Industry & Company Headlines

Featured SoCalBio Member

• MannKind Corp. (Valencia):
  Betting an Estate on Inhaled Insulin
  Pfizer the world's biggest drug company, flopped miserably with a seemingly can't-miss idea. But Alfred E. Mann is so certain he can succeed that he is betting nearly $1 billion of his own money on the effort. Pfizer's failure was a form of insulin that people with diabetes could inhale rather than inject. But last month, after selling only $12 million worth of inhaled insulin in the first nine months of the year, Pfizer said it would take a $2.8 billion charge and abandon the product. Mr. Mann, the 82-year-old chief executive and controlling shareholder of the MannKind Corporation, is not deterred ... Continue reading

Market Trends

• Aging Boomers: Me Generation's Health Concerns Expected to Propel Biotech
  With much of the country's wealth and political power concentrated in their hands, baby-boomers are uniquely positioned to drive the biotechnology market. They're both consuming and investing in medical devices and pharmaceuticals that not only extend their lives, but also make them better .. read more
• Pharma Plants Retreat from Puerto Rico
  Puerto Rico -- long a global hub of drug manufacturing thanks to tax breaks and the territory's unfettered access to the U.S. market -- now suffers the consequences of big pharma's retrenchment. Over the past 18 months, five major drug manufacturing plants have either closed or announced plans to do so, eliminating 3,000 relatively high paying jobs. The closures are a largely a result of higher energy costs, changing tax rules and industry consolidation ... read more

Company News

• Abraxis BioScience (Los Angeles):
  • Abraxis BioScience Emerges as a Stand-Alone Proprietary Biotechnology Company
• Advanced Medical Optics (Santa Ana):
  • Richard A. Meier Named President of Advanced Medical Optics
• Allergan (Irvine):
  • Drug That Lengthens Eyelashes Sets Off Flutter
  • Allergan, Covidien Team Up to Market Lap-Band
• CHAD Therapeutics (Chatsworth):
  • CHAD to Sell Its Oxygen Conserver Business and Focus on the Sleep Disorder Market
• Grant Life Sciences (Los Angeles):
  • Grant Life Sciences in-licenses HPV DNA-based test from Alphagenics
• Kythera Biopharmaceuticals (Agoura Hills):
  • Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Appoints Industry Veteran as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs
• IRIS International (Chatsworth):
  • IRIS International CEO & President Cesar Garcia Named Chairman
• Mentor (Santa Barbara):
  • Mentor Appoints Michael O'Neill as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
• Meyer Pharmaceuticals (Irvine):
  • Meyer Pharmaceuticals Acquires NF-kappaB Decoy Technology for Treatment of Inflammatory Disease
• Watson Pharmaceuticals (Corona):
  • Watson Names New Chief Financial Officer

Regulatory Watch

• Influence of the HIPAA Privacy Rule on Health Research
• The Dysregulation of Human Subjects Research

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December 12, 2007
5:00 - 9:00 pm
Wilshire Grand Hotel, Los Angeles

SoCalBio Networking Forum 

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 featuring a presentation and panel discussion focusing on

Unlocking the Potential of 
Microtechnology 
in Medicine

Local companies -- such as MicroFabrica of Van Nuys -- are developing micro-technologies -- that promise to transform the face of a wide array of medical devices

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January 28, 2008
7:30 am - 4:00 pm
UCI University Club in Irvine

SoCalBio Workshop on Accessing Government Funding

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Learn about funding opportunities from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the U.S. Army .. See attendee evaluation of previous workshop held on Jan. 2007

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February 29, 2008
8:00 am - 6:00 pm
Wilshire Grand Hotel, Los Angeles

2^nd SoCalBio Human Resources  Conference

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Organized by the Southern California Biomedical Council, this conference provides a forum for information sharing among HR executives in device and biotech companies, HR service providers, bio-recruiters, educators, and workforce training professionals to address the growing human capital and employment needs of the life-science industry in Southern California ... More information

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