San Antonio — A biomedical product developer, Watershed Idea Foundry, has created a method of identifying medical devices that have been implanted in the body that uses 3-D printing and its own software. The technology, which Watershed calls structural encoding, prints 3-D codes onto small metal markers that are frequently included in medical devices, which help … Continue reading “Biomed Incubator Watershed Develops Tech for IDing Medical Devices”
Category: San Diego
Sumeru Leads $45M Growth Equity Round in Treasury Fintech Kyriba
The venture rounds are over for Kyriba, a cloud-based provider of corporate treasury and financial management software that is based in New York and San Diego. After raising $23 million in a Series D funding round last September, Kyriba says today it has raised $45 million in a growth equity round led by Sumeru Equity … Continue reading “Sumeru Leads $45M Growth Equity Round in Treasury Fintech Kyriba”
Google, Apple Offer Salvation from the Horrors of Autoplay
Tech giants are under a lot of pressure these days to make the world a better place—to ferret out Russian hackers trying to fix elections; to combat gender bias in hiring; to stamp out sexual harassment; and to lend their voices to the protests over President Trump’s immigration policies. Despite efforts they’ve made on these … Continue reading “Google, Apple Offer Salvation from the Horrors of Autoplay”
The Winners of the 2017 Xconomy Awards Are…
We are excited to announce the recipients of the first-ever Xconomy Awards. Big Idea Bridge Project The Bridge Project was hatched by MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research in Cambridge and the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center in Boston to fund collaborative research between cancer researchers from MIT and Harvard-affiliated hospitals and schools. Its aim is … Continue reading “The Winners of the 2017 Xconomy Awards Are…”
Trump Orders Up $200M a Year for STEM, Coding Education
President Donald Trump, who has had a rocky relationship with tech companies during his short administration so far, announced an education initiative Monday that apparently met with their approval. In a White House ceremony, Trump directed his education secretary to allocate at least $200 million a year to fund student access to coursework in science, … Continue reading “Trump Orders Up $200M a Year for STEM, Coding Education”
New Venture Models for Biotech
The market for new ideas in biotech is red-hot, but not every innovation – regardless of the potential – has the ingredients to go the distance. Every successful new company needs the perfect combination of passion, strategy, resources, and talent to make it big, but now more than ever it also requires finding a venture … Continue reading “New Venture Models for Biotech”
Poizner Updates Plan for Alliance on Southern California Innovation
After launching a study to identify how tech hubs work, the leader of a nonprofit consortium created to boost Southern California’s startup ecosystem says he is focusing on three initiatives to supercharge the seven-county SoCal region as a hotbed for innovation. “Our focus is on priming the pump,” Steve Poizner said Friday, after providing an … Continue reading “Poizner Updates Plan for Alliance on Southern California Innovation”
Xconomy Q&A: Todd Schulte of Tech Immigration Advocacy Org FWD.us
[Updated 9/25/17, 1:55 p.m. Clarified 9/27/17, 10:01 a.m. See below.] Immigration policy has always been important to the tech industry, but this year is different. Under a steady barrage of nationalist, anti-immigrant policies promulgated by the Trump administration, the tech industry has been forced to respond like never before, in the halls of Congress, the … Continue reading “Xconomy Q&A: Todd Schulte of Tech Immigration Advocacy Org FWD.us”
Low-Hanging Fruit Gone, Ag & Food Tech Investors Pay More for Deals
[Updated 9/25/17, 5:18 pm. See below.] Food delivery startups are catching on with more consumers, and that demand is whetting investor appetites. The $400 million that grocery delivery startup Instacart raised in March marked the largest deal for a U.S. food technology company in the first half of the year, according to new data from … Continue reading “Low-Hanging Fruit Gone, Ag & Food Tech Investors Pay More for Deals”
Bio Roundup: RNAi’s Big Day, CAR-T For Kids, Drugs From Fungi & More
It’s been a year of biomedical milestones in the U.S., including the first approval of a CAR-T cellular immunotherapy, the first smartphone app to treat substance abuse, and the first approval of a cancer drug based on genetic signature instead of the tumor’s organ of origin. Add to the list the first successful Phase 3 … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: RNAi’s Big Day, CAR-T For Kids, Drugs From Fungi & More”
Nathan Myhrvold: The Full Xconomy Voices Interview
Episode 3 of our new podcast, Xconomy Voices, features a conversation about nuclear power with Nathan Myhrvold, the founder and CEO of Intellectual Ventures. The former Microsoft chief technology officer is now vice chairman of TerraPower, a Bellevue, WA-based spinout of Intellectual Ventures that aims to revive commercial nuclear energy. The company is researching next-generation … Continue reading “Nathan Myhrvold: The Full Xconomy Voices Interview”
