San Diego’s Neurocrine Biosciences Scores Second Big Deal in Two Days

Neurocrine Biosciences, which looked like it was stuck perpetual retrenchment-mode, just pulled off its second big deal in two days. Yesterday, the San Diego biotech agreed to grant German drug maker... Read more »

Brain Cells’ Antidepressant Disappoints in Clinical Study, Otonomy Hears the Sound of Money, Cognionics Wins Startup Competition, & More San Diego Life Sciences News

A spate of financings dominated the headlines in the past week. We’ve got it summarized for you here.

—Brain Cells’ experimental antidepressant was no better than placebo in a mid-stage... Read more »

Neurocrine Inks Deal with Abbott

Abbott Laboratories will pay Neurocrine Biosciences (NASDAQ:NBIX) of San Diego up to $575 million for exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize Neurocrine’s experimental oral drug for endometriosis, a painful... Read more »

Syndax’s Breast Cancer Drug Advances, Arena Raises Equity Financing, BeneChill Recruits a CEO, & More San Diego Life Sciences News

The pace of life sciences news slowed in the past week, but we know from experience the lull is temporary. You can catch up on the headlines here.

—A raft of... Read more »

Illumina Slashes Cost of Individual Genome Sequencing Service

[Updated 6/11/10 12:05 am. See below.] The cost of getting your genome sequenced continues to drop. San Diego’s Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN) has lowered the cost of its individual... Read more »

Gen-Probe Prostate Cancer Test Looks Promising

Gen-Probe (NASDAQ: GPRO) appears to be on the right track with its experimental prostate cancer test, judging from a raft of recent clinical studies in men being screened for prostate... Read more »

Pathway Genomics’ Marketing Plan for Genetic Tests Draws More Heat

Pathway Genomics’ plan to take genetic testing to the people continues to go badly awry.

A House panel disclosed yesterday that it is investigating personal genetic tests sold over the Internet... Read more »

Sequenom Restarts Down Syndrome Test, Cytori Upbeat About Cardiac Study, Pathway Genomics Mass Markets Genome Tests, & More San Diego Life Sciences News

The sector was firing on all burners in the past week with fresh developments in devices, drug development, wireless health, and weight loss (just ask Larry Smarr). You can catch all... Read more »

Sequenom Raises $51.6 Million As It Prepares to Restart Down Syndrome Test

Sequenom can cross off another item on its long to-do list. The San Diego-based developer of diagnostic tests is announcing today that it has raised $51.6 million in a private placement... Read more »

Sotera Wireless Prepares to Take Pulse of Market for Vital-Signs Device

As representatives of the emerging mobile health industry convene for their annual summit today in La Jolla, it seemed both timely and appropriate to revisit San Diego-based Sotera Wireless. The company,... Read more »

Cytori Heartened by Cell Therapy in Two Small Studies of Cardiac Patients

San Diego-based Cytori Therapeutics (NASDAQ: 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... Read more »

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... Read more »

San Diego’s Cibus Inks Deal with Flax Growers Eager to Avoid GMO Flak

San Diego’s Cibus Global is uniting with Canada’s flax growers to develop a crop strain resistant to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the widely used weed killer Roundup. Flax, also known... Read more »

Anadys Reports Interim Hep C Drug Data, Ligand Collects Milestone Payment, Phenomix’s Diabetes Drug Shows Promise, & More San Diego Life Sciences News

Progress on the drug development front dominated the headlines in the past week, although one company, Phenomix, also had some bad news. Get those details and more here.

—Phenomix announced... Read more »

For San Diego Biomedical Firms with Stakes in Swine Flu, It’s Time for a Check-Up

As swine flu raced through colleges and communities last summer and fall, at least five San Diego companies with flu-related products or research programs saw their share prices surge. Investors were... Read more »

Histogen Sees Hair-Raising Results, Avalon Ventures Mulls Raising a New Fund, AtheaDX Closes Funding Round, & More San Diego Life Sciences News

We heard in the past week from key experts who shared their views on the funding climate and the potential of emerging computational technologies. Our recap follows.

—Histogen said its... Read more »

Life Sciences in San Diego Gets Analytical: A Chat with Paul A. Rejto, Head of Computational Biology at Pfizer Oncology

San Diego’s role in computer analytics dates back to at least 1969, with the founding of Science Applications Inc., now SAIC, which used computer models to predict the effects of... Read more »

Is Bioinformatics in San Diego’s Future? A Chat with UC San Diego Expert Lucila Ohno-Machado

One notion that emerged at Xconomy’s event in San Diego last week was that biomedical informatics might have a promising role to play in the region’s economic future. There is no... Read more »

CareFusion Hits Acquisition Trail, Cadence Pharmaceuticals Enlists Manufacturing Expertise, Medsphere Systems Sees Explosion in Bookings, & More San Diego Life Sciences News

The integration of information technology and life sciences is well underway in San Diego, judging from the past week’s headlines. We’ve summarized it all here.

—Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN) CEO Jay... Read more »

Medsphere Systems Markets Open Source Electronic Health Records System

Experts agree that electronic medical records can lower costs and improve care. Yet just 10 percent of U.S. hospitals keep any computerized records, according to a survey in the New England... Read more »