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Health and biotech

Latest stories

AbbVie strikes deal to acquire Waltham’s ImmunoGen for more than $10 billion

It’s the largest acquisition of a Massachusetts company this year.

Generation Bio cuts its payroll by 40 percent in latest restructuring move
The Cambridge biotech startup is seeking to extend its cash into 2027.

RI NEWS
Majority of R.I. residents say cost of living is becoming harder to afford, according to survey
The availability of affordable housing, services for children, access to health care and food security, and jobs were among the key issues, according to the 2023 Rhode Island Life Index.

‘I feel reborn’: One man’s fight to overcome addiction after living at Mass. and Cass
Miguel Pagan is determined to fulfill a promise he made to his mother to get off heroin, yet the pull of his old life remains strong.

MassHealth programs to help wheelchair users with slow repairs are themselves delayed
The MassHealth programs would improve access to loaner chairs for people whose wheelchairs were being repaired, and create more options for people needing simple repairs.

Latino children are more likely to enter foster care in Massachusetts than any other state
One out of 20 Hispanic children in Massachusetts are involved in the state's child welfare system.

Featured stories

How a Boston doctor diagnosed the first US case of monkeypox

After a few days, the doctor noticed a telling change. The patient’s rash consisted of fluid-filled blisters that had a dent in the center. His rash looked like smallpox.

Once the ‘it’ supplement, vitamin D is losing its sparkle

Vitamin D supplements, regularly consumed by millions of Americans, have not held up to the considerable hype of warding off many common, dreaded diseases.

Right-wing groups hit Boston Children’s with barrage of threats over trans health program

A hostile online campaign has prompted the hospital to seek help from law enforcement.

This startup aims to delay menopause and prolong fertility with a new contraceptive

Oviva Therapeutics just raised $11.5 million to develop drugs based on the work of Mass. General researchers.
Biotech

AbbVie strikes deal to acquire Waltham’s ImmunoGen for more than $10 billion

It’s the largest acquisition of a Massachusetts company this year.

Generation Bio cuts its payroll by 40 percent in latest restructuring move

The Cambridge biotech startup is seeking to extend its cash into 2027.

Evelo Biosciences, a microbiome company launched by Flagship, shuts down

The Cambridge biotech is ceasing operations after running low on cash and seeing multiple drug trial failures.
Lifestyle
RI NEWS

Majority of R.I. residents say cost of living is becoming harder to afford, according to survey

The availability of affordable housing, services for children, access to health care and food security, and jobs were among the key issues, according to the 2023 Rhode Island Life Index.
RHODE MAP

An intriguing new charter school proposal

The R.I. Medical Society wants to open a school to prepare marginalized 7th and 8th graders - and eventually high schoolers - for careers in medicine.
INNOVATOR Q&A

In R.I., there’s a lack of dentists caring for patients with special needs. This program is trying to change that.

Dr. Elizabeth Benz is the director of the Samuels Sinclair Dental Center, which was founded with the mission of providing dental care regardless of whether families could pay.
Spotlight

How Brigham Health helped create a Chinese hospital for elites — and almost nobody came

In a deal worth millions with Chinese developer Evergrande, a Harvard teaching hospital risked its reputation on what would become a near-empty shell.

Boston’s hospital chiefs moonlight on corporate boards at rates far beyond the national level

Hospital chiefs and trustees defend this as boosting public-private partnerships, but critics say these board positions — some paying millions of dollars — raise troubling issues of conflict of interest and hospital priorities.

More biotech and health care stories

RHODE MAP

An intriguing new charter school proposal

The R.I. Medical Society wants to open a school to prepare marginalized 7th and 8th graders - and eventually high schoolers - for careers in medicine.

Evelo Biosciences, a microbiome company launched by Flagship, shuts down

The Cambridge biotech is ceasing operations after running low on cash and seeing multiple drug trial failures.

How to pass the holiday stress test

Despite the best of intentions and preparations, life can still spin out of control during the season.

OxyContin maker’s settlement plan divides victims of opioid crisis. Now it’s up to the Supreme Court.

The issue for the justices is whether the legal shield that bankruptcy provides can be extended to people such as the Sacklers, who have not declared bankruptcy themselves.

‘It’s a very human condition’: Researchers seek answers to mystery of autism, in blood

A campaign aims to get more people with autism to provide blood samples for research.

Harvard University researchers discover one of the origins of itch

The key lies in a common bacteria found on the skin.

Merck buys small Cambridge biotech for up to $610 million

Caraway Therapeutics is developing medicines to treat conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, ALS, and rare kidney diseases.

Flagship Pioneering launches new biotech with Mass., UK offices

Quotient Therapeutics, which will have offices in Mass. and the United Kingdom, wants to develop drugs that target illnesses caused by genetic changes that occur as people age.