I don’t know Ezra yet but since he’s taking the time to blog (which I hugesly respect) and share thoughts I thought I’d take him up on his challenge and also spill the beans on my secrets. On blogging I blog because I love it. My other secret on blogging? MORE

There are many ways to stand out as a biotech CEO, from getting a company started in the first place to pushing its first drug over the finish line. Those differences are what we noticed when going through the nominations from you, the readers, for the top Boston biotech CEO, as part of the first-ever Xconomy Awards. MORE

The second episode of Xconomy’s new podcast, Xconomy Voices , features Recorded Future co-founder and CEO Christopher Ahlberg. MORE

By the end of this year, for the first time, patients with certain deadly types of blood cancer might have a new option, CAR-T cell therapy , to prolong their life. Immunotherapy could further entrench itself as a mainstay of cancer treatment. MORE

The randomized controlled trial has long been held up as the gold standard for testing new drugs. But the nation’s top drug evaluator, Janet Woodcock, believes they aren’t necessary for all new experimental treatments. MORE

It’s always been Xconomy’s mission to reach audiences—both here on our website, and at our many live events around the country—with deep insights into the innovation process, divined from experts embedded in the world’s most important hubs of high-tech entrepreneurship. MORE

It’s a struggle that comic-book fans know well. Ordinary people, bestowed with super powers from a spider bite or gamma rays, struggle to harness their own abilities. T cells, key soldiers of the immune system, are wrestling with new-found super powers, too. MORE

’Tis the season for giving gifts. And increasingly, those shiny new toys and gadgets can be connected to the Internet—from TVs to watches, speakers to Barbie dolls. That Internet connection opens up a ton of possibilities for how we can use and enjoy our new devices. MORE

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For many years, doctors and researchers have known that cancers in different parts of the body can share genetic abnormalities. For the first time, the FDA has approved a drug based on those abnormalities and not on the organ in which the cancer originated. MORE

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Startups play a critical role in the innovation economy that we chronicle at Xconomy—transforming new ideas that begin in a lab into the products and companies of tomorrow. No surprise, then, that the startup category in our first-ever Awards program was a particularly competitive one, loaded with private companies (no more than 5 years old) in several biotech hotspots: gene editing, microbiome research, immuno-oncology, regenerative medicine, digital health and more. MORE

An ambitious plan to recruit 1 million U.S. volunteers and amass a treasure trove of their health information will start next week with a “beta test” that health officials hope to eventually expand nationwide. MORE

What does it take to keep highly skilled cybersecurity employees? Salary and benefits are table-stakes. MORE

Drivers have plenty of ways to communicate with their fellow drivers, beyond the basic turn signal. Some methods are nice, like a friendly wave to beckon a merging car into your lane. Others, not so much. We’ve all probably cursed or honked at another driver, or been given the finger. MORE

With President Trump holed up in New Jersey, rattling his saber at Kim Jong-un and Mitch McConnell and ignoring his own commission’s advice on the opioid crisis, there was still life sciences news from the nation’s capital. The FDA reported that generic drug approvals are set to hit a record ; the agency under Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has moved this summer to increase generic competition and lower the nation’s high drug prices. MORE

View the Slideshow It is a time of great transitions in the technology and business world. Key advances in areas like machine intelligence, agriculture, and healthcare seem poised to transform society—and everyday life. MORE

Has the era of genetic oncology arrived? Last week, the biomedical world took a notable step in that direction when the FDA said Merck’s drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda), already one of the world’s most successful cancer immunotherapies, could now treat any tumor with a particular genetic fingerprint. It was the first time a drug has been approved strictly for a genotype —a tumor’s genetic profile—regardless of the organ or body part where the tumor is growing. MORE

According to several news reports, the Trump administration will nominate Scott Gottlieb to be the new commissioner of the FDA, a selection that had the life sciences industry breathing a sigh of relief Friday afternoon. MORE

It’s 4.50am. Sunday morning. And I couldn’t sleep. I have much on my mind since I just returned from a week on the road. 5 days. 3 cities. Late night Mexican food. Beers. Airports. Delays. I left on a Sunday. I had to miss a full day with my family, camping in the mountains. MORE

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[ Note: Ben Fidler coauthored this report.] The American Society of Clinical Oncology conference is wrapping up, and the closely-watched medical meeting-slash-hype machine produced its usual array of data. MORE

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View the Slideshow The finalists in the Young Innovator category of the 2017 Xconomy Awards show that it’s never too early in life to start a company or invent a new technology. MORE

Despite all the great progress made harnessing the immune system to fight cancer, there is still much work to be done to maximize its potential. MORE

The CEO of a major U.S. pharmaceutical company was in the news this week, but for a change not because of the cost of drugs. Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier (pictured) was the first of what quickly became a line of CEOs to exit President Trump’s manufacturing council, leading to its dissolution altogether. MORE

Over the next four days, the Second City will be the center of the biomedical world. The American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago brings together thousands of researchers from across the globe to discuss the latest progress in the war against cancer. On tap this year: the crush of immunotherapy drug combinations, the latest in cell therapy, advances in targeted cancer drugs and much more. MORE

I used to love blogging. Blogging proved to be a great way to hone my ideas, have public conversations with people and as it turns out – build meaningful relationships through public dialog that spilled over into the real world. Somewhere along the way blogging changed. Fred Wilson said as much in his blog post today, too. I guess it’s just a reality of blogging and I accept that. I like “single take” blogging. MORE

The company said the redesign came after finding that users were interested in using its tools to create blog-like travel and trip journals, rather than the original, animated slideshows the tool provided. networking social blogging travel iphone hipgeo MORE

If power in the business world is centered in the boardroom, women in biotech have a long way to go to get their fair share—and the venture community deserves much of the blame. MORE

It’s been more than a year since an infamous party with hired models in cocktail dresses captured the biotech community’s attention at the 2016 J.P. Morgan conference. There has been plenty of talk since about closing biotech’s notable gender gap. At this year’s J.P MORE

Blogs. By definition, you read blogs. People often ask me why I started blogging. I often get the question from people, “I’d like to blog, but I don’t really know what to talk about?&# My suggestion is to blog about your industry. You need a blog. MORE

The first ever approval of a new kind of cancer immunotherapy called CAR-T is one step closer. MORE

Gene editing took an important step this week when a group of U.S. researchers used CRISPR-Cas9 technology to correct a genetic error in dozens of human embryos without complications. It’s a significant achievement, but amidst the hype, it’s worth cautioning just how much work has to be done before the technology leads to a safe and effective human therapeutic. Years of clinical testing, and likely unforeseen twists and turns, lay ahead, with many more biological mysteries to solve along the way. MORE

6 or 7 years ago when TechCrunch was at its peak market share (they are still strong but many more tech blogs have also popped up) there was a term for getting covered there called “the TechCrunch bounce.” that they probably read the main tech blogs. MORE