UCSD Spinoff NexDx Aims to Diagnose Rheumatoid Arthritis

Research from the UC San Diego School of Medicine that shows distinct characteristics in the inflammation-producing cells that line the joints of rheumatoid arthritis patients is serving as the foundation for a new molecular diagnostics startup in San Diego.

The startup, NexDx, was founded last year to develop reliable and cost-effective technology to accurately diagnose rheumatoid arthritis (RA) at an early stage, when it might be possible to prevent the autoimmune disease from progressing to painful and debilitating symptoms. The startup raised $250,000 from investors in the fall, according to a regulatory filing.

In a statement today, NexDx says it has finalized an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with UCSD to commercialize discoveries made in the lab of Gary Firestein, a professor of medicine and former chief of the UCSD Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology. Firestein, who is now a UCSD dean and associate vice chancellor of translational medicine, co-founded NexDx with Jonathan Lim of San Diego’s City Hill Ventures.

The first priority for NexDx is to develop and commercialize a diagnostic test for RA, says Lim, who is serving as NexDx’s chairman and CEO. Lim founded City Hill Ventures in 2010, shortly after he ended a successful, seven-year run as CEO of San Diego-based Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:HALO]]). As I reported in October, Lim also has invested and is serving as the founding CEO of Eclipse Therapeutics, a San Diego biotech developing drugs against cancer stem cells.

Today most RA diagnoses are made after the disease is well-established. Symptoms progress to stiff, swollen joints, particularly of the hands and feet, which can be painful and debilitating. Rheumatoid arthritis also can damage the heart and lungs and lead to accelerated atherosclerosis.

Current tests lack the

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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.