| San Diego Business Journal

San Diego Companies Find Deals and Dollars at Health Conference

Two DNA sequencing companies raised more than $140 million combined, Daré Bioscience inked a potential commercialization deal worth up to $310 million, and Human Longevity sold its cancer division for $37 million, and separately, acquired a company.

Neurocrine Gains Option to License Epilepsy Drug; Deal Worth up to $412M

San Diego-based Neurocrine could buy the rights to yet another experimental epilepsy drug, per a recently announced agreement that could be worth up to $412 million.

DNA Sequencing Company Element Biosciences Raises $80.3M Round

Element Biosciences, another San Diego upstart that’s trying to make DNA technology more accessible, recently raised an $80.3 million round.

Tandem Diabetes Software Gets FDA OK

Closed-Loop System Controls Low and High Blood Sugar.

Epirium to Take on Muscle Diseases, Aging

BIOTECH: Company focused on mitochondria health, raises $85M round

Boosting ambitious plans, Epirium recently secured an $85 million Series A round, amid greater investment in muscle therapies.

Foundation Readies To Take On Ultra-Rare Diseases

Former Ionis CEO To Take Helm At Nonprofit.

Medical Device Cos. Applaud Tax Repeal

HEALTH: Excise Tax Was an ACA Financing Mechanism

A recently signed federal spending bill repealed a 2.3% excise tax on medical device makers that was scheduled to resume this month, a boon to San Diego’s medtech industry.

With $4M in Funding, n-Lorem Foundation to Take on Rare Genetic Diseases

After three decades helming Carlsbad’s Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Stanley Crooke stepped down at the end of 2019. Retirement isn’t for him, it seems.

Psychosis Drug Also Shows Promise in Dementia Cases

Nuplazid Nets $94.6 Million In Q3 Sales

A drug from Acadia Pharmaceuticals made dementia patients nearly three times less likely to relapse into psychosis.

PharmAkea to Merge with Galecto

San Diego’s PharmAkea is merging with Denmark-based Galecto, a deal the companies said would combine overlapping drug development programs aimed at cancer and fibrosis.

Organovo and Tarveda to Merge

Deal To Give Tarveda Access to Nasdaq

San Diego-based Organovo last summer put itself up for sale, after its implantable liver program failed a clinical trial.

Regulatory Hurdle Too High for Illumina

TECH: Co. Scraps Planned $1.2 Billion PacBio Acquisition

San Diego’s Illumina will no longer buy Pacific Biosciences for $1.2 billion, a decision the companies mutually reached following antitrust action on both sides of the pond. Pacific Biosciences, or PacBio, had the potential to add another dimension to Illumina’s DNA-reading technology that’s the backbone of everything from ancestry tests to prenatal screening. But last month, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission moved to block the transaction, and the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority in October said it might do the same. $98M Breakup Fee Per a Jan. 2 announcement, Illumina will pay a $98 million break-up fee to PacBio. But PacBio must repay the money if it strikes an agreement to be acquired by Sept. 30 and consummates the deal within two years. Illumina climbed to the top of the DNA sequencing market with short-read sequencing that amplifies snippets of DNA. Pacific Biosciences, or Pac

Illumina, Pacific Biosciences Call Off $1.2B Deal

San Diego’s Illumina will no longer buy Pacific Biosciences for $1.2 billion, a decision the companies reached following antitrust action on both sides of the pond.

Organovo and Tarveda Therapeutics Agree to Merge

Recently, publicly-traded Organovo and Tarveda Therapeutics agreed to merge. The deal will take privately-held Tarveda public.

Maravai LifeSciences Fine Tunes a Variety of Acquisitions for GTCR

Co. Has Four Firms Under Management, Open to More

San Diego’s Maravai LifeSciences launched in 2014, armed with a war chest of $300 million to buy and grow life sciences companies.

Kinnate Raises $74.5M for Cancer Programs

The company’s programs fall under the banner of kinase inhibitors, which are designed to thwart cancers from metastasizing.

Biogen pays Ionis $45M Upfront to License Experimental Alzheimer’s Drug

Carlsbad-based Ionis Pharmaceuticals recently licensed its experimental Alzheimer’s drug to Biogen, earning $45 million upfront and potentially an additional $155 million in milestone payments.

Epirium Raises $85 Million to Treat Muscle Diseases

Its Therapeutics Also Addressing Underlying Mitochondrial Dysfunction

Epirium surfaced Dec. 18 with an $85 million series A round to develop programs aimed at rare muscular disorders.

Epirium Raises $85M in Hopes of Treating Muscle Diseases

Epirium surfaced Dec. 18 with an $85 million series A round to develop programs aimed at rare muscular disorders.

Small Firms Decry Clampdown on Association Insurance

Biotechs and Others Weigh Options on Health Plans

By 2021, California companies with fewer than 100 employees can no longer pool together for insurance through industry trade groups.

Aspen Neuroscience Lands $6.5M for Parkinson’s Cell Therapy

Aspen Neuroscience recently received a $6.5 million seed round to advance technology that could replace lost brain cells in Parkinson’s patients.

