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May 7, 2012
| Editor: Ahmed Enany President & CEO Southern California Biomedical Council [email protected] www.socalbio.org
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New SoCalBio Members |
Claremont BioSolutions (Upland)
BioSolutions (ClaremontBio) is dedicated to next-generation devices for lysis and nucleic acid extraction from microbial cells for PCR ready sample. Key focuses on ClaremontBio's novel technology are ease of use, disposibility, cost effectiveness, versatility, elimination of extensive protocols, as well as elimination of the need for additional lab equipment such as centrifuges and wash baths.This novel technology can be applied to point-of-care systems, mini flow through platforms and various other integrations ... Learn more
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Coming in September |
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Innovation
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Creating Innovators: Why America's Education
System Is Obsolete
America's last competitive advantage - its ability to innovate - is at risk as a result of the country's lackluster education system, according to research by Harvard Innovation Education Fellow Tony Wagner (photo right). In a new book: "Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change The World,", Wagner points out the skills it takes to become an innovator, the downfalls of America's current education system, and how parents, teachers, mentors, and employers can band together to create innovators ... Read more at Forbes
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Virtual Biotechs |
Virtual Biotech Companies: Built on Solid Bedrock or Unstable Landfill?
Stewart Lyman, Owner and Manager of Lyman BioPharma Consulting LLC in Seattle, opines that virtual biotechs are not designed to reach adulthood.They are raised for the sole purpose of being gobbled up while still young fry by the larger, wealthier fish in the pond. While some of these companies have been acquired for attractive valuations, He remains concerned about their potential to create useful medicines. In addition, they don't play a role in fueling regional biotech ecosystems .... Read more
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Financing Drug Development |
MIT Finance Professor Suggests Funding Drug Research Using Collateralized Drug Obligations
Starting from the premise that venture capital groups, the NIH and Big Pharma are are incapable of successfully funding new drugs, MIT finance engineering professor Andrew Lo (photo right) spoke at the Milken Institute Global Conference about utilizing collateralized drug obligations (CDOs), the same financial tools that caused a housing bubble and triggered a global financial crisis. In this case he would look for debt investors willing to put up $50 billion to $100 billion to fund 150 experimental drugs over 10 years ... Read more
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Clinical Studies |
KYTHERA Biopharmaceuticals Announces Positive Results From Two Pivotal European Phase III Trials of ATX-101 for Reduction of Submental Fat
"These positive Phase III data are consistent with the encouraging results from previous trials, all of which have demonstrated that ATX-101 is well tolerated and provides meaningful aesthetic improvements according to multiple clinician, patient and objective measures," said Patricia S. Walker, M.D., Ph.D. (photo right), KYTHERA's Chief Medical Officer. "We have taken a rigorous scientific approach in developing and evaluating ATX-101 for the aesthetic reduction of submental fat which includes a second European Phase III trial, Study 17, and our two ongoing multi-center pivotal U.S. and Canadian Phase III trials, REFINE-1 and REFINE-2." . .. Read press release
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Heart Valves |
Edwards's Sapien Gains Medicare Coverage
for Heart Valve
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said today it would pay for the surgery to insert the Edwards valve that uses a catheter to allow doctors to avoid cracking open the chest, provided at least two cardiac surgeons evaluate the patient and determine the procedure is appropriate ... Read more
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Biodefense and Medicine |
The Pasadena-Based Neumedicines Is Among a New Crop of Biotech Firms Focused On Radiation Threat Could Help Cancer Patients Too
Last year's nuclear crisis in Japan and the 9/11 attacks have drawn attention to the threat that radiation could pose after a disaster or terrorist assault. Neumedicines is one of several small biotechnology companies are readying what could be the first counter-measures, and the drugs they're discovering may also find broader use as treatments for people with cancer ... Read article in the Wall Street Journal
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Cytometer |
UCLA Researchers Invent a High Speed Deformability Cytometer to Detect Circulating Cancer Cells
Scanning through thousands of cells to spot a cancerous one requires a fast device, and researchers at UCLA have developed one called deformability cytometer. It is a microfluidics chip that can effectively "feel" around the entire perimeter of individual cells, using a liquid flow trap, at 2,000 cells per second ... Read more
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Games for Health |
Crowdsourced Pathology Through Online Video Games
Working on the assumption that large groups of public non-experts can be trained to recognize infectious diseases with the accuracy of trained pathologists, researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA have created a crowd-sourced online gaming system in which players distinguish malaria-infected red blood cells from healthy ones by viewing digital images obtained from microscopes. ... Read more
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Jobs Available |
Maven Biotechnologies (Monrovia)
Avita Medical (Northridge)
Inogen (Goleta)
Agensys (Santa Monica)
Amgen (Thousand Oaks)
- Amgen has 150 job openings in Thousand Oaks in research, marketing, information technology, quality, regulatory affairs and HR. Click here to access list
Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (Irvine)
C3 Jian (Inglewood)
Second Sight Medical Products (Sylmar)
Alfred Mann Foundation for Scientific Research (Santa Clarita)
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About SoCalBio |
SoCalBio membership links you to partners, contract manufacturers, regulatory and legal experts, and policy makers. The organization's programs help emerging biotech and medical device companies grow. Membership is affordable -- as low as $500 -- and offers access to networking opportunities, advocacy, discounts through our group purchasing program group purchasing program and other benefits you simply can't find elsewhere ... Join SoCalBio |
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