Genentech chairman Levinson leaves Google board, stays with Apple
A dry press release from Google this morning announced the effective-immediately departure of Genentech chairman Arthur Levinson from Google’s board of directors. Levinson remains on Apple’s board of directors, from which Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigned in August.
Schmidt’s resignation leaves only climate change activist Al… Continue Reading
Justice Dept. investigates possible hiring pact between Google, Apple, Yahoo, others
The Justice Department is reportedly investigating major tech companies for possibly violating antitrust laws with their hiring practices. The department sent “civil investigative demands” (written requests for documents and information) to at least a dozen tech companies, including Google, Apple, Yahoo, and biotech company Genentech…. Continue Reading
23andMe gets $11M boost to decode your DNA
23andMe, the company that deciphers consumers’ genomes for them, has raised $11 million of an anticipated $24.26 million second round of capital. The company was cofounded by Anne Wojcicki, wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
The firm didn’t disclose its recent investors, but peHub noted this… Continue Reading
Roundup: PG&E installs smart meters, Stewart cows Cramer, the market seesaws and more
MySpace Events get an upgrade — The network’s new event invite system takes more advantage of users’ social circles. TechCrunch has more.
PG&E smart meters get the green light — The utility will spend $467 million in taxpayer money to install the meters in California homes. The San… Continue Reading
Zombie patents and their toll on the healthcare system
Patents generally have a fixed lifetime, but some can linger on like zombies, thanks to clever lawyering that extends their life unnaturally.
Zombies’ cost to the healthcare system can be significant. Genentech’s Cabilly patent, for instance, should have expired in 2006, but instead stands to cost… Continue Reading
Zombie patents — they cost the healthcare system billions, but just won’t die
I’ve been generally unsympathetic to laments that biotech and medical-device companies will suffer if U.S. patent law is reformed, and that has a lot to do with some of the grotesque but legal patent abuses biopharma companies have perpetrated over the years in order to… Continue Reading
Genentech takes a step back from the dark side, delays Avastin restrictions
(UPDATED: See below.)
Almost two weeks ago, Genentech angered doctors and elderly patients when it announced plans to restrict access to Avastin, a cancer drug that doubles as an unapproved, but quite inexpensive, treatment for eye disease. In those conditions, which can lead to encroaching blindness when… Continue Reading
Genentech, and the temptation of the dark side
Committing your biotechnology giant to “the best interests of patients,” as Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson does on its his company’s Web page, is certainly a fine sentiment.
But what if you restrict use of a drug used by many elderly individuals to ward off encroaching blindness?… Continue Reading
The temptation of the dark side: Genentech, Avastin and macular degeneration
(UPDATED: See below.)
Committing your biotechnology giant to “the best interests of patients [and] the medical profession,” as Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson does on its his company’s Web page, is certainly a fine sentiment. When you subsequently decide to restrict use of a drug used by many… Continue Reading
Personalized medicine takes a (tiny) step forward
(UPDATED: See below.)
For at least a decade, biotech futurists have been predicting that the genomics revolution will lead to medical treatments tailored to the genetic quirks of individuals. And for at least as long, we’ve all been waiting for evidence that this “personalized medicine” revolution is… Continue Reading
Google invests in biotech company, 23andme, to form genetic database
Updated
In one of the more eye-opening investment moves we’ve seen lately, Google has invested $3.9 million into a biotech company run by Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s new wife.
VentureBeat’s life sciences blogger, David Hamilton, who formerly covered biotech for the WSJ, has done some digging and… Continue Reading
Google, Genentech fund personal-genetics startup 23andMe
(UPDATED: see below.) 23andMe, a stealthy Mountain View, Calif., “personal genetics” startup, has raised a first round of funding from some heavy hitters — Google, Genentech and two blue-chip VC firms, Mohr Davidow Ventures and New Enterprise Associates.
That’s some significant megatonnage for a low-profile and potentially… Continue Reading
Noxxon Pharma draws $50M for aptamer drugs
Noxxon Pharma, a Berlin-based biotech, raised 37 million euros ($50 million) to help push its first aptamer-based drug candidates for kidney and eye disease into clinical trials.
The main new investors included TVM Capital, Sofinnova Partners, and Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners.
Aptamers are short stretches of… Continue Reading
Intradigm, a gene targeting co., raises $16M
Intradigm, a Palo Alto biotech company that is using a technology called “RNA interference” (RNAi) to target genes while providing oncology medical treatments, has raised $16 million in a first round of funding.
It has also moved to Palo Alto, from Rockville, Maryland, driven by the… Continue Reading