Novalar has convinced one of the world’s biggest drugmakers, Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis, that it might be onto something. The San Diego-based biotech is announcing today that it has struck a partnership in which Sanofi’s unit in Germany will have exclusive marketing rights to the vasodilator drug phentolamine mesylate (OraVerse) in that country, plus an option to … Continue reading “Novalar Strikes Deal With Sanofi to Market Dental Drug in Germany, Maybe Rest of EU”
Category: San Diego
Perfect Market Technologies Obtains $6,000,000 Series C Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=97555d08-d982-4917-9848-cfdc43aec254&Preview=1 Date 3/3/2010 Company Name Perfect Market Technologies Mailing Address 2400 N. Lincoln Avenue Altadena, CA 91001 Company Description Perfect Market, Inc. is a marketing services company that helps online publishers monetize their large libraries of archived content with little or no risk to the publisher. The company applies proprietary processes to … Continue reading “Perfect Market Technologies Obtains $6,000,000 Series C Funding Round”
San Diego Biotechs Raise Cash for Novel Drugs to Treat Cancers, Broad Disease Spectrum
A number of biotechs and medical device companies in the San Diego area have disclosed funding deals in recent weeks. As I noted last month, San Diego-based ProActa raised about $1.1 million to continue its anti-cancer drug development work. I found some more deals while reviewing filings submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission: —Auspex … Continue reading “San Diego Biotechs Raise Cash for Novel Drugs to Treat Cancers, Broad Disease Spectrum”
Tech Coast Angels’ Dollars Invested and Number of Deals Declined in 2009
Investments by Southern California’s Tech Coast Angels dropped in 2009, as the network of individual investors helped raise a total of $61.7 million in direct investments by TCA members and affiliated investors. The angel investor group says it participated in seven new deals and 17 follow-on deals last year, according to a statement. The organization, … Continue reading “Tech Coast Angels’ Dollars Invested and Number of Deals Declined in 2009”
San Diego’s Printer Industry Veterans Offer Some Insights Into Memjet’s Technology
One of the most surprising personnel moves announced in San Diego so far this year came in early January, when former Qualcomm COO Len Lauer was named to head Memjet, a startup the Wall Street Journal described as “a closely held company most people have never heard of.” Lauer’s move was puzzling. As a wireless … Continue reading “San Diego’s Printer Industry Veterans Offer Some Insights Into Memjet’s Technology”
Awarepoint Raises $10M to Accelerate Its Sensor Network for Hospitals
JAFCO Ventures of Palo Alto, CA, has stepped in as lead investor in a $10 million round announced today by San Diego’s Awarepoint, which provides wireless sensor systems to help hospitals monitor the real-time location of equipment and patients. Existing investors Cardinal Partners and Venrock Associates joined in the Series E round. As I explained … Continue reading “Awarepoint Raises $10M to Accelerate Its Sensor Network for Hospitals”
Optimer Nets $51.5M
San Diego-based Optimer Pharmaceuticals, the developer of an antibiotic for a dangerous hospital infection, said today it has raised $51.5 million through a secondary stock offering after deducting expenses. The company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OPTR]]) sold about 4.9 million shares of common stock at $11 a share. Jefferies & Co. was the sole book-running manager in the … Continue reading “Optimer Nets $51.5M”
Enrollment Begins at Founder Institute After Inaugural Class Completes Training
School’s out for the Founder Institute’s inaugural class in San Diego, which started with 22 students in November and last week graduated 13 entrepreneurs who are moving forward to develop 12 startup companies, according to Jeanine Jacobson, a San Diego organizer. After starting the four-month mentoring program for startup founders in San Francisco a year … Continue reading “Enrollment Begins at Founder Institute After Inaugural Class Completes Training”
Qualcomm Ventures Leads Funding for Visage Mobile, Venture Deal Terms Favor Investors (Still), Leap Wireless Forms Joint Venture, & More San Diego BizTech News
It was a light week in San Diego for tech news, perhaps balancing the blizzard of life sciences news that blanketed our region. Good thing that’s the only kind of blizzard we see around here. —When I met last summer with Qualcomm Venture’s Nagraj Kashyap, he told me the corporate venture arm of San Diego’s … Continue reading “Qualcomm Ventures Leads Funding for Visage Mobile, Venture Deal Terms Favor Investors (Still), Leap Wireless Forms Joint Venture, & More San Diego BizTech News”
FDA Refuses to Accept Adventrx Pharma’s New Drug Application
Adventrx Pharmaceuticals (NYSE Amex: [[ticker:ANX]]), the San Diego biotech that sprang back to life in January with a new drug application, says in a statement today that it has received a “refuse to file letter” from the FDA—which basically means it’s back to the drawing board. Adventrx cut its workforce to just two employees almost … Continue reading “FDA Refuses to Accept Adventrx Pharma’s New Drug Application”
Inaugural Meeting of San Diego Entrepreneurs Exchange
Moderator Scott Thacher, CEO of Orphagen Pharmaceuticals, will lead a panel discussion on “How I Started My Company and Why” with company founders Richard Lin of Explora Biolabs, Gonul Velicelebi of CalciMedica, Jiwu Wang of Allele Biotech, and Douglas Lappi of Advanced Targeting Systems. Attendance is free; donations welcome. More information is available online here.
