximately $700 million to establish a state-of-the-art facility at a new site in the Boston Seaport. This investment – part of the company’s strategy to advance RNA based therapeutics – builds on the 2020 acquisition and rapid expansion of Prevail Therapeutics, a […]

Cambridge-based Agios Pharmaceuticals has announced that the FDA has approved Pyrukynd in the U.S. for the treatment of hemolytic anemia in adults with pyruvate kinase (PK) deficiency, a rare, debilitating, chronic hemolytic anemia. Pyrukynd is a first-in-class, oral PK activator and the first approved disease-modifying therapy for this disease. The drug was reviewed by the FDA under Priority Review and […]

Waltham-based Arrakis Therapeutics has announced a research collaboration with drug giant Amgen. Arrakis is building a proprietary pipeline of RNA-targeted small molecule (rSM) medicines focused on cancer and genetically validated targets in other disease areas. Under the terms of the agreement, Arrakis will lead research activities for the identification of RNA-targeted small molecule (rSM) binders […]

Sanofi has unveiled a new corporate brand and logo that supports the modernization and transformation the company launched in December 2019. Current business units Sanofi Pasteur and Sanofi Genzyme, focused on vaccines and specialty care respectively, and all other acquired brands, will be united under the singular Sanofi name and brand. According to the company, […]

Cambridge-based Vericel, a leader in advanced therapies for the sports medicine and severe burn care markets, has entered into a long-term lease agreement for a new state-of-the-art advanced cell therapy manufacturing and corporate headquarters facility at the Network Drive campus at Northwest Park in Burlington. The new facility, which will include approximately 125,000 square feet […]

The state’s biopharma companies attracted record-breaking VC funding last year according to the newly-released MassBio 2021 Massachusetts Biopharma Funding Report. See the report’s key findings and conclusions below, then visit the MassBio website to download the full report. Following on 2020’s record breaking year, biopharma companies headquartered in Massachusetts received $13.66 billion in venture capital […]

Cambridge-based Beam Therapeutics has entered into an exclusive four-year research collaboration with Pfizer focused on in vivo base editing programs for three targets for rare genetic diseases of the liver, muscle and central nervous system.  The base editing programs to be evaluated as part of the collaboration will leverage Beam’s proprietary in vivo delivery technologies, which use messenger RNA (mRNA) […]

Moderna has announced that the first participant has been dosed in its Phase 1 study of mRNA-1189, the company’s Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) vaccine candidate. Said Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel, “The start of this Phase 1 study is a significant milestone as we continue to advance mRNA vaccines against latent viruses, which remain in the body […]

Biogen has announced that it will cut the price of its Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm in the U.S. by about half, bringing the yearly cost of the maintenance dose to $28,200 per patient. Biogen is taking this action with the goal of lowering out-of-pocket expenses for patients and reducing the potential financial implications for the U.S. […]

Foghorn Therapeutics and Loxo Oncology at Lilly, a research and development group of Eli Lilly, have entered into a strategic collaboration to create novel oncology medicines by applying Foghorn’s proprietary Gene Traffic Control platform, a tool for understanding and modulating the chromatin regulatory system which regulates gene expression by directing the movement of molecules that […]