SD Life Sciences Roundup: Gen-Probe, Zogenix, & the Innovation Economy

maybe just a tiny glimmer of cautious optimism. Arch Venture Partners’ Bob Nelson told Luke, “I’d say there are some rumblings of positivity.”

—In an expansion beyond its initial target market of military health programs, San Diego’s Cognitive Medical Systems said it plans to implement a wireless clinical support system for the Perinatal Quality Collaborative of North Carolina. Cognitive Medical Systems said it will integrate its health IT system and analytics platform with handheld devices that doctors and other health care providers can use to improve the care of mothers and infants at participating hospitals.

—Connect, the San Diego nonprofit for technology and entrepreneurship, released its Innovation Report for the fourth quarter and 2011. Drawing from the report, here’s a snapshot of the local life sciences sector, by the numbers:

—$67.5 million. The total amount of federal grants awarded to San Diego biomedical researchers by the National Institutes of Health in the fourth quarter—a 75 percent drop from the $275 million awarded by the NIH in San Diego during the previous quarter. Connect said the plunge was due to NIH restrictions under a continuous resolution signed by President Obama in November, so the agency is essentially operating without an approved budget.

—67. The number of new life sciences companies created in San Diego in 2011 (with 21 established during the fourth quarter), a 6 percent decline from the 71 life sciences companies started in 2010.

—5,978. The total number of innovation companies in San Diego. The report counts about 600 life sciences companies in San Diego, which accounts for about 10 percent of the total.

—30,100. Total life sciences jobs in San Diego. Of the 138,000 technology employees of all stripes, life sciences represents the biggest sector.

—$95,351. Average annual wage in San Diego’s life sciences sector. The average annual wage for all types of technology employment here is $97,715.

—$269 million. Total venture capital investments in 23 deals in the San Diego area during the fourth quarter. Venture funding for San Diego pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies amounted to $193 million in 17 deals, or almost 72 percent of total invested capital.

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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.