KiiLN, Celgene, Acceleron, & More
Summary
I met with CEO Veer Gidwaney at New York Tech Meetup’s latest gathering this week, and got some insight into the company’s vision for driving down healthcare costs by incentivizing a healthy lifestyle.The company inked a partnership with Novartis (NYSE: NVS) that gives the pharmaceutical giant rights to develop a specific class of Ensemble’s own in-house experimental drug candidates that block the inflammatory protein interleukin-17.—GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) has kickstarted a $50 million venture fund designed to invest in companies making bioelectronic therapies, or ultra-tiny devices or specialized drugs that tinker with electrical signals that pass through the nerves in the body.—New York-based Keryx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: KERX) officially filed a new drug application with the FDA for ferric citrate (Zenerex), which is supposed to lower the phosphate levels of kidney dialysis patients.—[Updated with stock movement] Bedminster, NJ-based NPS Pharmaceuticals’ (NASDAQ: NPSP) drug teduglutide (Gattex in the U.S., Revestive in Europe), generated $4.8 million in sales in the U.S. in the second quarter, coming in ahead of Wall Street’s expectations.