There’s Less Pie in the Sky as Wireless Health Gets Connected

Attendance at the annual Wireless-Life Sciences Convergence Summit in San Diego has remained relatively steady in recent years (the first conference was held in 2006), but there has been a phase change in the industry over the past year. As with many emerging technologies, the wireless health industry has been growing slowly, slowly, slowly—and then … Continue reading “There’s Less Pie in the Sky as Wireless Health Gets Connected”

San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Nucelis, Evoke, PharmAkea & More

It was a week of diverse news from San Diego’s life sciences community, even with the Memorial Day holiday. From digital health to drug development, and a new center for stem cell imaging, here’s our wrap-up. —The Eighth Annual Wireless-Life Sciences Convergence Summit kicked off in downtown San Diego with a featured talk by Joseph … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Nucelis, Evoke, PharmAkea & More”

San Diego’s Evoke Pharma Files IPO to Advance Gastrointestinal Drug

San Diego’s Evoke Pharma, founded in 2007 to advance a nasal spray used to treat diabetic gastroparesis, plans to raise $23.9 million through an IPO as an “emerging growth company,” according to a recent securities filing. Under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act of 2012, companies that qualify as an emerging growth company can … Continue reading “San Diego’s Evoke Pharma Files IPO to Advance Gastrointestinal Drug”

Wireless Health Summit Looks to “Engaged Consumer” to Drive Change

In the beginning, the Wireless Health Convergence Summit was viewed as a way to bring innovation to reality, according to Rob McCray, a co-founder and CEO of the San Diego-based Wireless Life Sciences Alliance, which organizes the annual conference. “At that first meeting, we had some people who wondered why a technology company would want … Continue reading “Wireless Health Summit Looks to “Engaged Consumer” to Drive Change”

San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Effector, Ignyta, and More

A startup with a new approach to cancer drug development made its debut this week in San Diego. We’ve got the details, along with other local news in life sciences and industrial biotechnology. —Effector Therapeutics, a San Diego startup developing anti-cancer drugs based on technology licensed from UC San Francisco, raised $45 million in a … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Effector, Ignyta, and More”

Effector Therapeutics Raises $45M to Prove New Concept in Cancer

After Switzerland’s Roche paid $230 million in cash to buy San Diego’s Anadys Pharmaceuticals in 2011, Anadys CEO Steve Worland says he felt like an entrepreneur-in-residence, but without a venture capital firm to call home. So he began to roam the country in search of a new pharmaceutical adventure. Worland says he wanted to focus … Continue reading “Effector Therapeutics Raises $45M to Prove New Concept in Cancer”

ViaSat Plans to Boost Fast Growth with Second Internet Satellite

After 27 years as an unobtrusive specialist in satellite-based communications, Carlsbad, CA-based ViaSat (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VSAT]]) is acquiring a much bigger footprint. While ViaSat has experienced plenty of success over the years, the company’s business has been focused mostly on its low-profile military and intelligence-agency customers. But that began to change in 2011 with the successful … Continue reading “ViaSat Plans to Boost Fast Growth with Second Internet Satellite”

San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Optimer, Ambit, AnaptysBio, & More

[Clarification 5/17/13, 2:05 pm. See below.] Antibody drugs seemed to be the topic of the week for San Diego’s life sciences community. We have the latest updates from RuiYi, AnaptysBio, and Optimer Pharmaceuticals, along with other developments. —Ambit Biosciences’ (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMBI]]) stock price fell by 61 cents, or almost 8 percent, in its first day … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Optimer, Ambit, AnaptysBio, & More”

San Diego’s AnaptysBio Gets BioDefense Contract for Ricin Antibodies

AnaptysBio says today the U.S. government has asked the San Diego biotech to produce antibodies that counter the deadly effects of ricin and would not require refrigeration, so batches of anti-ricin antibodies could be stored at room temperatures. Under a contract funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), AnaptysBio says it is obligated to … Continue reading “San Diego’s AnaptysBio Gets BioDefense Contract for Ricin Antibodies”

Ambit Slices Price of IPO, Increases Number of Shares Offered

San Diego’s Ambit Biosciences cut the share price of its planned IPO by nearly half yesterday, but still managed to raise about $65 million by increasing the number of shares in its debut offering. Shares of the biopharmaceutical company began trading this morning on the Nasdaq under the symbol AMBI. The company, with a lead … Continue reading “Ambit Slices Price of IPO, Increases Number of Shares Offered”

