SoCalBio Weekly Update

• Don't Wait Till the Last Minute to Reserve Your Seat at the 10th SoCalBio Investor Conference

Coming on September 19, the 10th SoCalBio Investor Conference will showcase emerging life-science companies and technologies. The event will also feature Mr. Alan Frazier (photo right), Founder and Managing Director of Frazier Healthcare Ventures www.frazierhealthcare.com, as the morning keynote speaker.

 

Dr. Mark Goldsmith (photo right), Chairman, President & CEO of Cogentus Pharmaceuticals www.cogentus.net will serve as the luncheon keynote speaker. Furthermore, a number of breakouts are planned to engage leading investors and technologists in a dialogue focused on bringing life-science innovations to the marketplace. This is a great opportunity for networking, partnering and learning about new technology trends in Southern California. Reserve your seat now to enjoy the early-bird admission rate at: https://www.123signup.com/ register?id=tfdhj 

Bioscience Industry GIS Profiles

Do You Know Which Congressional Districts in Greater Los Angeles Contain Most Bioscience Companies and Employees?

The Southern California Biomedical Council (SoCalBio or SCBC) has just completed a GIS profile of bioscience employment in congressional districts in Greater Los Angeles and neighboring communities. The profile shows, among other thing, that:

• Congressional District (CD) 48 -- covering Irvine and communities in south Orange County and represented by Congressman John Campbell (Republican) --  is the largest, with 169 companies and 13,000+ employees. CD 48 contains more than half of OC's firms and employment. In addition to well known companies, such as Allergan, Edwards Lifesciences, I-Flow, Ista Pharmaceuticals, Masimo, and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, this district is home to scores of small entrepreneurial device companies. 
  
• Republican Congressman Elton Galegly's district (CD 24), covering most of Ventura County and the inland parts of Santa Barbara County, follows second with 7,500+ bioscience employees. Although having fewer companies (39) by comparison to CD 48, it is home to Amgen and other significant employers such as Baxter and Invitrogen. 

Explore other features of this profile yourself at: http://www.socalbio.org/ Company_Directory/Biosci_emp_ cd110.pdf and
tell us what you think. Please send e-mail to scbc@socalbio.org

General Headlines

• Abbott to Cut 1,000 Jobs from Medical Diagnostic Unit ... Los Angeles Region Will Feel the Pain

Restructuring will negatively affect California as Abbott's diagnostic division plans to shut down its South Pasadena manufacturing site and eliminate jobs in Northern California ... read more

• Plans Announced for a Biotech Incubator in Agoura Hills

Realty Bancorp Equities, a regional commercial real-estate developer, is planning to build a new life-sciences incubator in lab-space-poor Agoura Hills to servine ex Amgen employees who may be starting companies .... read more

• "Thick Bones, Big Drug": How Amgen's Denosumab Was Discovered

It was 1994, and Scott Simonet of Amgen's molecular genetics department in Thousand Oaks, Calif., was looking at some strange X-rays. He had engineered five transgenic mouse lines to overexpress a mysterious secreted protein. The mice looked and behaved normally, but that ordinariness was only skin-deep. "On the X-rays, it was pretty obvious that the long bones had higher bone mineral density," says Simonet. The pelvic and vertebral bones also appeared thicker than usual. It was clear that the mysterious protein played a role in building bone ... read more

• FDA Approves Amgen's Nplate

Amgen has received FDA approval for Nplate for the treatment of immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). ITP is a bleeding condition--which affects about 60,000 people in the U.S.-- that causes the body to attack its own blood clotting cells .. read more

• Anodyne Medical Device, Inc. Announces Abbey Daniels as New Chief Executive Officer

Daniels, who is currently the chief operating officer for Anodyne, will fill the CEO role held by company Founder, Mark Bidner. Mr. Bidner will remain active with the company and retain his role as Chairman of its board of directors ... read release

• Preemption Not an Issue in Cochlear Implant Law Suit Against Advanced Bionics of Valencia, Judge Says

A federal judge ruled that a family may proceed with its lawsuit against device manufacturers, saying preemption is not an issue in this case because the family's claims are based on violations of federal law .. read more