Xconomy Voices, Episode 3: Nathan Myhrvold and TerraPower
We’re pleased to bring you the third episode of Xconomy Voices, our new podcast featuring conversations with entrepreneurs, innovators, and investors from Xconomy’s home cities and regions. This week our guest is Nathan Myhrvold, the former Microsoft chief technology officer who, since 2000, has headed Intellectual Ventures, a Bellevue, WA-based firm that buys, develops, and … Continue reading “Xconomy Voices, Episode 3: Nathan Myhrvold and TerraPower”
Lawyer Sues Venter’s Synthetic Genomics “Boys Club” over Gender Bias
Against a contentious backdrop of a gender gap in the life sciences, a lawyer who spent more than eight years managing intellectual property at San Diego’s Synthetic Genomics (SGI) has sued the star-studded company for discriminating against women. In a state civil lawsuit filed September 7, Teresa Spehar alleges that SGI is permeated by a … Continue reading “Lawyer Sues Venter’s Synthetic Genomics “Boys Club” over Gender Bias”
Alnylam Data Puts a Nobel Discovery One Step Closer to Approved Drug
[Updated with comments at 9:49 am ET, see below] For the first time ever, a medicine using RNA interference, a method of muting a gene before it can make a harmful protein, is headed for an FDA review. If the agency grants a commercial license, it would be a major victory not just for the … Continue reading “Alnylam Data Puts a Nobel Discovery One Step Closer to Approved Drug”
NVCA Sues Trump Administration for Delaying “Startup Visa” Program
Add another item to the list of tech industry beefs with the new crew in the White House. An organization representing venture capital firms filed a federal suit in Washington, DC, on Tuesday accusing Trump Administration officials of unlawfully delaying a program that would have allowed international entrepreneurs to work at companies they founded within … Continue reading “NVCA Sues Trump Administration for Delaying “Startup Visa” Program”
On CAR-T’s Edge, Seattle Researchers Plot to Bypass Novartis Therapy
[Corrected, 10/10/17, 2 p.m. ET. See below.] It’s not a stretch to say that Greta Oberhofer is alive thanks to the genetically modified cell therapy called CAR-T. At three and a half months old, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, an aggressive blood cancer. At 10 months old, she had a bone … Continue reading “On CAR-T’s Edge, Seattle Researchers Plot to Bypass Novartis Therapy”
Akili, Emulate, Ginkgo & More: The Innovation at the Intersection Award Finalists
Research that happens at the intersection of different fields can lead to new innovations that tackle pressing problems in the life sciences. This year’s finalists in the Innovation at the Intersection category show the value of bringing different disciplines—engineering and biology, IT and medicine—together. Here are brief introductions to the finalists. The winners of this … Continue reading “Akili, Emulate, Ginkgo & More: The Innovation at the Intersection Award Finalists”
Dealmaker, Thought Leader & More: The X of the Year Xconomy Award Finalists
Given the size and diversity of the life sciences community in the Boston area, we at Xconomy knew that many candidates would be so unique that they wouldn’t fit neatly into a category. So we gave them a category of their own. These finalists represent the wide range of talent—from investors to entrepreneurs and thought-leaders—that … Continue reading “Dealmaker, Thought Leader & More: The X of the Year Xconomy Award Finalists”
Bio Roundup: Phase 3 Fails, Shkreli Jailed, Moderna Flip-Flops & More
It was a week of realignments. President Trump, who used to be known as “The Donald” but now goes by “Amnesty Don,” kept up the parlay-voo with his new friends Chuck and Nancy. Martin Shkreli, who was once known—and still is!—as the “pharma bro,” will have a new perspective for a while, through the bars … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: Phase 3 Fails, Shkreli Jailed, Moderna Flip-Flops & More”
Going Big or Against the Tide: Meet the Big Idea & Contrarian Award Finalists
[Corrected, 1:25pm ET, see below] All innovation and companies start off as an idea. Some will gain more traction than others over time, but we at Xconomy think that big ideas—and the people and companies in Boston’s life sciences community bold enough to try to implement them—are worth celebrating. Some of those ideas even go … Continue reading “Going Big or Against the Tide: Meet the Big Idea & Contrarian Award Finalists”
Halozyme Inks $105M Bristol-Myers Partnership, Expands Roche Deal
Halozyme Therapeutics has turned a method of delivering a drug more conveniently into partnerships with several large pharmaceutical companies that want to see their infusible drugs delivered via injections instead. The San Diego biotech company’s list of alliances is now getting longer. Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: [[ticker:BMY]]) announced Thursday that it will pay $105 million up … Continue reading “Halozyme Inks $105M Bristol-Myers Partnership, Expands Roche Deal”
GM, Ford, BAE Systems Up the Self-Driving Ante with New Advances