San Diego’s RuiYi (aka Anaphore) Focuses Anew on Antibodies & China

It’s been almost two years since Paul Grayson was named as CEO of San Diego’s Anaphore—more than enough time for the former Fate Therapeutics CEO to put a new strategy in place. The company unveiled the first element of its new plan in October—shifting the focus to developing new biologic drugs in China, changing its … Continue reading “San Diego’s RuiYi (aka Anaphore) Focuses Anew on Antibodies & China”

Sorenson CEO Peter Csathy Goes Hollywood to Lead Manatt Venture Fund

Carlsbad, CA-based Sorenson Media CEO Peter Csathy tells me he’s left Sorenson to become CEO of Manatt Digital Media Ventures, a venture fund and digital media business created by the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips law firm in Los Angeles. The venture will operate as part of Manatt Digital Media, making the California law firm a … Continue reading “Sorenson CEO Peter Csathy Goes Hollywood to Lead Manatt Venture Fund”

Who Needs Equity Crowdfunding? Dealstruck Builds Crowdlending Market

After President Obama signed the JOBS Act more than a year ago, Ethan Senturia says he studied the provisions for crowdfunding startups under Title III, and came to the conclusion that it would be more trouble than it was worth. Today crowdfunding boosters are still waiting for regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission to … Continue reading “Who Needs Equity Crowdfunding? Dealstruck Builds Crowdlending Market”

San Diego Venture Group Summit 2013

The keynote speaker for the San Diego Venture Group’s 2013 Summit is Gwynne Shotwell, president and COO of SpaceX, the Hawthorne, CA-based private space transport company founded in 2002 by PayPal Founder Elon Musk. Other speakers include 3-D Robotics founder Chris Anders, Larry Stambaugh of the San Diego Zoo Bioinspiration Centre, Larry Smarr of the … Continue reading “San Diego Venture Group Summit 2013”

Plug and Play Admits 8 San Diego Companies to Startup Camp

Eight seed-stage tech companies were selected late yesterday to be the first class of startups from San Diego to be admitted to the 10-week business technology accelerator program established by Silicon Valley’s Plug and Play Tech Center. Every company admitted to the Plug and Play Startup Camp is eligible to get a $25,000 investment as … Continue reading “Plug and Play Admits 8 San Diego Companies to Startup Camp”

San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Receptos, Arena, NuVasive, & More

Amid the hectic pace of earnings releases, we saw a number of partnership agreements and other developments coming out of San Diego’s life sciences community.  Here’s my wrap-up. —Shares of San Diego-based Receptos (NASDAQ: [[ticker:RCPT]]), a biotech developing new treatments for immune disorders, began trading on the Nasdaq exchange this morning after the company said … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Receptos, Arena, NuVasive, & More”

Investors Step into Leadership at Corporate Ed-tech E-Learning Mind

Capas, a private investment firm established in Detroit last year, has acquired E-Learning Mind, a small San Diego ed-tech company that develops learning programs for corporate customers in such areas as sales training, product knowledge, and health and safety procedures. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in a statement released Monday. Laura Price, … Continue reading “Investors Step into Leadership at Corporate Ed-tech E-Learning Mind”

Lumena Raises $23 Million to Advance Drug for Rare Liver Diseases

San Diego-based Lumena Pharmaceuticals says today it has raised $23 million in a Series A round that is intended to carry the company through mid-stage trials of its lead drug candidate for treating a rare group of metabolic disorders that cause bile acid to build up in the liver. Advancing the drug, LUM001, as a … Continue reading “Lumena Raises $23 Million to Advance Drug for Rare Liver Diseases”

San Diego’s Receptos, Ambit Biosciences, Get Ready for IPO Debuts

[Corrected 5/6/13, 10:50 am. See below.] San Diego-based Receptos, a biotech developing new treatments for immune disorders, is among 13 IPOs expected to go public this week, according to Renaissance Capital, a financial firm in Greenwich, CT, that specializes in IPOs. Another San Diego biotech, Ambit Biosciences, also set a price range for its shares … Continue reading “San Diego’s Receptos, Ambit Biosciences, Get Ready for IPO Debuts”

San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Topera, Afraxis, Trovagene, & More

It was a week of deals, deals, and more deals for San Diego’s life sciences sector. Here’s my rundown. —San Diego’s Abide Therapeutics entered into a drug development collaboration with Merck, the New Jersey pharmaceutical giant, that could eventually be worth as much as $430 million for Abide. Founded just two years ago, Abide has … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Topera, Afraxis, Trovagene, & More”

