West Coast Biotech Roundup: Alder IPO, Exelixis, Corcept, and More

It was a big week for synthetic biology in San Diego, a bit rocky for Bothell, WA-based Alder’s IPO, and South San Francisco’s Exelixis had some encouraging results from an early-stage trial of melanoma patients. Here’s our wrap-up.

—A new San Diego startup called Synthorx is working to capitalize on a breakthrough in synthetic biology developed by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute. The team, led by chemist Floyd Romesberg, successfully inserted synthesized nucleotides into bacteria, which replicated with the altered DNA. Someday, scientists might be able to use altered DNA them to make new proteins that would function in a completely different way from those created naturally.

—Meanwhile, San Diego-based Synthetic Genomics signed a multi-year R&D agreement with a United Therapeutics subsidiary, Lung Biotechnology, to use its synthetic genomics technology to develop pigs with organs that have been humanized for future xenotransplantation. Synthetic Genomics CEO J. Craig Venter, the human genome pioneer, said the idea will require modifying an unprecedented number of pig genes.

—In another sign that the biotech IPO market is flagging, Bothell, WA-based Alder Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALDR]]) priced its IPO at $10 a share, well below its projected range of $13 to $15 per share. Alder has been developing clazakizumab, a rheumatoid arthritis drug, with Bristol-Myers Squibb, and recently presented positive results for an antibody drug for migraines. Boston’s Cerulean Pharma (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CERU]]) and Burlington, MA-based Aldeyra Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALDX]]) also sold IPO shares below their target ranges.

—South San Francisco-based Exelixis (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EXEL]]) posted some encouraging data in an early stage clinical trial that

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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.