AwarePoint Corporation Obtains $10,000,000 Series E Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9f7a3f44-3040-40b8-99fa-6c8c193704af&Preview=1 Date 3/1/2010 Company Name AwarePoint Corporation Mailing Address 225 Broadway San Diego, CA 92101 Company Description In 2002, the founders of Awarepoint™ recognized that despite the tremendous potential of active RFID technologies to improve operational efficiency in medium and large businesses, there were no solutions on the market that offered good … Continue reading “AwarePoint Corporation Obtains $10,000,000 Series E Financing Round”
A Non-Invasive Window Into the Brain
Severe neuropathologies are usually diagnosed after significant, largely irreversible brain damage already has occurred. Hear Philip Low, the founding chairman and CEO of NeuroVigil, whose goal is to reliably provide access to patients’ own brain health in real time. He has developed groundbreaking computational techniques that allow for a rapid quantification, analysis, and classification of … Continue reading “A Non-Invasive Window Into the Brain”
Game Strategy: Seeing Two Moves Beyond Console, Online, Mobile
More than 50 percent of the game industry’s $60 billion in annual revenue has traditionally been generated by three companies: Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. But now the landscape is shifting as new game platforms and categories are introduced almost daily. The San Diego Venture Group hosts a panel discussion about the gaming industry, which has … Continue reading “Game Strategy: Seeing Two Moves Beyond Console, Online, Mobile”
San Diego’s Successes and Challenges in Translational Research
Gary Firestein, UCSD’s dean of translational medicine, and Beth Anne Baber, co-founder and CEO of The Nicholas Conor Institute for Pediatric Cancer Research, discuss new paradigms in applying translational medicine and translational research as a catalyst. More information is available here.
AFraxis CEO Outlines Biotech’s Success With Ultra-Lean Pre-Clinical R&D in Russia
AFraxis, a mostly stealthy San Diego biotech, is getting ready to come out with a big announcement in the next week or so, but CEO Jay Lichter previewed some key parts of the story yesterday during a presentation before the San Diego Venture Group. He says the biotech has completed pre-clinical testing of a promising … Continue reading “AFraxis CEO Outlines Biotech’s Success With Ultra-Lean Pre-Clinical R&D in Russia”
Video and Books: Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together?
If a book can be made from something other than paper—say, pixels on a screen—then why can’t it consist of something other than plain old words and pictures? It can. Companies like Eastgate Systems in Watertown, MA, have been publishing PC-based interactive “hypertexts” for almost 30 years. Thanks to the built-in speech synthesis software on … Continue reading “Video and Books: Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together?”
