John Mendlein Tries His Hand as a ‘Parallel Entrepreneur,’ Santaris Continues RNA Therapeutics Work for Pfizer, & More San Diego Life Sciences News

The holiday left a void of sorts in San Diego’s life sciences news, or maybe everybody is prepping for J.P. Morgan’s big biotech conference in San Francisco next week. Either way, we’ve got the latest update here.

—Luke profiled John Mendlein as a life sciences jack-of-all-trades who made his name as a CEO in 2007, when he sold Waltham, MA-based Adnexus Therapeutics to Bristol-Myers Squibb for more than $500 million. Mendlein, who is a surfer, scientist, lawyer, and biotech executive, is now a “parallel entrepreneur.” He’s a hands-on board member at three San Diego biotech startups pursuing big ideas: Fate Therapeutics, aTyr Pharma, and Alevium Pharmaceuticals.

—Pfizer agreed to pay $14 million to Santaris Pharma, the developer of RNA-based therapies in San Diego and Denmark, to continue development of drugs that target ribonucleic acid, a new avenue of research. Santaris might get as much as $600 million if it is able to meet certain research milestones, as well as royalties on as many as 10 products Pfizer may develop over time using its RNA technology.

—A report by Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association counted 72 venture-backed IPOs during 2010—including initial public offerings for San Diego’s Trius Therapeutics and Zogenix. Healthcare-related IPOs accounted for 11 percent of all 154 IPOs that took place over the past 12 months, according to Renaissance Capital, which tracks all types of IPOs.

—Even though the 17 new biotech issues that debuted on the U.S. market in 2010 were plagued by lackluster receptions (selling fewer shares well below the pricing range), biotech guru Steven Burrill predicts that at least 25 biotech IPOs, possibly more, will be completed in the US in 2011. Burrill, a California biotech specialist, venture capitalist, and keynote speaker, also says he sees no slow down in Big Pharma’s appetite for biotech partnering.

—The final numbers on drugs approved

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Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.