Some interesting developments around publicly traded biotechs this week. Drug maker Acceleron Pharma has been trading above its IPO price from last fall, and it’s largely because of luck. The Cambridge firm started with a protein drug that had the opposite effect as what was expected, and used it to treat a genetic blood disorder. Acceleron now faces competition from fellow Cantabrigian Bluebird Bio, which also went public last year and is taking a gene therapy approach. Meanwhile, Sage Therapeutics has been working toward an upsized IPO of its own this week. The company is developing treatments for neurological diseases.
In other innovation news:
— Charles River Ventures, now called CRV, has raised nearly $400 million for a new fund and has shifted its emphasis to the West Coast, where its investments have included Twitter, Yammer, and RPX. Meanwhile NextView Ventures has closed a new $40 million fund and continues to look East Coast.
— Our startup of the week is Seres Health. The Cambridge company, which has raised $20 million to date, is making a push to sell the first “microbiome” drug to treat deadly bacterial infections.
