While continuing to advance its internal pipeline, PTC Therapeutics Inc. signed yet another big pharma partnership for its Gene Expression Modulation by Small-molecules (GEMS) drug discovery platform.

With early stage venture funding hard to come by, Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc. has found an alternative way to fund its development of isoform-selective histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors. The Boston-based biopharma has raised $27 million in Series B financing from a large contingent of private individuals.

Drug discovery firm Forma Therapeutics Inc. has always been unconventional, and its latest deal with Roche AG's Genentech subsidiary is no exception.

Shares of Icagen Inc. popped more than 150 percent in early trading Monday on news that the biotech is engaged in preliminary buyout discussions with long-time partner Pfizer Inc.

Science has taught us that many diseases – including HIV, HCV and cancer – can only be controlled by cocktails containing several drugs. Business has taught us that the best drugs don't necessarily come from your own pipeline, and they aren't always for sale. Hence the rise of no-money, no-rights, no-strings-attached deals to combine multiple unapproved drugs from multiple sponsors in a single clinical trial.

With one oral multiple sclerosis (MS) drug already approved and several more finishing Phase III programs, Merck Serono opted to bail on its oral MS candidate cladribine rather than embark on a new clinical program as the FDA had requested.

Wondering what to read on the flight to and from D.C. for the BIO 2011 annual convention? Wonder no more – check out BioWorld’s fifth annual biotech summer reading list! We’ve polled industry bibliophiles to bring you this season’s hottest fiction and nonfiction offerings, some of which were actually written by your biotech brethren. Think all they can write are business plans and journal articles? Think again . . . Biotech Authors: the pen is mightier than the petri dish A little-known fact about John Hollway, vice president of business development at anti-infectives firm Achaogen Inc., is that he wrote...

BioAegis Therapeutics Inc. has only been in business a few months, but the start-up's platform has a 30-year history.

Despite the fact that recent biotech product launches have fallen short of analyst expectations across the board, there's reason to believe these drugs might yet achieve their peak sales potential and foster a new wave of fully integrated pharmaceutical companies.