Under Siege, San Diego’s Active Network Shuffles Leadership

Wow. The Active Network (NYSE: [[ticker:ACTV]]), the San Diego-based Web company that provides online registration and support for a host of recreational activities, is in the throes of a full-fledged corporate crisis. In a statement yesterday, the company named former COO Jon Belmonte as interim CEO. Belmonte, who left the company at the end of … Continue reading “Under Siege, San Diego’s Active Network Shuffles Leadership”

Abide Therapeutics and Merck Unveil Diabetes Drug Collaboration

Abide Therapeutics, a two-year-old San Diego biopharmaceutical firm pioneering new ways to identify and validate drug targets among the serine hydrolase “superfamily” of enzymes, says today it has agreed to work with Merck (NYSE: [[ticker:MRK]]) on a drug development program for metabolic diseases. The collaboration agreement, which could be worth as much as $430 million … Continue reading “Abide Therapeutics and Merck Unveil Diabetes Drug Collaboration”

Automotive Cleantech Fallbrook Technologies Relocates Near Austin

Fallbrook Technologies was founded in San Diego, and it spent 15 years working to commercialize its design for a new type of continuously variable transmission, with the potential to increase fuel efficiency, reduce emissions, and improve vehicle performance. The company bills its innovative “NuVinci” transmission as a greener and more fuel-efficient technology for cars, trucks, … Continue reading “Automotive Cleantech Fallbrook Technologies Relocates Near Austin”

Seed Funding Enables GridCOM to Advance Cyber Security Technology

For the past couple of years, a variety of high-level federal officials have sounded increasingly urgent alarms about the vulnerabilities of the U.S. power grid to cyber attack. In October, for example, former U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned that increasingly aggressive hacker groups had developed the technical expertise and software tools needed to shut … Continue reading “Seed Funding Enables GridCOM to Advance Cyber Security Technology”

Riding Strong Growth, SD’s ServiceNow Sets Off Wall Street Stampede

Shares of San Diego’s ServiceNow (NYSE: [[ticker:NOW]]), which provides cloud-based IT services to big customers, gained $5.77—or more than 15 percent—to close at $43.39 a share yesterday in trading that was nearly four times the company’s recent average volume. The stampede came after ServiceNow posted first-quarter financial results late Wednesday that surpassed Wall Street expectations—with … Continue reading “Riding Strong Growth, SD’s ServiceNow Sets Off Wall Street Stampede”

San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Avalon’s GSK Deal, Illumina, & More

Even with the big BIO International Convention in Chicago this week, San Diego still managed to make life science headlines, as Avalon Ventures unveiled a pharma partnership that could bring nearly a half-billion dollars in startup capital to San Diego. We have that and the rest of the local life sciences news over the past … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Avalon’s GSK Deal, Illumina, & More”

Avalon Ventures’ $495M Deal Grew from GSK Quest for Academic Inroads

The partnership between Avalon Ventures and GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: [[ticker:GSK]]), which is intended to invest as much as $495 million in 10 early stage life science companies in San Diego was a confluence of many factors, and the culmination of months of negotiation. A key element of the deal, though, is that the venture firm founded … Continue reading “Avalon Ventures’ $495M Deal Grew from GSK Quest for Academic Inroads”

Using Bioprinting Technology, San Diego’s Organovo Makes 3D Tissue

Organovo, a San Diego regenerative medicine company developing bio-printing technology, says it has used its proprietary NovaGen bioprinter to produce 3D samples of human liver cells that show some of the same characteristics as a functional liver in the body. The results, which Organovo is reporting today at the 2013 Experimental Biology conference in Boston, … Continue reading “Using Bioprinting Technology, San Diego’s Organovo Makes 3D Tissue”

GlaxoSmithKline and Avalon Ventures Agree to Startup Collaboration

Avalon Ventures founder Kevin Kinsella has been saying for some time that pharmaceutical companies should be striking deals with VC firms that know how to organize biotech startups—and it now appears a Big Pharma was listening. The Wall Street Journal reports this afternoon on its (subscription-based) website that GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: [[ticker:GSK]]) has agreed to provide … Continue reading “GlaxoSmithKline and Avalon Ventures Agree to Startup Collaboration”

San Diego Venture Funding Remains Flat in Q1 MoneyTree Data

Venture capital activity in the San Diego region has remained flat for two consecutive quarters, with funding levels and deals for the first three months of 2013 coming in almost exactly the same as the last three months of 2012, according to data from the MoneyTree Report released today. VCs invested $178.3 million in 26 … Continue reading “San Diego Venture Funding Remains Flat in Q1 MoneyTree Data”

