ChemoCentryx's $1.5 billion: Are you in the wrong business?

August 25, 2006 | Matt Marshall

An obscure Mountain View biotechnology company named ChemoCentryx, which makes drugs for bowel and other inflammatory disorders, has signed a deal worth $1.5 billion with GlaxoSmithKline to develop its products for the drug giant.

Don’t know how long this relative success of biotech and life-sciences will last, but this is just another reminder of the question we asked a couple of weeks ago: “Are you in the wrong business?“

It’s the second biggest drug-development pact ever between a pharmaceutical firm and biotech company, and the largest deal in California. The company has to meet certain milestones to get the full $1.5 billion.

Next Story: High-tech efforts must overcome low availability of investors
Previous Story: For 'cleantech' capitalists, the green that matters is on dollar bills

Twitter

Facebook

Google Buzz

Digg

StumbleUpon

Delicious

Google

More...

About the Author, Matt Marshall

Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.