San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Zogenix, Isis, Cellana, and More

Much of the life sciences news this week was coming out of the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago. Yet San Diego somehow managed to generate a lot of other news as well.

—Finland’s Biotie Therapies said it has an exclusive option to acquire San Diego’s Neurelis, a biotech that specializes in developing drugs for treating epilepsy and other disorders of the central nervous system. The two companies agreed to collaborate in the development of Neurelis’s lead drug candidate, a proprietary formulation of diazepam to be delivered by a nasal sprayer for treating seizures. As part of the deal, Biotie said it would pay $1 million for an exclusive option to acquire all outstanding Neurelis shares. Biotie would pay an additional $8.75 million if it decides to exercise the option.

—San Diego-based Zogenix (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ZGNX]]) cut its headcount by more than a third to extend its cash while it waits for the FDA to act on the company’s new drug application for its extended release formulation of hydrocodone bitartrate (Zohydro). Zogenix said the cutbacks would eliminate 55 full-time-equivalent employees (out of a workforce of 148 people).

—San Diego’s BioNano Genomics said it is presenting results of its new Irys System technology in Paris this weekend at the European Human Genetics Conference. The company says its genetic sequencing technology uses much longer strands of DNA than conventional DNA sequencing equipment, enabling scientists to prepare “de novo” maps of human genomes. BioNano Genomics says technologies that can sequence only short DNA strands aren’t good at determining precise variations in genomes, such as multiple repeats or translocations. The company says its de novo maps are proving to be crucial to fully characterize genomes.

—Finland’s Neste Oil, the world’s largest producer of renewable diesel, said it has signed a contingent commercial off-take agreement with Cellana, an algae biofuels developer based in San Diego and Kona, HI. The new partners said their deal would enable Neste Oil to purchase green crude made from algae by Cellana in the future. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

—Carlsbad-based Isis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ISIS]]) said it received a $10 million milestone payment from London-based AstraZeneca after the pharmaceutical giant decided to expand their cancer drug collaboration. Isis also said underwriters of

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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.