Arena Gets October FDA Deadline
Arena Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARNA]]), the San Diego-based developer of an obesity drug, said today that the FDA has set a deadline of October 22 for completing a review of Arena’s application to market lorcaserin in the U.S. The company’s application includes 18 clinical trials that enrolled more than 8,500 patients. If the FDA clears the … Continue reading “Arena Gets October FDA Deadline”
FDA Says Novalar Brochure for Dental Drug is Misleading
[Updated 2/26/10, 1:30 pm. See below.] The FDA has told San Diego-based Novalar to stop using a misleading patient brochure promoting the company’s injectible dental drug, phentolamine mesylate, which is intended to help dissipate the prolonged numb sensation of dental anesthetic. The brochure omits and minimizes the risks of the drug while overstating its benefits, … Continue reading “FDA Says Novalar Brochure for Dental Drug is Misleading”
La Jolla Pharmaceutical: Going, Going, But Not Quite Gone
Staying in business was a challenge for La Jolla Pharmaceutical. Going out of business may be harder still. After its lead drug candidate bombed last year in a clinical trial, La Jolla Pharmaceutical had few options. It proposed liquidation, but too few of its investors voted, so the plan failed due to lack of a … Continue reading “La Jolla Pharmaceutical: Going, Going, But Not Quite Gone”
The X Lists Debut: San Diego’s Online Reference Library for Innovators and Entrepreneurs
If Xconomy had a storefront in downtown San Diego instead of a Web address, it might be easier for readers to see what we’ve got under construction, because people could peer behind the plywood fencing and the signs reading “Pardon Our Dust.” Instead, curious visitors who clicked on the tab that says “resources” only got … Continue reading “The X Lists Debut: San Diego’s Online Reference Library for Innovators and Entrepreneurs”
Trius Sets IPO Price Range
San Diego-based Trius Therapeutics hopes to sell 6 million shares to investors at a range of $12 to $14 apiece, according to an updated IPO prospectus filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The company, a developer of new antibiotics, is scheduled to attempt its IPO the week of March 15, according to a calendar … Continue reading “Trius Sets IPO Price Range”
FDA Diabetes Drug Review Slowed by Snow
San Diego-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMLN]]), along with partners Eli Lilly and Waltham, MA-based Alkermes (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALKS]]), said today that the FDA deadline for reviewing a once-weekly injectable diabetes drug has been pushed back one week, to March 12, because of the mid-Atlantic snowstorm earlier this month. If approved, analysts expect the drug, exenatide once-weekly, … Continue reading “FDA Diabetes Drug Review Slowed by Snow”
Regulus, the MicroRNA Child of Isis and Alnylam, Strikes Potential $150M Deal with Glaxo
Two years have passed since GlaxoSmithKline anointed a startup called Regulus Therapeutics as a leader in the bleeding-edge world of microRNA drugs, and now the pharma giant has made clear it likes what it sees so far. Regulus, a Carlsbad, CA-based spinoff from neighboring Isis Pharmaceuticals and Cambridge, MA-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, is announcing today it … Continue reading “Regulus, the MicroRNA Child of Isis and Alnylam, Strikes Potential $150M Deal with Glaxo”
Anadys Hep C Drug Shows Promise, Synthetic Genomics Recruits Illumina Exec, ProActa Gets Funds, & More San Diego Life Sciences News
There was a smorgasbord of announcements in the last week. Get your fill here. —Anadys Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ANDS]]) said preliminary findings from a mid-stage trial in hepatitis C patients showed that a drug cocktail consisting of its experimental drug ANA598, interferon, and ribavirin was about as effective after 12 weeks as interferon and ribavirin alone. … Continue reading “Anadys Hep C Drug Shows Promise, Synthetic Genomics Recruits Illumina Exec, ProActa Gets Funds, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”
Cadence’s Manufacturing Woes Detailed; Black Eye for Baxter?
San Diego-based Cadence (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CADX]]) disclosed two weeks ago that the FDA could not approve the company’s pain reliever because of manufacturing problems, but the company didn’t provide any details. Now the FDA inspection report on the manufacturing plant has surfaced—and the details aren’t pretty. The FDA found numerous deficiencies in the production process and … Continue reading “Cadence’s Manufacturing Woes Detailed; Black Eye for Baxter?”
Music Mastermind Obtains $4,850,000 Series A Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ced56b08-0d5a-4300-9beb-3679fb7cb2f2&Preview=1 Date 2/25/2010 Company Name Music Mastermind Mailing Address 22301 Mulholland Highway Calabasas, CA 91302 Company Description Music Mastermind (MMM), based in Calabasas, CA, and formed in 2008, is an entertainment software company that is changing the way music is created, shared, and enjoyed. Led by top players in the three very … Continue reading “Music Mastermind Obtains $4,850,000 Series A Round”
Anadys Hepatitis C Drug Increases Punch Over Time (But So Does Placebo)
