Latest Posts

• Could Facebook’s Crypto Break Financial System? Congress Airs Fears

  In late 2017, a federal watchdog unit assigned a working group to keep an eye on cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, and to sound an alert if those alternate currencies showed signs of becoming a risk to the stability of the US... Read more »

  Bernadette Tansey7/19/19

• Bio Roundup: Opioid Exposé, Gilead’s Gambit, Life Science IPOs & More

  The opioid crisis reaches all corners of the nation, and newly released data this week revealed how the growth of the epidemic tracked with a massive increase in the production and distribution of these drugs.

  From 2006 to 2012, the number... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan7/19/19

• San Diego Roundup: Qualcomm, Philter, Stella Labs, VC Funding & More

  Comic-Con International may be holding everyone’s attention this week, but the tech community has stayed busy amid all the action (and increased traffic). Let’s catch up with the latest tech news in San Diego.

  —San Diego’s AON Devices was among 10... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo7/19/19

• Genmab, Mirum Pharma & Fulcrum Raise $653M in Wall Street Debuts

  Initial public offerings took a brief summer break the week of Independence Day, but healthcare IPO activity resumed this week as three more companies joined the US public markets. Here’s a recap of the biotech companies that priced IPOs Wednesday evening.... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan7/18/19

• Trefoil Therapeutics Raises $28M and Eyes the Clinic for Cornea Drug

  Trefoil Therapeutics, which is developing treatments for diseases that affect the cornea, the outermost layer of the eye, has raised $28 million to move its lead drug candidate into human testing.

  The company is developing an engineered form of fibroblast growth... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo7/16/19

• Prenatal Testing Firm Cradle Genomics Debuts With $17M, Illumina Ties

  Another company headed by former Illumina executives has launched, fueled with a $17 million Series A round from investors including a local venture capital firm.

  The new firm, Cradle Genomics, is seeking to commercialize improved non-invasive prenatal tests, which analyze blood... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo7/16/19

• Bio Roundup: Michael Becker, Suzanne Eaton, Gene Therapy Moves & More

  The life science and healthcare worlds are vast. We often talk about impact in terms of millions of patients and billions of dollars. But these worlds can be small, too. It seems at times we’re never far removed from any one... Read more »

  Alex Lash7/12/19

• Amgen, Novartis BACE Inhibitor Joins List of Failed Alzheimer’s Drugs

  Amgen and Novartis are stopping work on an experimental Alzheimer’s disease drug after an early look at clinical data showed worsening cognitive function in patients.

  The interim results announced Thursday were part of a pre-planned review of data from two pivotal... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan7/11/19

• Trump Kills His Administration’s Plan to End Secret Drug Rebates

  Donald Trump’s criticism of high drug prices began during the 2016 presidential campaign and continued through his presidency, perhaps most famously just before his inauguration when he said that drug companies were “getting away with murder.”

  This week has... Read more »

  Alex Lash7/11/19

• Record Exit Value for VC-Backed Startups Could Fuel Investment

  More than a third of the companies that went public in the first half of this year were backed by venture capital.

  That, plus robust merger and acquisition activity, set a record for venture-backed exit value—$165.2 billion in money returned to... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo7/11/19

• Nestlé Sells Gut-Health Test Maker Prometheus Labs, Layoffs Expected

  Eight years after San Diego biotech Prometheus Laboratories was acquired by Nestlé Health Science, the diagnostic business has been sold again, this time to a little-known biotech called Precision IBD that plans to lay off approximately a quarter of Prometheus’s... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo7/10/19

• How Do YOU Think the Internet Will Evolve? A Sampling of Your Tweets

  [Editor’s note: This is part of a series examining the internet’s first 50 years and predicting the next half century. Join Xconomy and World Frontiers Forum on July 16 for Net@50, an event exploring the internet’s past and future.... Read more »

  Wade Roush7/9/19

• Future of the Internet: What Scares Networking Pioneer Radia Perlman

  [Editor’s note: This is part of a series examining the internet’s first 50 years and predicting the next half century. Join Xconomy and World Frontiers Forum on July 16 for Net@50, an event exploring the internet’s past and future.... Read more »

  Wade Roush7/8/19

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• Why Bob Metcalfe Is an Optimist About the Internet

  [Editor’s note: This is part of a series examining the internet’s first 50 years and predicting the next half century. Join Xconomy and World Frontiers Forum on July 16 for Net@50, an event exploring the internet’s past and future.... Read more »

  Wade Roush7/8/19

• Bio Roundup: Duchenne Race, Warren v. Gottlieb, A $599 Genome & More

  As we pause to celebrate the 4th of July, another birthday is top of mind: A third baby whose embryonic DNA was edited by Chinese scientist He Jiankui. As Xconomy reported in November, He hinted about a second pregnancy after his... Read more »

  Ben Fidler7/5/19

• Talk of Broadcom Buyout of Symantec Puts Broader IT Focus Into View

  Broadcom is once, twice, three times a multi-billion-dollar dealmaker (well, basically) in the past year if it follows through on its reported talks to acquire Mountain View, CA-based cybersecurity giant Symantec.

