10 Massachusetts Biotechs Devoting the Most Cash to R&D

May 5, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

BOSTON – All biotech companies have a budget for research and development of new therapeutics or other products intended to help stymie an illness in some way. But, the Boston Business Journal recently compiled a list of the 10 pharmaceutical and biotech companies in Massachusetts that devote the largest percentage of their operating budgets to R&D efforts.

10. Zafgen

Zafgen Inc. spent $55 million, about 74 percent of its operating budget for last year, on research and development for the treatment of diseases including Prader-Willi syndrome.

9. Blueprint Medicines

Blueprint spent $49 million, about 78 percent of its operating budget for last year, on research and development. Spurred by an infusion of $170 million, three clinical trials and a deep pipeline of cancer therapies, Blueprint Medicines has quadrupled its employee base. Blueprint is developing a pipeline of potent and selective kinase inhibitors for genomically defined subsets of patients with cancer and other debilitating diseases.

8. Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals

Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals also spent about 78 percent of its operating budget on research and development. The company funneled $74 million into its R&D work last year.

7. Agios Pharmaceuticals

Agios used about 80 percent of its entire operating budget on research and development last year, spending $142 million. Earlier this year Celgene entered into an $80 million agreement with Agios Pharmaceuticals to develop AG-881, a small molecule that has shown in preclinical studies to fully penetrate the blood brain barrier and inhibit isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 (IDH1) and IDH2 mutant cancer models

6. ImmunoGen

ImmunoGen also came in at 80 percent of its operating budget for R&D costs. Last year the company spent $140 million. In April, Immunogen announced the start of clinical testing of the company’s IMGN779 product candidate for the treatment of AML, a CD33-positive cancer. The company also tapped Mark Enyedy, a former executive vice president at Shire plc , as its new president and chief executive officer.

5. Alnylam

Booming Alnylam spent $315 million on research and development of its experimental RNAi therapeutics last year, which came out to about 82 percent of its operating budget. Alnylam is currently developing its Phase III lead candidate Patisiran for TTR amyloidosis at a small lab in Cambridge. The company anticipates Patisiran to clear Phase III development by next year, with an NDA filing in late 2017. In fact, by 2020, the company expects to be a multi-product company.

4. Epizyme

Epizyme also used about 82 percent of its operating budget on its R&D efforts. The company spent $111 million on its therapies.

3. Karyopharm

Like Alnylam and Epizyme, Karyopharm also used approximately 82 percent, or $98 million, of its operating budget on R&D efforts last year.

2. Infinity Pharmaceuticals

Infinity Pharmaceuticals spent $199 million on R&D last year, about 84 percent of its operating budget. The company is developing Duvelisib for blood cancers, which is currently in Phase III development. If it clears regulatory hurdles, the drug is expected to generate $462 million in revenue.

1. Ziopharm Oncology

Of the companies the Boston Business Journal referenced, Ziopharm Oncology came in at number one with the largest percentage of its operating budget used for research and development. The company spent $107 million on R&D last year, about 86 percent of its operating budget. Last year, the Journal noted the company spent about 85 percent of its operating budget on its R&D efforts.

In his list, the Journal’s Don Seiffert said the list is a top 10 compiled of all the publicly traded pharma companies in the Bay State. The dollar amounts cited for the R&D cover the most recent reported four quarters, he said. His methodology excluded a number of large biotech and pharma companies in the state, such as Biogen and Vertex , because although they spend an enormous amount on R&D, the percentages are not as large a portion of the operating budgets.