Inception 1 Raises $5M, VCs Pessimistic About U.S. Biotech Funding, EU Approves Amylin’s Once-a-Week Diabetes Drug, & More San Diego Life Sciences News

It was not a week for a lot of life sciences news, but what we’ve got is pretty interesting. Judge for yourselves; our roundup begins now.

—A global survey of venture capitalists released this week reveals substantial pessimism among VCs about venture investment levels in U.S. life sciences startups over the next five years. The annual survey by The National Venture Capital Association and Deloitte shows that 81 percent of the VCs polled expect biopharmaceutical investments in the U.S. to stay the same (51 percent) or decrease (30 percent) through 2016. In the medical device and equipment sector, 76 percent anticipate funding will stay the same (52 percent) or drop (24 percent). Their attitude toward China is just the opposite; with 100 percent of the VCs polled saying biopharmaceutical investments in China will rise (83 percent) or stay the same (17 percent). Nobody thought biopharma funding will decline in China. On medical devices and equipment, 93 percent anticipate investment levels will increase (77 percent) or stay the same (16 percent.)

—European Union drug regulators approved the once-weekly injectable version of exenatide (Bydureon) for treating type-2 diabetes, providing a shot in the arm to San Diego’s Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMLN]]) and its partners-Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly (NYSE: [[ticker:LLY]]) and Waltham, MA-based Alkermes (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALKS]]). The FDA declined to approve Bydureon for the U.S. market eight months ago, asking the companies to run a thorough study that evaluated effects of bigger doses on patients’ heart rates.

—Peppi Prasit, who left Amira Pharmaceuticals in November, appears to have started another San Diego biotech, Inception 1, which has raised $5 million in venture funding, according to a recent regulatory filing. Prasit, who was Amira’s co-founder and chief scientific officer, is identified in the filing as an executive and director. There isn’t much additional information disclosed. Versant Ventures partner Bradley Bolzon is listed as a director and San Diego’s Thomas Coll is listed as an executive.

—San Diego’s industrial biotech, Genomatica, received the EPA’s annual Green Chemistry Challenge Award. Genomatica has genetically engineered a type of bacteria to consume sugar in fermentation tanks and produce 1,4-Butanediol (BDO), an intermediate “building block” chemical needed to make spandex and various plastics.

—Carlsbad, CA-based GenMark Diagnostics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GNMK]]) said it arranged a secondary offering of its stock to the public at a price of $4.25 a share that was intended to raise at lease $30 million. The company makes automated DNA and RNA diagnostics testing systems.

—San Diego’s Anaphore named former Fate Therapeutics CEO and Sanderling Ventures managing director Paul Grayson as its new CEO. He replaces founding CEO Kathy Bowdish, who will stay on as an Anaphore consultant.

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.