At least locally, the biotech news of the past few weeks has not been cheerful:
* First, Eli Lilly’s $2.1 billion purchase of ICOS Corp. in Bothell will mean job cuts there, assuming the deal proceeds. ICOS employs about 500 people locally. The company’s sales force of 180, spread around the continent, already has been told it will be laid off.
* Last week, GlaxoSmithKline said it would lay off about 80 people in the former ID Biomedical lab in Bothell. That story is here, http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/10/27/100bus_biotech001.cfm.
* Eden Bioscience announced another quarter of disappointing sales (see second brief here, http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/11/03/100bus_briefs001.cfm), raising new questions about that company’s future.
* Shares of CombiMatrix in Mukilteo have fallen to well below $1 (76 cents as of Friday) and the company recently warned it might reduce research and/or staff, http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/10/27/100bus_briefs001.cfm. A relative of a former employee there e-mailed to tell me some layoffs already may be happened recently.
Silver lining? Well, here’s a few things to be hopeful about if you’re a local biotech booster:
* Bothell’s Lumera seems to be having success as it advances in the same field CombiMatrix has competed.
* NW Biotherapeutics, though still short on cash, keeps reporting great results from trials of its brain cancer drug.
* Sonus Pharmaceuticals is getting more attention as it advances its cancer drugs toward possible FDA approval, http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_44/b4007115.htm.
After a busy couple months, I now hope to keep this blog updated more often as all this develops. Remember, local investors, employees and anyone else with comments or questions about biotech news or this blog can e-mail me at fetters@heraldnet.com.
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