Biotech execs climb Kilimanjaro | Pega lays out appeal | 'Pro-democracy' investments

Welcome back to the BBJ's LinkedIn Weekly Edition! I'm Digital Editor?Jess Aloe, bringing you the top business stories from this week, plus what's going on in Boston's tech economy.?This week...

Biotech execs tackle Mt. Kilimanjaro

This week, a team of biotech executives headed to Africa with one singular goal: to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro, having raised more than $1 million for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center through the research institute's Climb to Fight Cancer.

Each member of the team, more than half of whom are from the Boston area, was tasked with raising $50,000. They all surpassed that goal late last month and are expected to bring in additional funds during the climb itself as word spreads. The money they raise will go toward the Fred Hutch's early-career investigators, with a particular focus on global oncology, immunotherapy and the intersection of data science and research.

Rowan Walrath checked in with some of these execs before they left to begin their climb. Read more here.?

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We hope you can join us for our 10th?annual BizWomen Mentoring Monday. This year’s event takes place? Monday, Feb. 27th?from 2:30pm – 5:30pm at the Westin Copley Hotel.

We’ve created an afternoon all about bringing women in the business community together. Click here to see full event details, our complete list of 2023 mentors, and to register.

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What else happened this week:

'Pro-democracy' the newest front for this Boston ESG investment firm

A Boston investment firm is striving to wipe from its portfolio all corporations that donated to 2020 presidential election deniers.? Stance Capital , an ESG-focused asset management firm founded in 2016, has launched a new democracy-focused screening process for its flagship simple moving average strategy and its?Hennessy Stance ESG Large Cap?exchange-traded fund. Get the details.

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SPACs are back: Weight loss device firm set to go public

A Natick company behind a stomach "balloon" designed to help with weight loss is set to go public by reverse merging with a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.

Allurion Technologies Inc. will combine with a SPAC called Compute Health in the first half of this year.?Find out more.

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CVS made a $10.6B deal

CVS Health Corp. is aiming to super-charge its place in the nation's primary care market with its $10.6 billion acquisition of the Chicago-based Oak Street Health , and said it will open more than 100 new Oak Street clinics over the next four years to top 300 locations.

Providence Business First 's Mary C. Serreze has the details here.

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A 'trade-secret case with no secrets:' Pega lays out appeal in $2B Appian case

This week, Pegasystems followed through its promise to appeal the verdict — described by Appian as "the largest judgment in Virginia history" — and started the second phase of the legal battle, which may continue for years to come.

In its first appeal brief, Pega laid out its argument for why the company believes the Virginia judge was wrong.

"The largest judgment in Virginia history is so riddled with legal error that it has all the structural integrity of a skyscraper of cards," the brief opens.

Read more from Lucia Maffei here.

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Motherboards and molecules — this week in Boston's tech economy:

Framingham bioanalytics firm BERG Health has been acquired by BPGbio, Inc. , a new company funded by a group of investors led by private equity manager Daniel Elliott. Get the details.

Sherlock Biosciences plans to start commercializing its CRISPR-based Covid-19 tests next year — if there's still a market for them.?Find out more about the company's plans here.

Fifteen months after launching with $72 million and a mission to treat 70 different diseases with stem cell-based drugs, Garuda Therapeutics has raised another $62 million and now says it's looking at 120 potential target diseases.

Backing the Series B round are lead investors Northpond Ventures , OrbiMed , Cormorant Asset Management, LP and Aisling Capital , with participation from Sectoral Asset Management , Mass General Brigham Ventures and others.?Get the details.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals had nearly $10.8 billion cash on hand at the end of 2022, fueled almost entirely by its blockbuster cystic fibrosis (CF) drug, Trikafta. During its annual earnings report Tuesday night, the company made clear that its next big play will be in cell and gene therapy. Learn more about the plan here.

This week on Form D Friday: Fundraises from? MintyBrain , ClearMotion , Bluespec, Inc , Watershed Bio and Hemanext . Find out how much they raised here.

This week on the Petri Dish: The FDA clears a new 波科 device, 百时美施贵宝 pulls the plug on a Dragonfly Therapeutics, Inc. partnership, 默克 hires AI expert Iya Khalil , and Motif FoodWorks will offer "bioprocessing as a service." Get all the details here.

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This Weekly Edition was compiled by Jess Aloe. This is a new feature from the Boston Business Journal, and she wants to hear your thoughts. Questions? Comments? Concerns??Send them her way.