Venture Funding Slows as VC Industry Contracts, & Top 10 Deals List

Overall venture capital activity slowed in the U.S. during the first three months of 2013, with venture capitalists investing $5.9 billion in 863 deals nationwide, according to the MoneyTree Report released today. Compared with the previous quarter, VC funding was off nearly 12 percent and the deal count was down almost 15 percent. Venture firms … Continue reading “Venture Funding Slows as VC Industry Contracts, & Top 10 Deals List”

San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Life’s M&A Deal, Santarus, & More

By far, the biggest life sciences news in the San Diego region over the past week was Thermo Fisher Scientific’s $13.6 billion acquisition of Life Technologies. I’ve compiled a special edition roundup of the deal, along with everything that happened in San Diego. —In one of the biggest corporate buyouts San Diego has seen, Thermo … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Life’s M&A Deal, Santarus, & More”

Acquired or Acq-hired, Xpenser Adds Expertise to Coupa’s Web Services

Some startups are born great, some achieve greatness—and some get acquired. Getting acquired can mean different things, however. In the case of Xpenser, a consumer Web startup based in Del Mar, CA (just north of San Diego), the buyout disclosed last week by San Francisco-based Coupa Software was more like getting hired. Founded in 2008 … Continue reading “Acquired or Acq-hired, Xpenser Adds Expertise to Coupa’s Web Services”

With LonoCloud Acquisition, ViaSat Gets Head Start on New Technology

There weren’t many details in the statement that ViaSat (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VSAT]]) issued last week, after the Carlsbad, CA-based specialist in satellite-based communications technologies acquired LonoCloud, a San Diego startup founded two years ago. ViaSat said it would integrate core components of LonoCloud’s Platform as a Service (PaaS) technology with its broadband network, which includes its … Continue reading “With LonoCloud Acquisition, ViaSat Gets Head Start on New Technology”

Thermo Fisher Scientific Acquires Life Technologies in $13.6B Deal

Waltham, MA-based Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: [[ticker:TMO]]) said today it will pay $13.6 billion to acquire Carlsbad, CA-based Life Technologies (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LIFE]]) following an auction that began in January and initially drew interest from a consortium of private equity firms. The deal combines two giants of the laboratory equipment and supply business just as the … Continue reading “Thermo Fisher Scientific Acquires Life Technologies in $13.6B Deal”

San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Receptos IPO, Isis, Versant, & More

Some of San Diego’s public life sciences companies have been buoyed as the stock market has soared to new heights in recent weeks (for the year, the Dow is up 13 percent and the S&P 500 index 12 percent), but Acadia Pharmaceuticals had an extraordinary ride yesterday. We have details, along with the rest of … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Receptos IPO, Isis, Versant, & More”

Rare FDA Ruling Triggers Stampede for Acadia Pharmaceuticals

How often does the FDA tell a drug developer to dispense with a requisite, second late-stage trial—and to proceed with filing a new drug application? Shares of San Diego’s Acadia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ACAD]]) appreciated by two-thirds today, leaping from yesterday’s close of $7.97 a share to more than $13.30 in late mid-day trading on the … Continue reading “Rare FDA Ruling Triggers Stampede for Acadia Pharmaceuticals”

Startup Communities Are Messy: Highlights & Slideshow with Brad Feld

(Xconomy contributor Juliet Preston helped pull this story together) It’s one thing to read a leading tech investor’s new book on building entrepreneurial ecosystems, and another thing altogether to host him in a sweet living room art gallery with a couple dozen of San Diego’s tech leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs. With help from the Cooley … Continue reading “Startup Communities Are Messy: Highlights & Slideshow with Brad Feld”

San Diego’s Innovation Establishment Faces Its Own Innovators’ Dilemma

Can San Diego re-invent itself as a capital of innovation? San Diego established itself as an innovation hub decades ago—understanding early on the importance of technology clusters in creating a critical mass of self-sustaining innovation. Today it is still renowned as a hotbed for hundreds of life sciences startups (We Are the Wildcatters) and as … Continue reading “San Diego’s Innovation Establishment Faces Its Own Innovators’ Dilemma”

Reverse Engineering the Mind with Brain Corp. CEO Eugene Izhikevich

The brain initiative that President Obama unfurled last week calls for spending over $100 million a year on neuroscience research over the next decade, including the development of innovative neurotechnologies to gain new insights into the way the brain works. As the Salk Institute neuroscientist Terrence Sejnowski put it, “This is the start of the … Continue reading “Reverse Engineering the Mind with Brain Corp. CEO Eugene Izhikevich”

