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Do
you Know?
The
consolidated Los Angeles metropolitan statistical
area -- comprised of Los Angeles, Orange,
Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and Santa
Barbara counties -- is home to 120+ biotech and
biopharma companies. Although some, such as Amgen
and Allergan, are household names, the
overwhelming majority is made of small,
R&D-intensive companies created after 1995 and
scattered over a large geographical area in Los
Angeles (which is home to ~70 companies) and
Orange County (which is home to ~ 30
companies) as shown in the map above.
Neuroscience
as an Emerging Sub-Cluster:
This
SoCalBio Business Mixer seeks to attract attention
to the exciting R&D efforts of a subsegment of
our region's biotech/biopharma cluster: an
emerging neuroscience sub-cluster made of
companies targeting various neurological
disorders.
Members
of this small, but growing club include
established firms, such as Allergan,
and a number of new biotech companies such
as Neurogeneration, a Cedars
Sinai spinoff focused on using stem cells to
treat Parkinson's disease; Neurion
Pharmaceuticals, a Pasadena-based drug
discovery startup seeking to develop
anti-anxiety medications; and Avanir
Pharmaceuticals (formerly of San Diego
but now a resident of Orange County), whose drug Zenvia, indicated
for treating involuntary emotional expression
disorder, is in the third phase of
clinical trials.
Event
Focus:
This Mixer
will showcase some of the recent additions to
this neuroscience club. These are:
1) Anergix, a USC spin-off targeting
multiple sclerosis;
2) Cenomed
Biosciences, an Irvine-based joint
venture between Abraxis Bioscience of Los
Angeles and Cenomed, which targets
neurological disorders such as cognitive
impairment and Alzheimer's; and
3)
Kadmus Pharmaceuticals, a
UCI startup focusing on endocannabinoid
pathways to develop innovative therapeutics to
treat anxiety, depression and panic.
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