Biogen has announced an agreement to acquire a novel drug from Pfizer for the potential treatment of patients with behavioral and neurological symptoms across various psychiatric and neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The purchase of the drug, a CNS-penetrant small molecule inhibitor of casein kinase 1 (CK1), will include an upfront payment of $75 […]

Blueprint Medicines, a Cambridge biotech focused on genomically defined cancers, rare diseases and cancer immunotherapy, has announced FDA approval for Ayvakit (avapritinib), its kinase inhibitor for the treatment of a genomically defined population of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), a rare, sarcoma of the GI tract. “The full approval of Ayvakit…is an incredibly exciting […]

Sarepta Therapeutics and Roche have entered into a licensing agreement providing Roche exclusive commercial rights to SRP-9001, Sarepta’s investigational gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), outside the United States. Under the agreement, Sarepta will receive $1.15 billion in an upfront payment and an equity investment; up to $1.7 billion in regulatory and sales milestones; […]

Flagship Pioneering has launched Ring Therapeutics, an early-stage biotech developing first-in-class gene therapies using a new viral vector platform based on its groundbreaking work on the human commensal virome. Ring’s technology promises to address many of the limitations of current DNA and gene therapies, such as limited access to diverse tissues, inability to redose, risk […]

The FDA has approved Sarepta Therapeutics’ Vyondys 53 (golodirsen), an antisense oligonucleotide indicated for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in patients with a confirmed mutation of the DMD gene amenable to exon 53 skipping. Vyondys 53 is approved under accelerated review based on an increase in dystrophin production in skeletal muscle of patients […]

Triplet Therapeutics has launched today with $59 million in financing including a $49 million Series A financing led by MPM Capital and Pfizer Ventures U.S. LLC, the venture capital arm of Pfizer. Atlas Venture, which co-founded and seeded Triplet with a $10 million investment, also participated in the Series A alongside Invus, Partners Innovation Fund and […]

Merck will acquire Burlington-based ArQule for $20 per share in cash for a total equity value of about $2.7 billion. The transaction is expected to close early in the first quarter of 2020. ArQule is a publicly-traded biopharma focused on kinase inhibitor discovery and development for the treatment of patients with cancer and other diseases. […]

MDG’s mission is to advance healthcare by enabling diverse professionals to grow through expert forums, collaboration, and knowledge sharing.  In the spirit of our mission and of the holiday season, please join us on December 19th from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm for our annual Seasonal Celebration and Networking Party, held in honor of our […]

Thermo Fisher Scientific has officially opened its new $90 million viral vector CDMO (contract development and manufacturing organization) site in Lexington. The 50,000-square-foot facility will add more than 200 jobs and support the development, testing and manufacture of viral vectors, which are critical to advancing new life-saving gene and cell therapies globally. Earlier this year, […]

Novartis announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire The Medicines Company for USD 85.00 per share in cash, valuing the company at approximately USD 9.7 billion on a fully diluted equity basis. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies and is expected to close […]