With the biotech IPO window still open for business, and valuations of the recent classes of 2013 and 2014 remaining robust, all eyes have been focused on this part of the value chain. Read more.

While one of the hottest areas of cancer drug development is based on an approach that uses the body’s immune system, a handful of investors are making a $17 million bet on a Cambridge biotech aiming to take a similar approach to pain management. Read more.

In the mid-1990’s, the American Pain Society and the Veterans Health Administration declared pain as ‘the fifth vital sign’, and the worldwide market for chronic pain treatments exceed $25B—yet there have been no novel mechanisms to address chronic pain in nearly 20 years. Atlas seed company Quartet just completed $17M series A—an exciting milestone in the company’s mission to close the gap between patient need and available medicines for pain. Quartet CEO Kevin Pojasek expands on the challenge and opportunity to sooth chronic pain. Read more.

Unum, a new cellular immunotherapy company dedicated to antibody-coupled T-cell receptor (ACTR) therapeutics, is leveraging and improving on years of experience with CAR-T cells and construct optimization. In short, ACTR technology enables genetic-programming of T-cells to attack tumor cells in an antibody-directed manner—and Unum’s ACTR constructs are not restricted to a single antigen or narrow set of tumors, but instead can be universally applied to augment any antibody-directed anti-cancer therapy with a cell-surface antigen. Hence the name, derived from e pluribus unum – “out of many, one”. Read more.

It’s no secret that cancer immunotherapy is exploding. The pharma and biotech world is abuzz trying to find the best ways to harness the power of the immune system to fight cancer. Read more.