Many companies overlook a viable, local sales channel while planning their commercialization strategies. Biocom has organized a panel that includes individuals responsible for evaluating medical devices, as well as a company that is successfully selling to the military. More information and online registration is here.
Category: San Diego
Rondaxe Drug Development Symposium
The San Diego Biotechnology Network is coordinating a symposium that highlights drug development outside the San Diego region. Rondaxe, Helsinn Advanced Synthesis, and TD2 are making presentations on clinical development, API manufacturing, and CMC services/consulting and clinical development. More information and online registration is available here.
What We Learned in San Diego About Innovation: Five Lessons for Detroit
The defense and aerospace industries dominated San Diego’s economy for decades after World War II. General Dynamics was the region’s largest private employer, accounting for about 15 percent of the county’s workforce (with about 46,000 employees) in the early 1960s; its workers built commercial aircraft, Atlas rockets, and cruise missiles. When General Dynamics began pulling … Continue reading “What We Learned in San Diego About Innovation: Five Lessons for Detroit”
Cytori Heartened by Cell Therapy in Two Small Studies of Cardiac Patients
San Diego-based Cytori Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CYTX]]) is announcing encouraging results this morning from two small, placebo-controlled studies of its fat-derived regenerative cell therapy in cardiac patients. The double-blind studies, which were conducted in Europe, should pave the way for a larger test in heart attack patients, the company says. The first study involved 27 chronic … Continue reading “Cytori Heartened by Cell Therapy in Two Small Studies of Cardiac Patients”
Microsoft’s Kin Phones Resurrect the Lifelogging Debate
This week gadget reviewers got their first hands-on look at Microsoft’s much-discussed Kin One and Kin Two phones, which are designed from the ground up to support young hipsters’ social media and content sharing habits. So far, the pundits are raving about the phones’ novel operating system and the cloud-based “Studio” feature, a flashy private … Continue reading “Microsoft’s Kin Phones Resurrect the Lifelogging Debate”
Sequenom Restarting Development of Diagnostic Test for Down Syndrome
San Diego’s Sequenom, which scrubbed the launch of its diagnostics test for Down syndrome back in April 2009 over “mishandled data,” says today it’s resuming development with a new testing schedule. Sequenom says it could launch a laboratory test “before the end of 2011” if everything goes as planned. In announcing its financial results for … Continue reading “Sequenom Restarting Development of Diagnostic Test for Down Syndrome”
Wind Energy, Battered by Boom and Bust Cycles, Back in Doldrums
[Corrected 5/6/10, 1:45 pm. See below.]When Jim McDermott, the managing partner at U.S. Renewables Group, came through San Diego a few months ago, he told a Cleantech San Diego audience the 2008 collapse in the capital markets had wiped out a third of the U.S. wind energy projects then under development. “For about six months, … Continue reading “Wind Energy, Battered by Boom and Bust Cycles, Back in Doldrums”
Novocell Renamed ViaCyte; Gets 3 Patents
San Diego-based Novocell, Inc., a preclinical stem cell engineering company focused on diabetes, has changed its name to ViaCyte, according to an announcement. In a separate statement, the company says it also recently obtained three additional U.S. patents. The new patents cover methods for increasing definitive endoderm production, methods of producing pancreatic hormones, and a … Continue reading “Novocell Renamed ViaCyte; Gets 3 Patents”
Optimer Hires New CEO
San Diego-based Optimer Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OPTR]]) has named Pedro Lichtinger as its new chief executive officer. Lichtinger will replace Michael Chang, who will continue at Optimer as chairman of the board and as a consultant, the company said in a statement. Lichtinger is a former executive from Pfizer, and was most recently the president of … Continue reading “Optimer Hires New CEO”
Avalon Raising New Fund, Althea Technologies Gets Altus Assets, Trancon Pharmaceuticals Nabs Financing, & More San Diego Life Sciences News
We saw a spate of deal-making in the past week. Those developments and more are summarized for you here. —Avalon Ventures, one of the few San Diego venture capital firms that continues to invest in early-stage life sciences companies, embarked on fund-raising for its ninth venture fund with the intention of raising $150 million from … Continue reading “Avalon Raising New Fund, Althea Technologies Gets Altus Assets, Trancon Pharmaceuticals Nabs Financing, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”
