It was another busy week for San Diego’s life sciences sector. Here’s my roundup.
—The federal Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act that was enacted two years ago has made it easier for life sciences companies to “test the waters” with potential investors in stealth mode before launching their IPOs. A record-setting 23 life sciences companies went public during the first three months of 2014, including San Diego’s Celladon, before the markets pulled back. As Xconomy’s Alex Lash put it, “The JOBS Act has provided more space for conversation about companies with complicated stories, and biotech CEOs say those conversations have elicited valuable information.”
—A Burrill analysis of trends in the life sciences sector says IPO deals are continuing to get done, but the generalist investors who were seeking a quick return have moved on. Investors who specialize in the life sciences sector remain committed, but they have tightened their purse strings, forcing many life sciences companies to lower their expectations and offer their IPO shares at reduced prices.
—San Diego-based Otonomy raised $49 million in a new financing round that moves the six-year-old startup closer to commercializing its lineup of specialized drugs for treating diseases and disorders of the ear. The company’s lead drug candidate, OTO-201, is a formulation of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin in a gel. It is intended to
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.
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