Things are moving quickly in the mobility sector as the race to develop autonomous vehicle technologies revs up. This week brought a spate of mobility news from GM and Cruise, Ford, BAE, and even the federal government. Read on for details. —The Detroit News published a detailed report this week regarding Ford’s Silicon Valley lab, … Continue reading “GM, Ford, BAE Systems Up the Self-Driving Ante with New Advances”
Education Is Unbundling—Three Key Trends to Watch
Technology in the classroom has come a long way since its advent in the 1920s, when teachers would air radio broadcasts about topics relevant to their lesson plans. Ten years later, in the 1930s, the overhead projector debuted to display material for the whole class to see all at once, followed by the launch of … Continue reading “Education Is Unbundling—Three Key Trends to Watch”
Xconomy Award Finalists in the Eye of the National Drug Price Debate
[Corrected 12:20pm ET; see below.] The national debate over the high cost of healthcare, with prescription drugs at the center, resonates from the chambers of Congress to every American’s pocketbook. And it’s growing fiercer by the day. Last week, the first genetically modified cell therapy came to market with a price tag of $475,000. This … Continue reading “Xconomy Award Finalists in the Eye of the National Drug Price Debate”
Northrop Grumman Adds to Growing Cybersecurity Hub in San Antonio
San Antonio—Northrop Grumman, the military contractor that makes everything from cybersecurity systems to fighter planes, has signed a five-year lease on a new property at Port San Antonio, where officials are trying to entice more cybersecurity businesses to move. Northrop (NYSE: [[ticker:NOC]]) is going to occupy a 7,700 square-foot building at the Port, which was … Continue reading “Northrop Grumman Adds to Growing Cybersecurity Hub in San Antonio”
The Winners of the Xconomy Lifetime Achievement Award Are…
The editors at Xconomy have been working hard the last few weeks putting together the program for the Xconomy Awards Gala. We are really excited to announce the two winners of the Xconomy Lifetime Achievement Award. Lita Nelsen, MIT (retired) Lita Nelsen (pictured left) played a pivotal role in transforming Kendall Square and Boston into … Continue reading “The Winners of the Xconomy Lifetime Achievement Award Are…”
To Win Amazon’s HQ2, Incentives Are Nice, But Talent Is Required
Amazon lists one requirement in the stunning request for proposals it issued Thursday, which invites cities across North America to compete to host a second corporate headquarters for the tech and commerce giant. Economic development officials are justifiably salivating at the once-in-a-generation opportunity to attract what is arguably the 21st century’s most important company, and … Continue reading “To Win Amazon’s HQ2, Incentives Are Nice, But Talent Is Required”
Bio Roundup: RNAi Drama, Immunotherapy Data, Lasker Winners & More
The summer doldrums are over. Biotech news came at a breakneck pace this week both before and after Labor Day, starting with the surprise resignation of Novartis’s top executive just days after the Swiss company notched an historic FDA approval. From there, the week featured big headlines, both good and bad, from several trials in … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: RNAi Drama, Immunotherapy Data, Lasker Winners & More”
Venture Group’s Krenn Sees Improving VC Deals for SD Tech Startups
Call him an optimist if you must, but San Diego Venture Group president Mike Krenn says venture financings for San Diego’s early stage tech startups are on a tear. “I haven’t seen it this good since 2007,” he says. As head of the non-profit organization supporting local startups, Krenn says the venture group will help … Continue reading “Venture Group’s Krenn Sees Improving VC Deals for SD Tech Startups”
Five Regions That Could Draw Amazon’s Next Headquarters
[Updated 4:26 p.m. See below.] Amazon sent cities across North America into a frenzy Thursday after announcing plans to build a second headquarters outside of Seattle, bringing with it tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic development benefits. The tech and commerce giant says it wants cities and states to apply … Continue reading “Five Regions That Could Draw Amazon’s Next Headquarters”
Levin, Holtzman, 183 Other Bio Leaders Urge White House to Preserve DACA
Biotech CEOs Jeremy Levin and Steve Holtzman are continuing their recent push to spur the life sciences industry to speak out against government policies it doesn’t agree with. Levin, CEO of Ovid Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OVID]]) and Holtzman, the head of Decibel Therapeutics, co-authored a letter to the Trump administration and congressional leaders asking them to … Continue reading “Levin, Holtzman, 183 Other Bio Leaders Urge White House to Preserve DACA”
Lasker Award Goes to HPV Vaccine Developers Lowy, Schiller
A top prize in American biomedical science was awarded today to two scientists for their discoveries that led to the development of a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which prevents cervical cancer caused by the sexually transmitted virus. Douglas Lowy (pictured right), acting director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and John Schiller (left), also at … Continue reading “Lasker Award Goes to HPV Vaccine Developers Lowy, Schiller”