San Diego-based Anadys Pharmaceuticals reports that its hepatitis C drug appears to get better at wiping out the virus over time, although the company will have some explaining to do about why patients on a placebo appear to be doing almost as well. Anadys (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ANDS]]) is announcing today that its lead product candidate, ANA598, … Continue reading “Anadys Hepatitis C Drug Increases Punch Over Time (But So Does Placebo)”
Ocera Cheers from the Bleachers As Rival Succeeds with New Drug for Brain Damage
Sometimes in biotech you have to root for your biggest competitors to succeed. That’s why yesterday was a very good day for the folks at San Diego-based Ocera Therapeutics. The big news came out yesterday from suburban Washington D.C., where an FDA advisory panel recommended that regulators approve a new drug from Morrisville, NC-based Salix … Continue reading “Ocera Cheers from the Bleachers As Rival Succeeds with New Drug for Brain Damage”
CFX Battery Lands $14,200,000 Series B Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=5bbc22a3-4463-43c2-b040-f1dfa3bb2262&Preview=1 Date 2/24/2010 Company Name CFX Battery Mailing Address 1300 W. Optical Drive Azusa, CA 91702 Company Description CFX Battery Inc. is a start up advanced battery company that is focused on developing and commercializing new, innovative and disruptive battery products. Website http://www.cfxbattery.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $14,200,000 Transaction Round … Continue reading “CFX Battery Lands $14,200,000 Series B Funding Round”
Newport Media Lands $15,000,000 Series D Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=c8538382-aeb6-4ccd-8e7e-f46242ff5bd5&Preview=1 Date 2/24/2010 Company Name Newport Media Mailing Address 25371 Commercentre Drive Lake Forest, CA 92630 Company Description Newport Media is a fabless semiconductor company that develops and sells highly integrated solutions for emerging digital audio and mobile TV broadcasts standards. Market research firm In-Stat forecasts that the market for TV enabled … Continue reading “Newport Media Lands $15,000,000 Series D Financing Round”
CA Acquires 3Tera for Undisclosed Sum
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=086d2acb-14e5-4743-a2c6-f5c3c4bcb1bf&Preview=1 Date 2/24/2010 Company Name 3Tera Mailing Address 27121 Aliso Creek Rd Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 Company Description 3Tera is a leading innovator of cloud computing technology and utility computing services, simplifying the deployment and scaling of online applications. Named “Cool Vendor in IT operations” by Gartner Group, 3Tera offers AppLogic®, the … Continue reading “CA Acquires 3Tera for Undisclosed Sum”
Synthetic Genomics Recruits Illumina Exec
Synthetic Genomics, the San Diego biofuels developer, today named a top executive from San Diego-based Illumina (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ILMN]]), the maker of genetic sequencing tools, as its chief operating officer. Joel McComb, a senior vice president and general manager of Illumina’s $650 million life sciences business unit, will start March 1 and report to J. Craig … Continue reading “Synthetic Genomics Recruits Illumina Exec”
Leap Wireless Combines its Cricket Service With Pocket Communications in South Texas
Call it an example of newfound pragmatism among the flat-rate wireless service providers, which are coming under growing pressure to consolidate. San Diego’s Leap Wireless (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LEAP]]) announced today that it’s forming a “joint venture” with San Antonio, TX-based Pocket Communications that will provide pre-paid wireless services to customers of both companies in South Texas. … Continue reading “Leap Wireless Combines its Cricket Service With Pocket Communications in South Texas”
ProActa Raises $1.1M
ProActa, which is developing an anti-cancer drug transplanted from New Zealand, has raised $1.1 million in debt and securities, according to a recent regulatory filing. The biotech, which has raised at least $43 million in venture funding since 2004, announced earlier this month that it was starting a second mid-stage clinical trial of a drug … Continue reading “ProActa Raises $1.1M”
Amylin, Takeda Advance Obesity Drug
San Diego-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMLN]]), along with its partner Takeda Pharmaceuticals, said late Monday that their experimental combination of metreleptin and pramlintide is being primed for final-stage Phase III clinical development for obesity. The decision was made after Amylin and Takeda reviewed data from a full 52 weeks of follow up from patients, which … Continue reading “Amylin, Takeda Advance Obesity Drug”
Qualcomm Ventures Leads New Investment Round in Revived Visage Mobile
San Diego’s Qualcomm Ventures is showing its confidence in Visage Mobile‘s back-from-the-dead strategy by leading a new investment round in the San Francisco-based company. Tim Weingarten, who stepped in as Visage CEO in 2008, tells me the company has secured $4.5 million in its second round venture funding since 2008, when the company sold most … Continue reading “Qualcomm Ventures Leads New Investment Round in Revived Visage Mobile”
Proacta Garners $1,100,000 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7162429a-1c31-4d45-8e8b-a3cd1dfe3475&Preview=1 Date 2/23/2010 Company Name Proacta Mailing Address 9255 Towne Centre Drive San Diego, CA 92121 Company Description Proacta is developing a new generation of cancer drugs that uniquely target physiological attributes of solid tumors. Proacta’s first lead program, a hypoxia targeted small-molecule prodrug, is designed to improve the outcomes of current … Continue reading “Proacta Garners $1,100,000 New Financing Round”