Sequenom Settlement Approved
Sequenom (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SQNM]]) says a federal judge in San Diego has approved its $14 million settlement with shareholders in an agreement that consolidated multiple securities class action lawsuits against the San Diego maker of diagnostics kits and products. The cases were filed after Sequenom withdrew plans last April to introduce a diagnostic test for Down … Continue reading “Sequenom Settlement Approved”
Cadence Re-Files FDA Application
Cadence Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CADX]]), the San Diego-based developer of a pain reliever for use in hospitals, said today it has re-submitted its new drug application for the IV form of acetaminophen (Ofirmev) to the FDA. The company’s earlier application was delayed on February 10, when the FDA said it found deficiencies on an inspection of … Continue reading “Cadence Re-Files FDA Application”
Mobile Health Edges Closer to Transformation as Industry Convenes Fifth Summit
As mobile healthcare entrepreneurs, technologists, and investors gather in San Diego next week for a three-day conference on wireless health, a report assessing the state of the industry concludes that “mHealth” is still emerging, and not yet ready for mainstream adoption. A survey of mobile health companies found that 94 percent of the wireless health … Continue reading “Mobile Health Edges Closer to Transformation as Industry Convenes Fifth Summit”
Venter Institute Raises $53M Through Sale-Leaseback Deal
The $53 million generated by the sale of the J. Craig Venter Institute’s five-building campus in Rockville, MD, could help finance construction of a multi-disciplinary research facility proposed for a scenic coastal bluff on the U.C. San Diego campus. The nonprofit genomic research institute announced the sale of its Maryland property yesterday to BioMed Realty … Continue reading “Venter Institute Raises $53M Through Sale-Leaseback Deal”
Big Ideas for Health IT from Hood, Smarr, Lazowska: Highlights of the OVP Tech Summit
The fabled convergence of information technology and biology has been going on for a long time, but merging these fields ain’t easy. Chad Waite, a managing director with OVP Venture Partners in Kirkland, WA, knows this all too well, even though he has a megahit on his resume with Rosetta Inpharmatics, a computational biology company … Continue reading “Big Ideas for Health IT from Hood, Smarr, Lazowska: Highlights of the OVP Tech Summit”
How to Power “Eternal” UAVs in Flight: A LaserMotive Blueprint
You want some real tech? Here’s some real tech: LaserMotive, the Kent, WA-based startup founded by physicists Jordin Kare and Tom Nugent, has published a white paper on how to beam power to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) so they don’t have to land and refuel, or change batteries. The idea is to recharge UAVs while … Continue reading “How to Power “Eternal” UAVs in Flight: A LaserMotive Blueprint”
Fool Gets Its Xconomy On—Motley Fool to Carry Xconomy Stories
I am extremely pleased to announce that Xconomy and The Motley Fool have reached an agreement that will put one Xconomy feature story a day on Fool.com, the flagship website of the Alexandria, VA-based organization. The first story, by our Seattle editor Greg Huang about how startups might learn from Clay Christensen’s “disruptive innovation” model … Continue reading “Fool Gets Its Xconomy On—Motley Fool to Carry Xconomy Stories”
WiTricity and Qualcomm Add Their Perspectives to Smart Energy Forum, Coming June 8
As the editor of San Diego Xconomy, I’m as thrilled as the next journalist to say I have electrifying news—and this time it’s almost literally true. In planning the Xconomy forum on smart energy, now just five weeks away, we’ve asked some of San Diego’s leading luminaries in energy innovation to discuss what they’re doing … Continue reading “WiTricity and Qualcomm Add Their Perspectives to Smart Energy Forum, Coming June 8”
Behind the Scenes at Google Ventures: The Full Q&A with Bill Maris
Last week Google Ventures unveiled a new website that includes the first public information about its portfolio and its staff. Yesterday, as part of the fund’s first real media outreach campaign, managing partner Bill Maris and partner David Krane spent about 45 minutes speaking with reporters in Boston via teleconference. I summed up the conversation … Continue reading “Behind the Scenes at Google Ventures: The Full Q&A with Bill Maris”
Envision Solar Begins OTC Trading
It took awhile, but the San Diego solar energy planning, architectural, and cleantech firm Envision Solar International officially began trading on the over-the-counter bulletin board market, according to a statement yesterday. The founding CEO, Robert Noble, talked about the move at a reception in February. The company’s shares trade under the symbol EVSI.
