San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Health IT, Illumina, & More

Image licensed by Depositphotos.com/Christian Delbert.

studies showing that proton therapy is significantly more expensive than standard radiation treatment for cancer patients.

—The student-run Rady Venture Fund at UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management joined the Tech Coast Angels and other angel investment groups in a $16 million Series B investment in Savara Pharmaceuticals of Austin, TX. Savara has been developing an inhaled antibiotic to treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF).

—The American Academy of Neurology released a mobile app during its annual meeting in San Diego this week that is intended to help users quickly assess whether someone has suffered a sports concussion. The “Concussion QuickCheck” app is available for the iOS and Android mobile platforms, and was developed in partnership with the Academy’s updated guidelines for diagnosing and evaluating sports concussions.

—Sapphire Energy, the San Diego-based industrial biotech startup, began year-round production of algae-based crude oil at its “Green Crude Farm” near Columbus, NM. Sapphire also signed its first commercial production agreement with Tesoro, the independent oil company based in San Antonio, TX.

—San Diego’s MediciNova (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MNOV]]) said data from an early stage study of ibudilast in treating opioid withdrawal has reinforced its fast track designation. The company says the early data reported in a poster session at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting in San Diego showed a significant reduction in opioid withdrawal symptoms, no safety or tolerability issues, and no discontinuations due to treatment.

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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.