NIH Chief Stresses Economic Impact of Federal Biomedical Funding
Cancer and certain types of mental illness are diseases that appear ripe for research breakthroughs, according to Francis Collins, who just marked his sixth month as director of the National Institutes of Health. “I’m always loath to say what’s on the brink of some big breakthrough,” says Collins, who met with local reporters while attending … Continue reading “NIH Chief Stresses Economic Impact of Federal Biomedical Funding”
Chairman Bill Young: Next Biogen Idec CEO May Be a Scientist
The future leader of Biogen Idec might be as familiar with a petri dish as he or she is with a spreadsheet. That’s according to Bill Young, who took over as Biogen’s chairman of the board on January 1. Young is on the board committee that’s searching to replace CEO Jim Mullen, who announced last … Continue reading “Chairman Bill Young: Next Biogen Idec CEO May Be a Scientist”
Survey Finds Venture Deal Terms Improving, But Still Below Historical Levels
Even though venture capital funding plunged dramatically in 2009, it was nevertheless encouraging when the VC surveys that came out in January showed an uptick in venture deals during the fourth quarter—like a ski jump into 2010. Now the Cooley Godward Kronish Venture Financing Report for the fourth quarter of 2009 gives us another piece … Continue reading “Survey Finds Venture Deal Terms Improving, But Still Below Historical Levels”
Sony Electronics Outlines its 3D Strategy, Fallbrook Files For IPO, Electronics Recycler EcoATM Raises Venture Round, & More San Diego BizTech News
It was a great week for innovation in San Diego, with Fallbrook Technologies filing for an IPO and Sony Electronics previewing its 3D strategy (along with some new products) after opening the doors of its new $160-million North American headquarters. —Sony Electronics showed off its new 11-story North American headquarters building in San Diego during … Continue reading “Sony Electronics Outlines its 3D Strategy, Fallbrook Files For IPO, Electronics Recycler EcoATM Raises Venture Round, & More San Diego BizTech News”
Using Analytics to Design a Better User Experience
The San Diego Software Industry has organized this event and recruited speakers from Certona, Adobe’s Omniture business unit, Social Media 404, and FICO to explain how to use analytics to design a user experience to meet your business needs. Registration begins at 5:30 p.m., or register online here.
What Angel Investing is All About
This full-day seminar provides an overview of the angel investing process, including the details of finding, evaluating, and structuring deals, and developing angel-entrepreneur relationships. This highly interactive program provides practical information on best practices in angel investing. More information and online registration is here.
Through the Looking Glass to Biotech’s Future
Biocom celebrates its very merry un-birthday at a very merry dinner party. The nonprofit group plans to take San Diego’s biotech and medical device industries through the looking glass, to view what the future has in store for the life sciences industry. Online registration is here.
How to Deliver a Presentation
This full-day workshop on the art of the presentation offers participants an opportunity to practice, get feedback, watch a videotapes of their presentations, and one-on-one coaching for each participant. Learn how to quickly plan for any presentation, deliver clear and concise presentations, deliver a presentation in a way that connects with scientific and non-scientific audiences. … Continue reading “How to Deliver a Presentation”
Undertanding the Venture Capital Term Sheet
What is a pre-money valuation? Should you accept funding from a venture capital firm if it is offered on a fully participating preferred basis? Join Connect, Finistere Ventures, and the McDermott Will & Emery law firm as they provide guidance on the art of negotiating a VC term sheet and how these terms affect a … Continue reading “Undertanding the Venture Capital Term Sheet”
Social Media Marketing: What’s Smart and What’s Not
Global marketer Qualcomm is using Social Media Marketing to achieve very specific goals and objectives. Cherry Park, Qualcomm’s director of digital marketing, explains how and why Qualcomm is using Social Media Marketing. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m., or you can register online here.
Online Video Advertisers: Enough Double Stuf, Time to Get Targeted
What a wonderful world: Thanks to Fox, Comedy Central, and the other TV networks that are generous enough to post the latest episodes from their hit shows online, I can watch all of my favorite episodes on the Web on demand without paying a dime to Comcast (oops, “Xfinity”) for premium cable channels or DVR … Continue reading “Online Video Advertisers: Enough Double Stuf, Time to Get Targeted”
San Diego Entrepreneurs Exchange Provides Networking, Support for Early-Stage Startups
With hundreds of biotechnology companies and thousands of people employed in life sciences, San Diego has a large, informal network of people with deep knowledge across a wide range of skills. The Torrey Pines mesa, among the densest biotech clusters in the world, “acts like one big biotech incubator,” says Scott Thacher, CEO of Orphagen … Continue reading “San Diego Entrepreneurs Exchange Provides Networking, Support for Early-Stage Startups”