California
Biotech Behemoth, January 5, 2005, Forbes
Company of the Year. Long a two-hit wonder, Amgen is on the brink of a research renaissance that will target cancer, diabetes and more. (Thousand Oaks)
First Cloned-to-Order Pet Hits the Market, December 27, 2004, AFP
The world's first commercially cloned pet, a nine-week-old kitten, was delivered to a woman who paid $50,000 for a copy of her beloved dead cat, said U.S. company Genetic Savings and Clone on Thursday. (San Francisco)
Biotech secures loan, December 24, 2004, Sacramento Bee
Large Scale Biology Corp. has secured a $2.9 million loan to advance its development of plant-made pharmaceuticals, the Vacaville-based biotechnology company announced Thursday.
Genentech inks record-setting lease, December 24, 2004, San Francisco Business Times
Genentech has penned a whopping 780,000-square-foot lease with Slough Estates in South San Francisco, believed to be the largest single lease deal ever in the Bay Area.
Bay Area's life sciences chiefs raked in serious money in '04, December 24, 2004, San Francisco Business Times
California life science company CEOs had base salaries averaging $274,000, the highest in the nation in 2003, and significantly more than the national average of $246,000, according to the annual Compensation and Entrepreneurship Report in Life Sciences from executive search firm J. Robert Scott, law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP and Ernst & Young LLP.
Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Files Registration Statement for Proposed Initial Public Offering, December 23, 2004, PR Newswire
Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the proposed initial public offering of its common stock. All of the shares of common stock will be offered by the Company. (South San Francisco)
Canada
Bioniche Animal Health Appoints New Leaders of European and Australian/Asian Operations, December 23, 2004, Canada NewsWire
Bioniche Life Sciences Inc., a research-based, technology-driven Canadian biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it has moved the Managing Director of its Australian/Asian Animal Health operations to Europe and has appointed a new General Manager for the Australia/Asia Animal Health operations effective January 4, 2005. Andrew Grant, formerly Managing Director of Bioniche Animal Health A/Asia has been appointed Managing Director of Bioniche Animal Health Europe, while Chris O'Callaghan replaces Andrew in Australia. (Belleville, ON)
Delaware
State explores biotech future; Role sought in growing industry, December 27, 2004, Delaware Capital Review
"My view is that it's something we cannot afford not to be a player in. ... We cannot dilly-dally. We've got to continue building it up." Those were the words of Dr. David S. Weir, speaking last week about the future of biotechnology and the enormous economic and social impact it could have on Delaware.
Winning the biotech battle, December 26, 2004, News Journal
In the scramble among the states over the money to be made from biotechnology, size and money matter. And, in those things, Delaware is David fending off the Goliaths of larger neighbors and states like California, whose voters recently agreed to spend billions to muscle up their homegrown biotech industry, and the search for genetic breakthroughs in health, medicine and agriculture.
Florida
Bioscience businesses aren't waiting for Scripps, December 27, 2004, Palm Beach Post
According to a draft report for the South Florida Bioscience Consortium, the region's arm of the trade group BioFlorida, there are 629 bioscience companies in this part of the state. They employ 11,594 people and generate annual sales of $5 billion.
New designs on a home for Scripps, December 25, 2004, Sun-Sentinel
Palm Beach Gardens planners spent months working on a strategy to develop the Vavrus Ranch in the city's southwestern corner. The city recently pulled its support for that project, however, and now is working on a new idea for Scripps. The county is considering three alternative sites for the massive biotech project that is supposed to bring with it thousands of jobs and new businesses.
McCarty urges tie of Scripps, Vavrus, December 24, 2004, Palm Beach Post
Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty wants to see The Scripps Research Institute and the biotech community proposed just east of it combined into one 6,700-acre project. The two projects are next door to each other but are being planned individually despite attempts to bind them.
India
Mallya's biotech R&D lab seeks US patents, December 27, 2004, Rediff
Flamboyant liquor baron Vijay Mallya has a little known research centre -- Vittal Mallya Scientific Research Foundation -- which now plans to commercialise its patented technologies. The Bangalore-based biotechnology research laboratory undertakes R&D work in the field of agriculture and medicine.
