Latest Posts

• Urovant Bladder Drug Hits Test Goals But Can’t Outpace Generic Rival

  Urovant Sciences says its experimental drug for overactive bladder could offer advantages compared to an FDA-approved treatment marketed by Astellas Pharma. But late-stage clinical results released Tuesday raise questions whether Urovant can persuade doctors to prescribe it instead of a much... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan3/19/19

• Why Comma.ai, Maker of Self-Driving Tech, is Moving to San Diego

  Tech salaries may not be as high outside of Silicon Valley, but neither is the cost of operating a business—or the cost of living.

  San Diego’s startup community has rejoiced in recent months as massive companies that employ thousands of engineers—including... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo3/19/19

• Servier Licenses CureMatch Tech for Custom Cancer Drug Treatments

  A global pharmaceutical company based in France has licensed software developed by San Diego digital health startup CureMatch that aims to help cancer doctors customize the combination of drugs they prescribe to patients based on mutations in cancer DNA.

  CureMatch was... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo3/15/19

• Qualcomm Gets $31M in Patent Infringement Trial Win Over Apple

  Wireless giant Qualcomm notched a win Friday in its ongoing multijurisdictional war with smartphone maker Apple as a federal jury in San Diego unanimously backed its patent infringement case.

  Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) said Friday that the jury found that some... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo3/15/19

• Bio Roundup: Golumbeski’s Legacy, CRISPR Moratorium, Rebate Week & More

  While all eyes in the biopharmaceutical world are currently trained on Bristol-Myers Squibb’s proposal to buy Celgene for $74 billion, it wasn’t that long ago that another company’s gaze was fixed on the Summit, NJ, drug maker.

  In the early... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan3/15/19

• Harley-Davidson Goes Electric: Behind the Scenes of LiveWire’s R&D

  For more than a century, the throaty “potato, potato, potato” rumble of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle has been synonymous with the open road, freedom—rebellion, even—and, some might say, American masculinity.

  For non-gearheads, that iconic sound, introduced in 1909, is the result... Read more »

  Brian E. Clark3/14/19

• Blood Test Study Meets Goal, Validates Epic’s Prostate Cancer Target

  Epic Sciences has developed a blood test that can predict how likely a patient with late-stage prostate cancer treated with hormones is likely to respond to an additional course of such therapy. Now, the San Diego-based company has additional data that... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo3/13/19

• Drug-Price Watchdog ICER Dives into Trump-Fueled Pharma Rebate Debate

  [Updated 3/13/19, 12:20pm. See below.] With public and political winds blowing in the same direction, significant reform of the complicated U.S. drug-pricing system seems ever more likely. One part of the system that the Trump administration wants to overhaul... Read more »

  Alex Lash3/13/19

• Meet the Companies in Backstage Capital’s Detroit Accelerator

  Backstage Capital, a Los Angeles-based venture firm seeding early-stage companies led by women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community, has announced the details of its Detroit startup accelerator.

  Earlier this year, Backstage founder Arlan Hamilton announced the firm... Read more »

  Sarah Schmid Stevenson3/12/19

• Connect, Longtime Local Accelerator, Names Silvia Mah as President

  Connect, a 34-year-old nonprofit which runs the well-known Springboard Accelerator Program for startups, announced Monday that it had tapped Silvia Mah, a San Diego investor and entrepreneur, as its new president.

  She succeeds Greg McKee, who served as president and CEO... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo3/11/19

• The Life, Troubles, and Celgene Legacy of Deal Guru George Golumbeski

  George Golumbeski is one of the most prolific dealmakers in the biopharmaceutical world. But the deal that changed his life is a pact he made with himself when he was ten years old.

  Playing with friends in front of his house... Read more »

  Ben Fidler3/11/19

• San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: ResMed, Alexandria GradLabs & More

  Spring has sprung, and it’s shaping up to be another busy season for San Diego’s life sciences community. As we head into the weekend, crossing our fingers that the seemingly endless rain showers will be replaced by our usual sunshine, here’s... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo3/8/19

• Bio Roundup: Gottlieb Exits, Bristol Defends, Biogen Buys & More

  In early 2017, Scott Gottlieb was considered the most moderate of the potential candidates to head the Food and Drug Administration, which is the most powerful regulator of medical products in the world.

  It wasn’t a high bar to clear. Libertarians... Read more »

  Alex Lash3/8/19

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• BeiGene Puts Up $10M to Use Ambrx’s Drug Development Technology

  Chinese pharma company BeiGene has agreed to pay Ambrx $10 million upfront to experiment with technology the biotech has developed in a bid accelerate BeiGene’s search for new protein drugs for cancer treatment.

  Ambrx says its technology is able to incorporate... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo3/7/19

• Steering Lyft’s IPO: What Investors Will Weigh During the Roadshow

  Much has been said about Lyft’s early lead over Uber in the “horserace” to become the first ride-hailing app company to go public. But now that San Francisco-based Lyft has filed its 276-page IPO prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange... Read more »

  Bernadette Tansey and Sarah Schmid Stevenson3/7/19

• Apple Updates Plans, Now Expects to Create 1,200 Jobs in San Diego

  About three months ago, Apple announced it planned to add 1,000 jobs in the San Diego region over the next three years. On Wednesday, the Cupertino, CA-based tech giant said it would increase that total by 200 jobs as part of... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo3/6/19

• Joining AI Drug Discovery Race, Erasca Adds $22M For Cancer Work

  Erasca, a biotech startup run by the former CEO of Ignyta, debuted in December with $42 million and an audacious plan to “erase cancer,” but provided little explanation as to how.

