Venrock gets lean and mean with $350M venture fund

Smaller and more tightly focused will be the dominant style for Venrock Associates' new venture fund. The venture group--a busy player in the biotech space--says that it closed its new healthcare fund with $350 million--a sharp drop from the $600 million it was able to gather for its last fund launched in 2007. "We were proactive on the size of the new fund," Bryan Roberts, a Venrock partner, told the Wall Street Journal. "It fell out of who we had (at the firm). If we could find great people...

Ironwood offers upbeat PhIII data details on linaclotide

Ironwood and Forest Labs took the stage at the Digestive Disease Week conference to spell out their promising Phase III data on linaclotide, Ironwood's closely-watched treatment for irritable bowel syndrome with constipation. The therapy achieved statistically significant results for the primary as well as all secondary endpoints. "The results of these trials suggest that linaclotide may provide an attractive option for millions of patients suffering from chronic constipation," said...