ERs Pledge to Make Senior Care a Priority

HEALTH: Protocols Made For Treatments, Tracking

Windows letting in natural light. Nonslip floors. Sound-absorbing walls...

Zentalis Receives $85M in Funding To Target Cancer

BIOTECH: Quiet Biotech Raised $147 Million Since Founding

Cancer drug developer Zentalis Pharmaceuticals recently surfaced with an $85 million round.

French Pharma Company to Pay $2.5 Billion for Synthorx

Co.’s Protein Engineering Could Treat More Than Just Cancer

French pharmaceutical Sanofi will pay $2.5 billion to buy Synthorx.

Presidium Health's Concierge Care Takes On Tough Cases

MEDICINE: Focus Put on Population of Frequent ER Users

Just 5% of patients account for roughly half of the nation’s health care spending. These “super users” cycle through emergency rooms.

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Emerges with $85M Round for Cancer Drugs

Cancer drug developer Zentalis Pharmaceuticals recently surfaced with an $85 million round. The funding was a series C financing, an unusually late point for a drugmaker to make its public debut.

Evofem’s Gel Shows Promise Preventing Some STDs

Evofem Biosciences’ gel in midstage clinical trials reduced the risk of chlamydia and gonorrhea infections compared to a placebo.

Cancer Drug Developer Synthorx Acquired for $2.5 Billion

French pharmaceutical Sanofi will pay $2.5 billion to buy Synthorx, a San Diego biotech that expanded the genetic alphabet in a quest to treat cancer.

Neurocrine Pays $50 Million for Epilepsy Drug Candidate

PHARMA: Xenon Could Receive up to $1.7 Billion In Milestone Payments

Neurocrine Biosciences has plunked down $50 million upfront for a potential epilepsy treatment, the San Diego company’s second major licensing deal this year.

Potential $31 Million Deal Shows Canale’s Work Paid Off

UDG Aims to Expand Footprint, Especially in West Coast

Carin Canale-Theakston founded Canale Communications. Her twin goals: build the largest life sciences communications firm on the West Coast.

Evofem’s Gel Lessens Risk of Chlamydia, Gonorrhea in Clinical Trial

Evofem Biosciences’ gel in mid-stage clinical trials reduced the risk of chlamydia and gonorrhea infections compared to a placebo, the San Diego company reported Dec. 2.

Phoenix Molecular’s Seed Funding Reaches $12 Million

Co. Targets RSK2 Enzyme Often Found in Breast Cancers

Phoenix Molecular Designs is attacking advanced breast cancer in a new way — and with added funding.

Avidity Gets $100M For Research Into Muscle Disorders

More Than a Dozen Entities Invest in Preclinical Programs

Avidity Biosciences recently was awarded a $100 million series C round.

Truvian Seeks to Decentralize Blood Testing

BIOTECH: Co. Aims for Transparency in Each Step

Truvian Sciences wants to run a battery of tests on only drops of blood. Its mobile lab is designed to return answers in 20 minutes.

Radys Pledge $200M to Children’s Hospital

PHILANTHROPY: Gift For Expansion and Integrating Care and Tech

Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego recently announced the single largest donation in its history.

Canale Communications Acquired in Deal Worth up to $31M

UGD Healthcare bought Canale Communications, a San Diego firm that specializes in strategy consulting for life sciences companies, it was announced Nov. 26.

Presidium Health Raises $3.5 Million To Reduce ER Visits

Co. Has Launched A Mobile Health Team In San Diego

Seniors and patients with chronic conditions are more likely to cycle through emergency rooms.

It’s Mirati Vs. Amgen As Drugmakers Target Mutated Gene

Bigger Sample Size, More Time Needed To Evaluate Drugs

An experimental drug from Mirati Therapeutics shrunk the tumors of some cancer patients with a common mutation, in an early-stage clinical trial.

Rady Children’s to Receive $200M Donation

Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego recently announced the single largest donation in its history.

Funding Goes to Cancer Drug Developers, Company Billed as the Anti-Theranos

Seeking and destroying lung cancer. Succeeding where Theranos failed. Treating resistant breast cancers.

Toft Group Acquired By New Jersey Co.

BIOTECH: Founder to Remain as Chair

Thirteen years ago, Robin Toft landed in the emergency room with a colon cancer diagnosis.

Illumina Could Sweeten Pot With Free Licenses

GENOMICS: Company Maneuvering to Get UK Approval of Acquisition

Illumina has proposed offering competitors free licenses to certain patents in hopes of getting U.K. regulatory approval to buy Pacific Biosciences.

New Vision at NuVasive

MEDICINE: Surgery Co. Appears To Be Making Right Moves

A year ago, Chris Barry became the CEO of NuVasive, one of San Diego’s largest medical device companies. It wasn’t a caretaker role.

Illumina Hopes IP Plan Wins Over U.K. Antitrust Regulator

Illumina has proposed offering competitors free licenses to certain patents in hopes of getting U.K. regulatory approval to buy Pacific Biosciences for $1.2 billion.