Meredith acquires health-info search engine Healia

Publisher and television broadcaster Meredith agreed to acquire Healia, a consumer-oriented search engine focused on health information. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Healia will remain based in Seattle.

From Meredith’s release:

In the coming months, the Healia technology will be integrated into Meredith’s existing Web sites. In addition, Meredith and Healia will expand the functionality of Healia.com and will offer the technology through licensing and distribution agreements with select health organizations, consumer Web sites, employers and… Continue Reading

Amgen snaps up another biotech startup, Alantos Pharma, for $300M

Amgen snaps up another biotech startup, Alantos Pharma, for $300M

Amgen suddenly has a voracious appetite for startups. In its second deal this week, the biotech giant acquired Cambridge, Mass., biotech Alantos Pharmaceuticals for $300 million in cash. (The release is here.)

Founded in Heidelberg, Germany in 1999, Alantos changed its name from Therascope in 2003 and moved to Cambridge in 2004. The company develops traditional “small molecule” drugs — that is, therapies that can be delivered as pills rather than shots — for a… Continue Reading

Amgen buys kidney-disease biotech Ilypsa for $420M

Amgen buys kidney-disease biotech Ilypsa for $420M

Biotech powerhouse Amgen agreed to acquire Santa Clara, Calif.-based Ilypsa, a developer of drugs to treat complications of kidney disease, for $420 million in cash, roughly ten times what the company had raised in venture capital. The company’s release is here.

The high price could mean Amgen had to win a bidding war for Ilypsa, since one of the startup’s main investors was none other than the venture arm of Amgen archrival Johnson & Johnson.

Ilypsa has… Continue Reading