  The potential acquisition, which was first reported Tuesday by Bloomberg... Read more »

  David Holley7/3/19

• Q&A: Providence Exec on Bluetree Acquisition, Trends in Health Tech

  Providence St. Joseph Health, a Renton, WA-based organization that operates 51 hospitals and 829 clinics across five US states, announced its latest strategic, IT-focused acquisition last week. The company Providence has agreed to purchase—financial terms aren’t being disclosed—is Bluetree Network... Read more »

  Jeff Buchanan7/3/19

• The Next Internet: Usability Guru Don Norman Calls for Starting Over

  [Editor’s note: This is part of a series examining the internet’s first 50 years and predicting the next half century. Join Xconomy and World Frontiers Forum on July 16 for Net@50, an event exploring the internet’s past and future.... Read more »

  Wade Roush7/3/19

• Mercato, Grocery Delivery Startup For “Indie” Retailers, Gets $4M

  Delivery services such as Shipt and Instacart deliver groceries to customers’ doorsteps daily. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT) also offer the service, albeit only for their own stores.

  Large-scale chain stores are the focus of most grocery... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo7/2/19

• Uber Rejiggers App to Highlight Its Bikes, Scooters in San Diego

  San Diego is one of two metropolitan areas in which ride-hailing giant Uber has reformatted its mobile app to make it simpler for users to rent an electric bicycle or scooter.

  With the previous version of Uber’s (NYSE: UBER) app,... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo7/2/19

• Special Report 2069: Predicting the Internet’s Next 50 Years

  [Editor’s note: This is part of a series examining the internet’s first 50 years and predicting the next half century. Join Xconomy and World Frontiers Forum on July 16 for Net@50, an event exploring the internet’s past and future.... Read more »

  Wade Roush7/2/19

• Tracing the ARPANET Roots of the Internet’s Cybersecurity Crisis

  [Editor’s note: This is part of a series examining the internet’s first 50 years and predicting the next half century. Join Xconomy and World Frontiers Forum on July 16 for Net@50, an event exploring the internet’s past and future.... Read more »

  Brian Dowling7/2/19

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• Brain Corp., Maker of Robotics Tech, to Open European HQ in Amsterdam

  Brain Corp., a robotics startup whose technology powers automated floor cleaning machines in retail stores, malls, warehouses, and airports, announced Monday it is opening its first European office in Amsterdam, the largest city in the Netherlands.

  The Amsterdam office will serve... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo7/1/19

• Peter Gabriel Joins Net@50 Lineup; Tix Going Fast for July 16 Event

  Legendary rock musician and longtime internet evangelist Peter Gabriel has joined the all-star cast of speakers for Net@50, a historic event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first net message—while also looking ahead to the internet’s next 50 years.

  The... Read more »

  Robert Buderi7/1/19

• As Cities Ban Face Recognition, Body-Cam Firm Axon Also Nixes It

  This week’s decision by police equipment manufacturer Axon to forego using facial recognition software in its body cameras follows a string of other actions against the use of face-matching technology by public agencies. They include a pioneering ban in San... Read more »

  Bernadette Tansey6/28/19

• San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: MEI Pharma, Turning Point, & More

  It was a relatively quiet week in the San Diego life sciences community, but local companies and organizations continue working away. Here’s a look at some recent developments, including companies moving their lead drug candidates into Phase 2 trials, new R&D... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/28/19

• Bio Roundup: Merger Drama, FDA Trauma, Big IPOs, CRISPR Fights & More

  It was a busy week. If we had to choose a theme, it was all about getting together. Two huge drug companies, AbbVie and Allergan, said they’d be better as one. Two more huge drug companies, Celgene and Bristol-Myers Squibb, learned... Read more »

  Alex Lash6/28/19

• Degreed Raises $75M to Expand in Growing Workforce Training Sector

  Degreed, which helps businesses upgrade the skills of their staffers through an online gateway to learning resources, announced Thursday it has raised $75 million to grow the service and expand internationally.

  San Francisco-based Degreed is among the educational technology companies... Read more »

  Bernadette Tansey6/27/19

• Mirati Stock Sale Targets $200M as Lead Cancer Drug Starts Phase 3

  Mirati Therapeutics plans to raise more than $200 million this week in a public offering, funding that it plans to use to advance its lead cancer drug candidate, sitravatinib, into late-stage testing, and to continue developing its other targeted oncology programs.... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/26/19

• Encoded Nabs $104M, Illumina’s Help, to Push Gene Therapy’s Limits

  Despite the progress of gene therapy—a cutting edge medicine promising long-lasting effects from a single treatment—it remains a crude and limited tool. Startup Encoded Therapeutics has raised $104 million to join the race to expand gene therapy’s reach.

  The South San... Read more »

  Ben Fidler6/26/19

• Acutus, Maker of Next-Gen Electrophysiology Tech, Adds $100M Series D

  A company that makes a mapping system to help doctors see high-resolution, 3D images of irregular heart rhythms in real time has raised $100 million in venture investment and a $70 million credit facility to fund its full-scale market launch.

  Acutus... Read more »

  Sarah de Crescenzo6/25/19

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