Finistere Plants Investment Seed in Ireland With $24M Agtech Fund
Ireland’s top agricultural exports are beef and dairy products. Arama Kukutai believes that in coming years, Ireland will send the United States and the rest of the world something different: innovative agricultural technologies that help make farms more productive and profitable. To that end, Kukutai’s venture capital firm, Finistere Ventures, is joining with the Ireland … Continue reading “Finistere Plants Investment Seed in Ireland With $24M Agtech Fund”
Presage Bio Licenses Anti-Cancer Drug to San Diego’s MEI Pharma
San Diego’s MEI Pharma (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MEIP]]) has agreed to pay $2.9 million upfront to Seattle-based Presage Biosciences for exclusive worldwide rights for the anti-cancer drug candidate voruciclib, which has shown some promise in a small, early stage study of patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL). Additional payments could eventually add another $181 million if MEI … Continue reading “Presage Bio Licenses Anti-Cancer Drug to San Diego’s MEI Pharma”
Bio Roundup: CAR-T’s Huge Week, Merck’s ‘Pib Choice & More
[Corrected 9/5/17, 12:22 p.m. See below.] The far-out idea of reprogramming a patient’s immune cells to fight cancer, known as CAR-T, entered the mainstream this week, and two numbers highlight the tale. The first is $11.9 billion, the price Gilead Sciences is paying for Kite Pharma and its cancer-fighting cell therapy pipeline. It’s one of … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: CAR-T’s Huge Week, Merck’s ‘Pib Choice & More”
Bill Maris Takes Stage for 2nd Act, Says New Fund Mostly Committed
[Corrected 9/1/17, 7 am. See below.] In his first public appearance since leaving Google Ventures, Bill Maris said Wednesday his new venture fund, Section 32, is nearly fully invested—less than four months after he officially unveiled its existence in the San Diego area. In a keynote talk at a venture summit in San Diego, Maris … Continue reading “Bill Maris Takes Stage for 2nd Act, Says New Fund Mostly Committed”
Novartis: CAR-T Results In One Month, Or No Charge. Why One Month?
Novartis said Wednesday that it would not charge for its newly approved cellular immunotherapy, tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah)—the first so-called CAR-T product to ever come to market—if it fails to help patients within a month. If the cell therapy, approved for kids with leukemia who have run out of other options, starts to work within a month, … Continue reading “Novartis: CAR-T Results In One Month, Or No Charge. Why One Month?”
Embracing the Inevitable Changes of Self-Driving Vehicles
Read today’s news and you’d think fully autonomous vehicles—commercial vehicles, in particular—will be everywhere in the very near future. With headlines like these, it’s no wonder: Self-Driving Trucks Could be on Highways in 3 to 4 Years U.S. and Europe Race to be First to Self-Driving Trucks Ford Plans Self-Driving Car for Ride Share Fleets … Continue reading “Embracing the Inevitable Changes of Self-Driving Vehicles”
Novartis Wins Historic FDA Nod, Prices CAR-T For Leukemia at $475,000
Ahead of schedule, Novartis has received the first-ever approval of a genetically modified living cell therapy called CAR-T, which uses a cancer patient’s own immune cells as the medicine. Within days, children and young adults with a severe form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia could receive the treatment at a handful of centers across the U.S. … Continue reading “Novartis Wins Historic FDA Nod, Prices CAR-T For Leukemia at $475,000”
Otonomy Scraps Hearing Loss Drug After Phase 3 Flop, Shares Routed
Investment in experimental drugs for hearing loss, long an untapped field in the pharmaceutical industry, may be picking up, but drugs that actually help with these disorders remain elusive. One of the closest contenders suffered a big setback today, as Otonomy revealed that a drug it has been developing for Meniere’s disease, a condition defined … Continue reading “Otonomy Scraps Hearing Loss Drug After Phase 3 Flop, Shares Routed”
Taking Tech Ideas Global: Connecting an Innovation Ecosystem
The word ecosystem conjures up a rain forest in Ecuador, where sunlight, soil, water, and a multitude of species exist together in a self-sustaining environment that is constantly evolving. This image from biology translates perfectly into what many people like to call an innovation ecosystem. Think of a group of people developing a new idea, … Continue reading “Taking Tech Ideas Global: Connecting an Innovation Ecosystem”
EvoNexus to Close Downtown Incubator, Consolidate in University City
EvoNexus, San Diego’s nonprofit tech incubator established seven years ago, is closing its downtown offices and consolidating its operations in a newly revamped space in University City, a suburban neighborhood about 13 miles to the north. The pro-bono incubator program, which provides tech-oriented startups with free office space and related amenities, has helped re-energize the … Continue reading “EvoNexus to Close Downtown Incubator, Consolidate in University City”
Who is Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s Pick to be CEO?
