We heard in the past week from key experts who shared their views on the funding climate and the potential of emerging computational technologies. Our recap follows.
—Histogen said its Hair Stimulating Complex produced “statistically significant” new hair growth after one year among the 24 balding patients who participated in a clinical trial conducted in Honduras.
—Avalon Ventures, one of the few San Diego venture capital firms still investing in early-stage life sciences companies, is talking about raising a ninth fund, Luke reported. He chatted with principals Jay Lichter and Kevin Kinsella about the investing climate.
—San Diego is well-positioned to play a significant role in advancing computational biology, said Paul A. Rejto, director of computational biology in oncology research at Pfizer. He discussed the technology and its potential impact on drug development in a Q&A.
—San Diego has all the ingredients to become the number one biomedical informatics center in the country, said UC San Diego’s Lucila Ohno-Machado, director of biomedical informatics at the medical school. She discussed the technology with me in a Q&A.
—Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, a San Diego-based drug developer, has raised an initial round of $1.5 million in financing. The investors included Golden Seeds, Life Science Angels, and Tech Coast Angels.
—AltheaDx, a San Diego-based developer of molecular diagnostics, closed its $6 million Series A round of funding. The funds will support development of diagnostics that predict whether a drug is safe for certain people.