Roche & Isis Join Forces on Antisense Drug for Huntington’s Disease

San Diego’s Isis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ISIS]]) and Roche, the Swiss Pharmaceuticals giant) have formed an alliance to develop new treatments for Huntington’s disease, according to a statement released today. Roche agreed to pay Isis $30 million upfront, with potential revenue from licensing and milestone payments totaling $362 million. In addition, Isis would get tiered royalties … Continue reading “Roche & Isis Join Forces on Antisense Drug for Huntington’s Disease”

San Diego’s Ambrx Working with Astellas to Develop Anti-Cancer Drugs

San Diego-based Ambrx says it’s getting an upfront payment of $15 million under a deal with Japan’s Astellas to help develop an undisclosed number of targets for antibody drug conjugates in cancer. The collaboration could bring an additional $285 million in potential near and long-term research, development, regulatory and sales-based milestones. A spokeswoman for Ambrx … Continue reading “San Diego’s Ambrx Working with Astellas to Develop Anti-Cancer Drugs”

San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Qualcomm, Amylin, Organovo & More

San Diego’s emerging agricultural biotech cluster has added three new companies, with DSM, ZeaKal, and Algenetix setting down roots here. I’ve got details about them below, along with the rest of the life sciences news over the past week. —A White House initiative to spend $1 billion over the next decade to map the brain … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Qualcomm, Amylin, Organovo & More”

Tealium Raises $15.6M from Tenaya, Battery, and Presidio Ventures

San Diego-based Tealium, which provides Web-based website tag management services, says today it has raised $15.6 million in a Series C round of venture funding. Tenaya Capital, with offices in Woodside, CA, and Wellesley, MA, led the round, which was joined by existing investor Battery Ventures and Presidio Ventures, the venture capital arm of Japan’s … Continue reading “Tealium Raises $15.6M from Tenaya, Battery, and Presidio Ventures”

With Brain Corp., Qualcomm Started Computing Like a Neuron Years Ago

When President Obama stepped before the media yesterday to unveil a $100 million initiative to revolutionize our understanding of the human mind, Qualcomm CTO Matt Grob was among the experts who gathered to watch in the East Room of the White House. The president said he had invited some of the smartest people in the … Continue reading “With Brain Corp., Qualcomm Started Computing Like a Neuron Years Ago”

Optimer Shares Soar Amid Reports of Buyout Interest

Reports that several big pharmas have shown interest in buying Optimer Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OPTR]]) sent shares of the drugmaker soaring about 20 percent today in Nasdaq trading that was more than four times the company’s recent average daily volume. By late afternoon, Optimer was trading near $14 a share, after gaining $2.31 a share in … Continue reading “Optimer Shares Soar Amid Reports of Buyout Interest”

Qualcomm Ventures’ QPrize Competition Draws Broader VC Following

When Qualcomm Ventures unveiled the QPrize competition in 2009, Nagraj Kashyap told me a key factor in the decision to create an incentive prize was the evaporation of venture capital amid the liquidity crisis that followed the financial meltdown of 2008. Kashyap, who heads Qualcomm Ventures, says the need for startup funding is less acute … Continue reading “Qualcomm Ventures’ QPrize Competition Draws Broader VC Following”

Divergent Ventures Leads $2M Round for San Diego’s Proximal Data

Proximal Data, a San Diego data storage specialist founded in 2011, says it has raised $2 million in a Series B round led by Seattle’s Divergent Ventures and existing investor Avalon Ventures of San Diego. The round brings total funding for the company to $5 million, according to a statement today. Proximal is developing software … Continue reading “Divergent Ventures Leads $2M Round for San Diego’s Proximal Data”

San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Halozyme, Acadia, Trovagene, & More

A number of San Diego’s public life sciences companies were on the move over the past week. Here’s our briefing of the latest developments. —Shares of San Diego’s Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:HALO]]) spiked more than 30 percent last Friday, after partner Baxter (NYSE: [[ticker:BAX]]) said European regulators recommended approving HyQ, their jointly developed drug for … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Halozyme, Acadia, Trovagene, & More”

MindTouch Expands from Web Content Management to Product Support

When I first profiled MindTouch in 2009, the San Diego startup was focused on its Web-based collaboration software, created to enable a business or engineering team to easily share documents, information, images, and other information. MindTouch faced major competition against Microsoft Sharepoint, Oracle, and SAP, but CEO Aaron Fulkerson saw a potential advantage in developing … Continue reading “MindTouch Expands from Web Content Management to Product Support”