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.
