SD Life Sciences News: Auspex, BrainCells, and J&J’s Startup Center

Here’s our weekly roundup of San Diego’s life sciences news.

—Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), briefed reporters in San Diego on his efforts to make the regulatory review of new medical devices more predictable, transparent, and efficient. Shuren is undertaking reforms at a time when eight out of 10 biomedical CEOs say they “agree or strongly agree” that the FDA regulatory approval process has slowed the growth of their organizations.

—More than 500 people turned out Monday evening for the open house that Johnson & Johnson’s (NYSE: [[ticker:JNJ]]) new Janssen Labs startup center. The first four startups to be inducted are Diomics (diagnostics, integrated DNA analysis); Neurolixis (drugs for schizophrenia, Parkinson’s and other CNS disorders); Tem Systems (comprehensive blood test for anti-coagulants); and Yolia Health (optometry device company).

—San Diego-based Auspex Pharmaceuticals, which is developing deuterium-based drugs, has raised $3 million of a $6 million round of debt and convertible promissory notes, according to a regulatory filing. Previous investors include CMEA Ventures, Costa Verde Capital, and Thomas McNerney & Partners. Auspex uses deuterium to replace metabolically sensitive hydrogen atoms in compounds to create new versions of existing drugs.

—BrainCells, a San Diego developer of neurological drugs, raised $2 million toward an $8 million round of debt, rights and securities, according to a regulatory filing. BrainCells previously raised $77 million from Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Bay City Capital, MedImmune Ventures, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Mizuho Capital, NeuroVentures, New Enterprise Associates, Oxford Bioscience Partners, Pappas Ventures and Technology Partners, according to VentureWire. The company says it is developing novel therapies for treating central nervous system (CNS) diseases, based on the principal of blocking select metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR).

—To have the skills needed in 2022, San Diego Xconomists Robert Noble and Larry Bock recommend that students should “learn how to learn.” Drew Senyei says students should study anything they are passionate about; Duane Roth would like to see a new major that encompasses engineering, biology, chemistry, physics, law, business, humanities and communications; and Ramesh Rao would emphasize studying new techniques for sensing data, as well as data analysis. They all offered their views for an Xconomy special report on education, and what students should be studying today to be prepared for 10 years from now. Their comments are available online here.

—In a talk with Sanofi CEO Chris Viehbacher, Luke explained the company’s strategy since it acquired Cambridge, MA-based Genzyme, and cut back on its internal research and development.

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.