San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Isis, Elevation, Proacta, and More

As the time draws near for the annual J.P. Morgan Global Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, it seems as if there has been a surge in deals for local life sciences companies. Here’s our rundown:

—Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) agreed to pay Carlsbad, CA-based Isis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ISIS]]) $29 million, with the potential for more payments down the road as part of a new drug development partnership. Biogen and Isis agreed to collaborate to advance an experimental drug that Isis has identified for treating spinal muscular atrophy, a rare genetic disease that causes severe muscle atrophy and weakness in newborns. The deal could eventually be worth as much as $299 million for Isis.

—Denmark’s Novo Ventures led a $30 million Series B financing for San Diego-based Elevation Pharmaceuticals to fund development of an aerosol therapy Elevation has been developing for patients living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Heath Lukatch, a San Francisco-based partner of Novo Ventures told me the funding should be enough to carry development of Elevation Pharmaceutical’s aerosolized bronchodilator drug to the threshold of final-stage trials.

—San Diego-based Santarus (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SNTS]]) asked the FDA to approve its new drug application for budesonide (Uceris), an oral tablet it has been developing with Italy’s Cosmo Technologies for treating mild cases of ulcerative colitis. If the FDA accepts the new drug application for review, Santarus says it has agreed to make a $4 million milestone payment to Cosmo. Ulcerative colitis is a form of inflammatory bowel disease that causes painful inflammation and ulcers inside the colon.

—Proacta, a San Diego-based cancer-drug developer has raised $500,000 toward a $3 million round of financing, according to VentureWire. The biotech was founded at least six years ago to advance a new group of anti-cancer molecules that are active in hypoxic tissue, which were identified by researchers at New Zealand’s University of Auckland and Stanford University. The company says it has raised $43 million through two private financings, and its investors include Alta Partners, Clarus Ventures, Delphi Ventures, Endeavour Capital (New Zealand), GBS Venture Partners (Australia), Genentech, No 8 Ventures (New Zealand) and Roche.

—San Diego-based Afraxis, which is developing drugs to treat Fragile X syndrome and autism, secured $300,000 toward a $2 million round of debt, rights and securities, according to a recent regulatory filing. The startup is pursuing a

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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.