Tessera Technologies Acquires Siimpel Corp. for $15,000,000
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=95309fa3-5264-493d-8ef1-eef331219655&Preview=1 Date 5/4/2010 Company Name Siimpel Corp. Mailing Address 400 E. Live Oak Avenue Arcadia, CA 91006 Company Description Siimpel is actively collaborating with the world’s leading consumer electronics, mobile communications and digital imaging leaders to deliver high quality digital camera products that fit the size constraints of mobile platforms. Website http://www.siimpel.com … Continue reading “Tessera Technologies Acquires Siimpel Corp. for $15,000,000”
Google Ventures Pulls Back the Veil: Deals in San Diego, Boston, Dallas, and Silicon Valley
Just over two years ago, Google decided to get into the venture capital game, setting up a fund to invest in promising startups in much the same way that Silicon Valley VC firms Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers invested in Google itself back in 1999. Google Ventures has stayed mostly under the … Continue reading “Google Ventures Pulls Back the Veil: Deals in San Diego, Boston, Dallas, and Silicon Valley”
Althea Acquires Altus’ Technologies
San Diego CRO Althea Technologies says it is acquiring the assets and IP portfolio of Altus Pharmaceuticals, a Waltham, MA, biotech that filed for bankruptcy liquidation seven months ago. Financial terms were not disclosed. Altus had been developing an injectable human growth hormone to treat diseases. Althea said applications of Altus’ technology range from therapeutics … Continue reading “Althea Acquires Altus’ Technologies”
Avalon Ventures Begins Fund-Raising for Ninth Fund, Sets $150M Goal
San Diego’s Avalon Ventures has embarked on fund-raising for its ninth venture fund, and intends to raise $150 million from its investment partners, according to a report this morning on VentureWire. Kevin Kinsella, who founded Avalon in 1983, confirms the report, but otherwise declined to comment. In a profile of the firm just last month, … Continue reading “Avalon Ventures Begins Fund-Raising for Ninth Fund, Sets $150M Goal”
Proteostasis, with San Diego Roots and Boston Home, Seeks Edge in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
Peter Reinhart, the new chief scientist of Cambridge, MA-based Proteostasis Therapeutics, spent the last six years leading one of the top neuroscience groups in the pharmaceutical industry, at Wyeth. The group has gotten its share of press for its efforts, with mixed results, to take aim at neurodegenerative scourges like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. But Wyeth’s … Continue reading “Proteostasis, with San Diego Roots and Boston Home, Seeks Edge in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s”
Cleantech Emerging as Third Big Sector for VC Investing, Ultraviolet Sciences Seeks a Foothold in the Water Biz, Four Startups Get ‘Under-the-Radar’ Funding, & More San Diego BizTech News
It was a week for news about high-tech job trends, venture deals, and a rising tide of cleantech venture funding. Get our summary here: —Cleantech startups are now getting close to capturing as much venture capital as the two biggest industry categories—life sciences and information technology. By one official estimate, VCs invested $1.9 billion in … Continue reading “Cleantech Emerging as Third Big Sector for VC Investing, Ultraviolet Sciences Seeks a Foothold in the Water Biz, Four Startups Get ‘Under-the-Radar’ Funding, & More San Diego BizTech News”
Licensing Fundamentals for the Business Executive
Connect has organized this frameworks workshop in partnership with the Jones Day law firm. The half-day program covers the fundamental concepts of licensing, including the most-frequently negotiated provisions in a licensing agreement, how to prepare for negotiations, and potential pitfalls. Online registration is here.
