Technology Briefing

REGIONAL NEWS

Phillip Sabin joins vcfo as senior associate, CFO

Phillip Sabin, the former vice president of finance at Revenue Science, has joined vcfo as a senior associate and chief financial officer. The firm, which now employs eight people, provides financial and accounting services to startup companies.

It also recently named Lora Gates, formerly of Aventail, Western Wireless and Enfisys, and John Edwards, formerly the controller at Demand Media, to the positions of associates/controllers.

John L. Scott is acquiring Real Tech and 9 employees

John L. Scott Real Estate continues to invest in its technology offerings, with the real-estate brokerage firm announcing Monday that it has acquired Real Tech.

For the past five years, Real Tech has provided some of the new services for John L. Scott's Web site. Those include integration with Microsoft Virtual Earth and the Neighborhood Wizard technology, which allows home buyers to set geographic boundaries on a map to see listings.

Real Tech's nine employees will operate in the company's marketing and eStrategies unit.

Cell Therapeutics changes name of key drug to Opaxio

Xyotax, Cell Therapeutics' treatment for lung cancer, has a new name -- Opaxio.

It was touted as a treatment that potentially could extend survival among patients with nonsmall-cell lung cancer and possibly make Cell Therapeutics profitable. The results of three clinical trials released in 2005 showed that the treatment did not, in fact, extend survival.

The late-stage studies did show that the drug prolonged survival among women. In addition, the frequency of toxic side effects was lower among both men and women taking Xyotax, compared with those taking standard chemotherapy.

The company has pushed development of Xyotax by focusing on those two benefits.