[Clarification 5/17/13, 2:05 pm. See below.] Antibody drugs seemed to be the topic of the week for San Diego’s life sciences community. We have the latest updates from RuiYi, AnaptysBio, and Optimer Pharmaceuticals, along with other developments.
—Ambit Biosciences’ (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMBI]]) stock price fell by 61 cents, or almost 8 percent, in its first day of Nasdaq trading—after the San Diego biotech cut the price of its IPO to $8 a share from an estimated range of $13 to $15 a share. Ambit still managed to raise about $65 million in its debut by increasing the number of shares offered from 4.6 million to 8.1 million. Ambit’s venture investors include OrbiMed Advisors, Aisling Capital, Apposite Healthcare, Forward Ventures, GIMV, GrowthWorks, MedImmune Ventures, and Roche Ventures.
—Senté, a San Diego skin care “cosmeceutical,” said it raised $2.1 million in a Series B round of financing that included new and existing biotechnology investors. Proceeds from the financing will help Senté expand its development capabilities and commercial operations, and extend its product line of medical grade skincare products. In a statement, Senté co-founder and board member Kleanthis Xanthopoulos said, “Our new investors share our vision of creating unique science based dermatological products that will have profound impacts on the skin.”
—San Diego-based RuiYi, a biotech founded in 2007 as Anaphore, laid out what a spokeswoman described as a “ménage a quatre” (household of four) collaboration to advance its