InTouch Health Garners $10,000,000 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f707fb5b-8863-4604-8987-bdf339cb045b&Preview=1 Date 5/3/2010 Company Name InTouch Health Mailing Address 90 Castilian Drive Santa Barbara, CA 93117 Company Description InTouch Health is a leading provider of Remote Presence solutions that empower physicians to easily and more frequently visit with hospital-based patients. Website http://www.intouchhealth.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $10,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed … Continue reading “InTouch Health Garners $10,000,000 New Funding Round”
The Web of Me: Opportunities and Implications of Participatory Culture
Social media is cool, but what does a connected and participating world really mean for the companies building tomorrow’s Internet technology, and the users of it? What are the business and technology building blocks, not just buzzwords, and are we making progress? San Diego’s Software Industry Council’s Web in Evolution group has organized a series … Continue reading “The Web of Me: Opportunities and Implications of Participatory Culture”
New Paradigms for Drug Development
Connect has organized this presentation by Gary S. Firestein of UC San Diego’s School of Medicine, a specialist in allergy and immunology, and director of the Clinical and Translational Research Institute (CTRI). Translational research has the ability to transform scientific discoveries, taking them out of the laboratory and into practical clinical applications at the patient’s … Continue reading “New Paradigms for Drug Development”
Connect With Connect: The Ultimate Networking Event
The theme of this year’s Connect with Connect event is “convergence,” complete with displays from companies representing most of San Diego’s technology clusters—including cleantech, life sciences, high tech, wireless health, defense, and sports innovation. Bring a handful of business cards and take advantage of this unparalleled opportunity to renew connections and meet business leaders from … Continue reading “Connect With Connect: The Ultimate Networking Event”
How to Get Government Grants: The Insider’s View
The San Diego Entrepreneurs Exchange has organized a meeting to discuss how local entrepreneurs have obtained federal funding, especially Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants. John Finn, the chief scientific officer at Trius Therapeutics, will make a presentation, which will be followed by a roundtable discussion with the CEO of Orphagen Pharmaceuticals, the founding CEO … Continue reading “How to Get Government Grants: The Insider’s View”
Optimizing Workforce Management: When Will Healthcare Embrace Software as a Service?
Concerro, founded in 2002 as BidShift, has developed a Web-based service that enables hospitals to optimize staff scheduling. Concerro has established relationships with about 10 percent of all U.S. hospitals. The San Diego chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum has organized a presentation and panel to discuss how Concerro can win-over hospital IT departments that … Continue reading “Optimizing Workforce Management: When Will Healthcare Embrace Software as a Service?”
Cleantech Becoming ‘Third Leg’ of VC Investing Stool—But Just How Big is That Leg?
When Ira Ehrenpreis came through San Diego a couple of weeks ago, the cleantech investment partner at Palo Alto, CA-based Technology Partners said there was no such thing as a cleantech investment category when his firm began investing 25 years ago. At that time, Technology Partner’s investments in environmentally friendly technologies amounted to less than … Continue reading “Cleantech Becoming ‘Third Leg’ of VC Investing Stool—But Just How Big is That Leg?”
