Pharma & Biotech
-
Telford-based Solesis Announces Leadership Change and Expansion Plans for 2025
John Witkowski has been appointed as the new CEO of Solesis, a Telford-based company specializing in biomaterials for medical devices and biopharmaceuticals, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal. He takes over from Karen West, who left after a twenty-year tenure. Witkowski transitions to Solesis from DSM Biomedical, where he served as president,…
-
Newtown’s Onconova Therapeutics Secures $14 Million and New CEO in Merger with Trawsfynydd
Newtown-based Onconova Therapeutics is joining forces in a major merger deal with drug development company, Trawsfynydd Therapeutics, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal. Onconova holds the distinction of being the oldest biotechnology firm in the region, yet it has not successfully brought a product to market approval. This merger gives Onconova a…
-
WSJ: Rite Aid Strikes Deal To Transfer Control Over To Creditors, Settle Opioid Claims
Rite Aid has struck a preliminary deal to transfer ownership of the bankrupt drugstore operator to senior bondholders while also settling lawsuits over its alleged role in overprescribing opioids, writes Alexander Gladstone for The Wall Street Journal. Under the agreed plan, Rite Aid’s senior bondholders would swap their claims for 90 percent of the stock…
-
Aprea Therapeutics Secures Up to $34 Million in Groundbreaking Financing Deal
Doylestown-based Aprea Therapeutics, a leader in precision oncology, has successfully secured a financing deal anticipated to bring in up to $34 million in proceeds, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal. The Bucks County-based company announced a securities purchase agreement with a mix of new and existing investors and some undisclosed insiders, initially…
-
Optinose Awaits FDA Verdict on Expansion for Chronic Rhinosinusitis Treatment
Yardley-based Optinose, known for its drug-device product Xhance, is at a pivotal moment as it awaits a decision from the Food and Drug Administration, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal. Seven years following its initial approval for treating nasal polyps, the FDA is now reviewing a supplemental new drug application that could…
-
Abington’s Katalin Karikó’s New Book Shares Her Journey from Rejection to COVID-19 Vaccine Hero
Abington biochemist Katalin Karikó recently published a new book, Breaking Through: My Life in Science, which provides a vivid account of her life and decades of derision she had to power through before pioneering Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, writes Robin McKie for The Guardian. Today recognized as one of the world’s greatest biochemists, Karikó was ousted…
-
Penn Vet School, Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Drew Weissman, Collaborate On New mRNA Initiative
A new initiative has been launched at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine to accelerate the development of mRNA-based vaccines and therapies for animals, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal. The mRNA Research Initiative is being aided by Dr. Drew Weissman who, along with Dr. Katalin Karikó, won the 2023 Nobel…
-
PROTECS Opens Innovation Center in Building Leased to Warminster’s Arbutus Headquarters
Life sciences real estate company PROTECS is acquiring a 35,000-square-foot research and development lab facility in Warminster. The building is the latest edition of the PROTECS Innovation Center which also serves as the global headquarters to the biopharma company Arbutus, which focuses on developing a cure for Hepatitis B patients. PROTECS uses its…
-
Yardley-Based Med-Tech Firm Astarte Medical Ceases Operations
A Yardley-based med-tech firm, Astarte Medical, that focuses on software solutions to improve conditions for premature infants, is ceasing operations, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal. Astarte developed the clinical support platform NICUtrition, that addresses unmet needs in hospitals’ neonatal intensive-care units. Struggles to meet targets that would make the company…
-
Biotechnology Center in Doylestown Seeks State Funding to Continue Support for Life Science Start-Ups
A Bucks County biotechnology center pilot program is seeking to bring life sciences companies to the Keystone State, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal. The Academic Innovation Zone program at the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center of Bucks County in Doylestown was created to support these companies in their early stages. The program,…
-
Warrington’s Windtree Therapeutics Partners with China-Based Lee’s Pharma for Heart Disease Drug Expansion in Asia
Warrington-based biopharmaceutical firm Windtree Therapeutics is entering a multimillion-dollar licensing deal with a Chinese drug company for its three new cardiovascular disease drug candidates, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal. The agreement with Lee’s Pharmaceutical Ltd. could value up to $138 million along with double-digit royalties on the sales of future products.…
-
Philadelphia’s ‘Narcan Batman’ is On a Mission Reduce Overdose Deaths
Ryan Sager often monitors the streets of Kensington on a mission to save those battling addiction from overdose deaths, writes Megan Palin for the New York Post. The Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia has been among the most drug-addled in the nation and has become the largest open-air drug market on the East Coast. Sager finds…
-
Arbutus Biopharma CEO William Collier Announces Retirement As Company Cuts 24 Percent
William Collier, president and CEO of Warminster-based Arbutus Biopharma, will retire from his positions effective December 31, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal. “Leading Arbutus and working with such a passionate, dedicated leadership team to develop a functional cure for patients with chronic hepatitis B virus has been one of the most rewarding…
-
Abington Scientist Whose Work Made COVID-19 Vaccines Possible Awarded Nobel Prize
Katalin Karikó, the Abington scientist whose work led to RNA vaccines that transformed the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine, writes Carolyn Y. Johnson for The Washington Post. Hungarian-born Karikó saw the medical potential of mRNA early in her career and she pursued it with the kind of tenacity…
-
Wall Street Journal: University City-based BioTech Firm Nears Human Trials for Breakthrough Artificial Womb Technology
University City-based Vitara Biomedical is currently working on an artificial womb for premature babies and is getting closer to human clinical trials, writes Liz Essley Whyte for The Wall Street Journal. Last year, a Vitara Biomedical executive said at a biotech symposium last year that the firm is in the process of commercializing the research…
-
Plymouth Meeting’s Harmony Biosciences Holdings Acquires Zynerba Pharmaceuticals
Harmony Biosciences Holdings in Plymouth Meeting has agreed to buy Zynerba Pharmaceuticals for up to $200 million, writes John George for Philadelphia Business Journal. Under the deal, Harmony will pay the shareholders of the Devon-based pharmaceutical company $1.1059 per share in cash and one non-tradable contingent value right per share. The Zynerba shareholders also reserve…
-
Doylestown Biopharmaceutical Company Reports Second Quarter Finanical Results
Aprea Therapeutics, Inc., headquarted at 3805 Old Easton Road in Doylestown, has reported their financial results for the second fiscal quarter of 2023. Staff writers at GlobeNewsWire discussed the updates. As of June 30, Aprea reported cash and cash equivalents of $27.7 million. For the second quarter of the year, the company reported an operating…
-
Greater Philadelphia Area Ranks Among Top 10 U.S. Biopharma Clusters
The Greater Philadelphia area earned high marks for its efforts to attract life sciences companies, writes Alex Philippidis for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. Since 2014, GEN has ranked regions across the U.S. on which are most competitive in drawing life science companies to their areas. Greater Philadelphia took the seventh spot in the Top…
Founding Partners
Advertisement
Affiliate Partners