  Erasca is still keeping many of those details under wraps.... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo3/6/19

• Blue Squad Aims to Bring Election Tech Up and Down the Ballot

  Austin—All politics is local, the adage goes, and those campaigns are sorely stuck in analog mode.

  That’s why Shion Deysarkar co-founded Blue Squad two years ago as a “digital coalition” to support progressive candidates by providing them with greater access... Read more »

  Angela Shah3/6/19

• Two Years and Done: FDA Commissioner Gottlieb To Resign

  Two months after insisting on Twitter that he wasn’t going anywhere, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced his resignation today. He leaves a record of health and medical regulation that was more active than critics who spoke out... Read more »

  Alex Lash3/5/19

• Retailers Turn to Analytics, 3D Tech to Promote Fit, Reduce Returns

  One size fits most (at best), and a women’s sizing system created during the Depression doesn’t gibe in an e-commerce business that prizes personalization.

  That’s why startups are turning to new technologies like 3D scanning and machine learning software to produce... Read more »

  Angela Shah3/4/19

• Privacy Watch: FTC, Facebook, EU, the Cloud Act, & More CA bills

  Privacy issues continued to boil to the surface in February. In part, it’s a reflection of the long tail of consequences that began in early 2018 when the broader public learned that Facebook had shared data from millions of user profiles... Read more »

  Bernadette Tansey3/4/19

• SPECIAL REPORT: 2019 Biopharma Outlook – Facing an Uncertain Future

  After years of boom times, the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry is dealing with unprecedented threats on several fronts: public backlash against high drug prices, slowing sales, and the possibility of more government regulation.

  In this Xconomy Special Report, our veteran biotech journalists... Read more »

  Corie Lok3/1/19

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• Bio Roundup: Pharma in DC, Bristol-Cel in Trouble, Roche Gets A Spark

  Could a shareholder revolt doom the planned marriage of Bristol-Myers Squibb and Celgene? Analysts have hinted at the possibility since the two companies shook hands in January, but the threat became real this week.

  Bristol (NYSE: BMY) and Celgene... Read more »

  Ben Fidler3/1/19

• After a Speedy IPO, Equillium Expands Antibody R&D to Renal Disease

  Equillium, a biotech that’s looking to develop an antibody drug for immuno-inflammatory diseases, has added a form of renal disease to the indications for which it aims to develop medicines.

  It’s the latest step in a fast-moving journey for the La... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo2/28/19

• Ex-Google CEO: New MIT College Could Help Shrink A.I. Talent Gap

  Eric Schmidt believes we’re entering an era where artificial intelligence will underpin most facets of human life. But we don’t yet have enough people with the right skills to build that future.

  Schmidt, the former CEO of Google and former executive... Read more »

  Jeff Engel2/28/19

• Walmart’s Store No 8 Acquires Aspectiva to Bring A.I. to Shopping

  Walmart’s Store No 8 innovation arm has acquired an Israeli machine learning startup, the retail giant announced Wednesday.

  Aspectiva joined the two-year-old Store No 8 Monday, and its employees will remain in Tel Aviv. “Store No 8’s record of innovation... Read more »

  Angela Shah2/27/19

• Pharma CEOs to Senate: We Will Lower Drug Prices if Rebates Go Away

  Seven top pharmaceutical executives gathered today in Washington, DC, for a Senate hearing on drug prices, bringing face-to-face two groups held in the lowest esteem possible by the American public.

  Top executives from seven companies—AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Johnson... Read more »

  Alex Lash2/26/19

• Novartis to Pay $150M to Ionis, Akcea for Drug to Slow Heart Disease

  Novartis has agreed to pay $150 million to Ionis Pharmaceuticals and Boston-based Akcea Therapeutics for the rights to a clinical-stage drug meant to treat patients with abnormally high levels of a protein that is considered a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo2/25/19

• Bill Maris’s VC Firm Section 32 Raises $200M for Second Fund

  Section 32, the venture capital fund based in San Diego’s Cardiff-by-the-Sea community, has raised nearly $200 million for its second fund.

  A document filed with securities regulators Friday shed light on comments made the previous week to Xconomy by Section 32... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo2/25/19

• Bio Roundup: NASH News, Merck Strikes, Digital Tokens & More

  The growing epidemic of the fatty liver disease known as NASH, which has no FDA-approved treatment, has led to a frenzied race among drug companies. This week, one company, Intercept Pharmaceuticals, solidified its lead. But how much will being first to... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan2/22/19

• Software Startup Portfolium Acquired by Salt Lake City’s Instructure

  The software of Portfolium, a San Diego startup that hosts online portfolios for students trying to showcase their achievements to potential employers, is set to join the portfolio of Utah educational software company Instructure.

  Instructure (NYSE: INST) has agreed to... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo2/20/19

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