The iPad May Kill the Kindle, But Amazon Could Still Come Out Ahead: The Only Comparison You Need to Read
If you’re interested in the electronic book craze, but you don’t yet own an e-book reading device, your options just got a lot more complicated. Not only are there a handful of great devices that use electrophoretic screens from Cambridge, MA-based E Ink, such as the Amazon Kindle, the Barnes & Noble Nook, and the … Continue reading “The iPad May Kill the Kindle, But Amazon Could Still Come Out Ahead: The Only Comparison You Need to Read”
San Diego’s Under-the-Radar Funding: Four Startup Deals in March Worth Less Than $1 Million
Back in November, Bruce gave San Diego readers a preview of our list of “under-the-radar” deals—startup transactions worth less than $1 million, based on data provided to us by private company intelligence platform CB Insights. We’ve been tracking them in our other cities for months, but we didn’t see much activity in San Diego again … Continue reading “San Diego’s Under-the-Radar Funding: Four Startup Deals in March Worth Less Than $1 Million”
EdenIQ Lands $12,400,000 Series B Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=279e83b1-9315-40d9-a806-3049b869465f&Preview=1 Date 4/30/2010 Company Name EdenIQ Mailing Address 1520 N. Kelsey St. Visalia, CA 93291 Company Description EdeniQ’s scientists are pursuing solutions that cost-effectively convert abundant, non-food biomass into fuels. Making fuels from agricultural waste such as corn stover, sugarcane bagasse, rice straw and woodchips takes the controversy out of biofuels and … Continue reading “EdenIQ Lands $12,400,000 Series B Funding”
Beyond the Electronic Health Record
With the passage of health care reform legislation last month, attention has now turned from arguing its merits to understanding its practical implications. In the world of health information technology, or health IT, the electronic health record (EHR) is one focus of this attention, but applications that build on their widespread adoption are where the … Continue reading “Beyond the Electronic Health Record”
Celladon Enjoys Early Success With Gene Therapy Trial, FDA Gives Digirad Green Light for a Nuclear Camera, Aragon Pharmaceuticals Gets $22M & More San Diego Biotech News
We saw a healthy mix of life sciences news over the past week, with a generous serving of device news, some venture funding, a dash of clinical trial results, and voila! Enjoy! —San Diego’s Celladon said an experimental gene therapy treatment met its primary goal of showing the treatment was more effective than a placebo … Continue reading “Celladon Enjoys Early Success With Gene Therapy Trial, FDA Gives Digirad Green Light for a Nuclear Camera, Aragon Pharmaceuticals Gets $22M & More San Diego Biotech News”
UV Sciences Tries to Tap Into Water Purification Industry With Smaller and Less Costly Technology
After Ultraviolet Sciences was founded in 2002, it took the little San Diego cleantech startup seven years to launch its first product. It’s a water purification device that uses ultraviolet (UV) light to sterilize microbial contaminants in drinking water. Such UV technology has been gaining momentum in recent years as an alternative to chlorine disinfectant, … Continue reading “UV Sciences Tries to Tap Into Water Purification Industry With Smaller and Less Costly Technology”
What U.S. Manufacturers Can Learn from Europe—One Reporter’s Perspective
On March 29 MIT arranged a round table seminar entitled “The Future of Manufacturing Innovation—Advanced Technologies.” The seminar focused on technological advances that could spur manufacturing in the U.S. MIT president Susan Hockfield opened the afternoon by reflecting on the status of the U.S. as a manufacturing nation. “Many Americans tend to believe that hardly … Continue reading “What U.S. Manufacturers Can Learn from Europe—One Reporter’s Perspective”
Celladon’s Gene Therapy Passes Heart Failure Trial; Maintains Suspense on Details
Celladon has some tantalizing news today for the world of gene therapy. The San Diego-based biotech company is announcing that its experimental treatment, which delivers a gene to help people with heart failure pump blood more efficiently, has met its primary goal of showing the treatment is more effective than a placebo. The trial enrolled … Continue reading “Celladon’s Gene Therapy Passes Heart Failure Trial; Maintains Suspense on Details”