The news broke Sunday night that Uber has offered the job of CEO to Dara Khosrowshahi, the outspoken steady hand guiding Bellevue, WA-based online travel giant Expedia (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EXPE]]) for the last dozen years. Khosrowshahi and Uber have not officially confirmed the news as of Monday evening. An internal e-mail from Barry Diller, Expedia chairman, … Continue reading “Who is Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s Pick to be CEO?”
Power to the Patient: Meet Xconomy’s Patient Partnership Award Finalists
It’s clear at this point that patients are no longer just subjects in clinical trials. Thanks to the growing power of patient advocacy groups—and an FDA eager to hear their perspective—patients and drug developers are increasingly finding creating ways to work together, as we’ve seen with the four finalists in the Patient Partnership category of … Continue reading “Power to the Patient: Meet Xconomy’s Patient Partnership Award Finalists”
Bio Roundup: Drug Price Debates, NY Bio Blooms & CEOs Take Social Stand
In these politically divided times, Americans this week found near universal agreement on one thing: A celestial event that plunges a summer day into temporary darkness is a captivating experience. The totality of the solar eclipse lasted less than 3 minutes. If you missed it, you’ll have to wait until 2024 for the next one. … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: Drug Price Debates, NY Bio Blooms & CEOs Take Social Stand”
Stand Up to “Bully” Trump: Bio CEOs Levin, Holtzman Call to Their Peers
Biotech CEOs Jeremy Levin and Steve Holtzman have watched the violence in Charlottesville, VA, and its continuing aftermath with disgust. But they aren’t just upset about the rally, the violence and death, and President Trump’s equivocating blame of “many sides.” Levin, of Ovid Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OVID]]), and Holtzman, of Decibel Therapeutics, have been disappointed with … Continue reading “Stand Up to “Bully” Trump: Bio CEOs Levin, Holtzman Call to Their Peers”
The Downside of Immersive Tech: An Increasingly Isolated World
As an entrepreneur who has been involved in tech and media for over two decades, I have seen my share of disruptions (I so hate that word!) and even participated in a few. Back in the 1990s, while we were developing some broadband technologies at Sourcecom, my first startup, we also had to develop the … Continue reading “The Downside of Immersive Tech: An Increasingly Isolated World”
On Drug Pricing: FDA Backs Up Its Calls for Increased Competition
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has been very public in expressing his desire to provide increased competition and greater choice to American consumers in a bid to drive down prices of prescription medicines. Recently, the agency he oversees took some unusual steps to back up those statements with action. Last week, the FDA approved the use … Continue reading “On Drug Pricing: FDA Backs Up Its Calls for Increased Competition”
Nvidia Joins $20M Deal in Chinese Self-Driving Startup TuSimple
Nvidia (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NVDA]]), the Santa Clara, CA-based maker of specialized graphics processing chips that have become workhorses in artificial intelligence, has joined a group of investors that put $20 million into TuSimple, a Chinese startup developing self-driving technology for long-haul trucks. In a blog posted Wednesday, Nvidia says TuSimple has used Nvidia GPUs, the Nvidia … Continue reading “Nvidia Joins $20M Deal in Chinese Self-Driving Startup TuSimple”
Bio Roundup: Frazier v. Trump, Data Dumps, New York Steps & More
The CEO of a major U.S. pharmaceutical company was in the news this week, but for a change not because of the cost of drugs. Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier (pictured) was the first of what quickly became a line of CEOs to exit President Trump’s manufacturing council, leading to its dissolution altogether. Frazier was widely … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: Frazier v. Trump, Data Dumps, New York Steps & More”