Maryland
EntreMed Raising $14 Million for Trials, December 27, 2004, Associated Press
Biopharmaceuticals company EntreMed Inc. reported Monday that it agreed to issue stock and warrants to institutional investors to raise $14 million to support upcoming clinical trials for its lead cancer product Panzem.
Massachusetts
Remon Medical rounds out third round at $26M, December 27, 2004, Mass High Tech
Remon Medical Technologies Inc., a privately held medical device company in Waltham, has completed the final closing of an oversubscribed series C financing raising a total of $26 million.
GPC Biotech brings in $1.2M milestone from neighbor Altana, December 23, 2004, Mass High Tech
GPC Biotech has reached several new milestones in its multiyear alliance with its Waltham neighbor the Altana Research Institute (ARI), bringing in $1.2 million in payments.
Minnesota
Medtronic acquires rights to promising spinal treatment, December 28, 2004, Twin Cities Business Journal
A Medtronic Inc. subsidiary has signed an agreement with Purdue University giving it commercial rights to a technology that has prevented spinal cord paralysis in dogs and may someday do the same for humans.
New Mexico
Two firms move into Santa Fe Incubator, December 28, 2004, New Mexico Business Weekly
The Santa Fe Business Incubator has announced that bioinformatics company, Bioreason, is the latest business to move into its facility. Utah-based Wasatch Venture Fund also is expected to rent space there this week.
New York
Life sciences viewed as a magnet for expatriates, December 28, 2004, Buffalo News
Having invested heavily in research, the region needs people with the experience and expertise to help take the ideas from the lab bench to the bedside, according to Bufflink, the region's biotech industry development group.
North Carolina
New MBA Concentration Focuses on Biotechnology, Pharmacology, December 28, 2004, Lincoln Tribune
Fast-paced advancement in the life sciences is opening new management career paths in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. The new biotechnology-pharmacology concentration within the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program at North Carolina State University's College of Management will help prepare individuals for these new career tracks, says Dr. Steve Allen, associate dean for graduate programs at the college. This new concentration will be available for full- and part-time students entering the MBA program in fall 2005.
Taiwan
MOEA HIGHLY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT TAIWAN BIOTECHNOLOGY, December 23, 2004, Central News Agency (Taiwan)
The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) is very optimistic about the outlook for Taiwan's biotechnology industry and will do everything it can do to promote it, Economic Affairs Minister Ho Mei-yueh said Thursday. Ho made the remarks at the 15th anniversary celebration of the Taiwan Biotech Association.
Washington
Corixa stock busy before bad news, December 28, 2004, Seattle Times
On Dec. 13, something unusual happened with Corixa stock. The stock of the small Seattle biotech company is usually quiet on the Nasdaq, but more than 1 million shares changed hands that day. It was triple the average daily volume and the second-busiest day of the past eight months. After trading closed for the day, Corixa released some unexpected bad news: It was unloading its money-losing cancer drug Bexxar and slashing 160 jobs to cut its losses.
General
International Coalition to Fund Autism Genetics Research, December 28, 2004, National Institutes of Health
An international public/private partnership of government health agencies and private advocacy organizations has committed more than $21 million for research to identify the genes associated with autism spectrum disorders, a range of developmental disorders that impair communication and other mental abilities. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is spearheading the coalition, whose members include the Canadian and Irish governments and three private autism foundations.
Biomed Rounds: All kinds of goodies await in life sciences new year, December 27, 2004, Mass High Tech
The new year is almost upon us. Here are some prognostications about what could be ahead in the life sciences in 2005.
Biotech companies stand to gain, December 24, 2004, Wall Street Journal via San Francisco Chronicle
The storm lashing big pharmaceutical companies over safety concerns about pain treatments such as Celebrex and Vioxx may actually blow some good in the direction of biotech stocks. As the product pipelines for pharmaceutical companies come under even greater pressure, biotechnology companies may be in a better bargaining position with the big drug companies that are seeking to license their drugs.
22% of medical device follow-up studies left undone, December 24, 2004, Boston Globe
Nearly a quarter of follow-up studies required by the Food and Drug Administration for medical devices in recent years were never completed, according to a senior regulator who has launched a campaign to improve the ratio.
ECDC director named, December 22, 2004, The Scientist
Zsuzsanna Jakab, the top civil servant in Hungary's health ministry, was named last week the first director of the new European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).