—Cadence Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CADX]]). This San Diego company had $61.1 million in cash at the end of September and a $13.7 million net loss in the third quarter.
—Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:HALO]]). This San Diego company had $72.5 million in cash and investments at the end of September, and spent $25 million in the first nine months.
—Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LGND]]). The San Diego drug developer’s balance sheet looks pretty similar to Halozyme. It had $72.5 million in cash at the end of September, but it had a wider net loss of $18.2 million. It spent $23 million in the first nine months.
—ISTA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ISTA]]). This Irvine, CA-based company had $22.1 million in cash on hand at the end of Septmeber, and burned through slightly more than that, $24 million, in the first nine months.
—Neurocrine Biosciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NBIX]]). This San Diego developer of neurological drugs had $118.2 million in cash at the end of September, and expects to finish the year with about $100 million, the company said.
—Orexigen Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OREX]]). This San Diego company, developing treatments for obesity, had $100.1 million in cash and investments at the end of September, and a net loss in the preceding nine months of $71.1 million.
—Invitrogen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:IVGN]]). This maker of lab supplies, which is merging with Applied Biosystems and changing its name to Life Technologies, is one of the lucky few in the consistently profitable club. It had $675 million in cash and investments on hand at the end of September, about $4 million more than it had nine months earlier.
—Illumina (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ILMN]]). This maker of high-speed genetic analysis instruments has been on a torrid growth pace for years, more than quadrupling its employee base in the past four years. Despite rapid spending, it had $649 million in cash on hand at the end of September, and plans to use some of that cash to buy new technologies if the opportunity is right.
—La Jolla Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LJPC]]). This company had $26.1 million in cash at the end of September, and reported a third quarter net loss of $17.1 million.
—Vical (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VICL]]). This San Diego company had $49 million in cash and investments at the end of September, and expects to burn through $27 million to $32 million during this calendar year.
—Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:HEPH]]). This company had $29.1 million in cash at the end of September, about $14.1 million less than it had nine months ago.
—Cytori Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CYTX]]). This regenerative medicine company had just $13.3 million in cash and investments left at the end of September, and reported a net loss of $6.8 million. It may have access to borrow another $7.5 million if it can meet certain lending restrictions, the company says.