High-Tech Jobs Stayed Resilient Amid Last Year’s National Job Losses, TechAmerica Says
The high-tech industry lost 245,600 jobs, or about 4 percent of the nationwide technology workforce, as the recession hit bottom last year, according a report being released today. But there are still jobs to be had in high-tech fields. Unemployment in several high-tech sectors remained below 5 percent at a time when overall unemployment soared … Continue reading “High-Tech Jobs Stayed Resilient Amid Last Year’s National Job Losses, TechAmerica Says”
The Company is Dead, But Its PayPal Billing Service Lives On
If a consumer-oriented Web-based services company goes out of business, shouldn’t its PayPal account expire too? I’m just wondering if other online consumers have had a similar experience to Encinitas, CA, resident Judd Handler. He says he recently discovered that he had been charged $17.95 on his PayPal account for a junk-mail screening service provided … Continue reading “The Company is Dead, But Its PayPal Billing Service Lives On”
FDA Gives Digirad OK to Market Ergo Device
Digirad (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DRAD]]), a medical imaging company based in Poway, CA, says it got regulatory approval to market Ergo, a new nuclear imaging camera system for hospitals. Digirad CEO Todd Clyde tells the San Diego Union-Tribune that what sets the solid-state camera apart is its field of view and its portability, which means patients won’t … Continue reading “FDA Gives Digirad OK to Market Ergo Device”
New Connect Lobbyist for Technology Innovation Discusses His Role and Priorities
Connect CEO Duane Roth made hiring a full-time lobbyist in Washington D.C. a key part of last summer’s initiative to boost San Diego’s innovation economy. Last week, the nonprofit group named Timothy Tardibono, a lawyer and policy analyst, as its government affairs director and chief counsel—and Tardibono says he’s already got some issues on his … Continue reading “New Connect Lobbyist for Technology Innovation Discusses His Role and Priorities”
NuVasive Takes a Different Angle, Shakes Up Spinal Surgery Business
Writing about life sciences innovation around the country, I hear stories every day of companies that envision transforming medical standards of care through new drugs or devices. San Diego-based NuVasive is living the dream right now. NuVasive (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NUVA]]), as its name suggests, has developed a less invasive way for surgeons to do spinal fusion … Continue reading “NuVasive Takes a Different Angle, Shakes Up Spinal Surgery Business”
ShoeDazzle.com Secures $13,000,000 Series B Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ef7fc9df-56d0-4a77-9ed4-72cb59bd693c&Preview=1 Date 4/27/2010 Company Name ShoeDazzle.com Mailing Address 3530 Wilshire Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90010 Company Description ShoeDazzle’s fashion experts choose the hottest shoes for you every month based on YOUR individual personality and tastes. The shoes we pick for you will express your individuality and sense of style. Distinctive, yet trend-right. … Continue reading “ShoeDazzle.com Secures $13,000,000 Series B Funding Round”
SciVee Partners With Thomson Reuters
SciVee CEO Marc Friedmann tells me the San Diego startup I profiled previously as a YouTube for scientists, has struck a partnership with ScholarOne, the peer-review workflow management system operated by Thomson Reuters. The agreement will give users of ScholarOne Abstracts (previously known as Abstract Central) the ability to capture and share multimedia content from … Continue reading “SciVee Partners With Thomson Reuters”
Confident Technologies Makes San Diego Debut, Startups Get Fresh Venture Funding, Peter Preuss Gets Inducted to Connect Hall of Fame, & More San Diego BizTech News
—Xconomy’s list of San Diego’s top 10 VC deals during the first quarter of 2010 included funding for three high-tech startups, although investments in life sciences and medical devices accounted for most of the money and deals. EMN8, which is developing automated kiosks for fast-service restaurants, raised almost $14.5 million; Avaak, which developed a wireless … Continue reading “Confident Technologies Makes San Diego Debut, Startups Get Fresh Venture Funding, Peter Preuss Gets Inducted to Connect Hall of Fame, & More San Diego BizTech News”