"We are extremely honored to receive this award from Popular Science," said Robert Greenberg, MD, PhD, President and CEO of the Los Angeles-based Second Sight Medical Products Corporation. "We look forward to sharing our innovation with the many people with advanced Retinitis Pigmentosa as we prepare for our official launch here in the US"  ...Learn more 

Read Second Sight's Press Release

During the Bio China Conference held in Beijing on Nov 11 - 13, Hongguang Wang, director general of the China National Centre for Biotechnology Development (CNCBD), was brutally honest, saying that even though China's production capacity is the largest in world, it's not the highest quality. And he pointed to another intimidating truth about developing drugs here: "China's drug approval process is slow because if something goes wrong with a new drug you go to prison" ... Read more

Led by Sanjay Khare, PhD (photo right), ImmunGene, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on developing antibody-cytokine fusion technology therapies to treat cancer. In a recent press release, ImmunGene "announced it has secured $9 million in a milestone-based Series A financing from Ally Bridge Group. Previous investments in the Company were converted into Series A preferred stock. ImmunGene will use the capital to advance its early-stage development products to IND-enabling studies" ... Read Press Release 

Xencor, a clinical-stage biotech developing treatments for severe autoimmune and allergic diseases and cancer, announced terms for its IPO on Monday. The Monrovia, CA-based company plans to raise $75 million by offering 5.0 million shares at a price range of $14 to $16. At the midpoint of the proposed range, Xencor would command a market value of $325 million .. Read more 

Debora Crowe of the LA business Journal Writes: " The 67,000-square-foot facility, at 757 Baldwin Park Blvd. in City of Industry, was converted from a former distribution center for stuffed animals. It will enable the 14-year-old life science company, which will relocate from Monrovia, to ramp up production to meet a growing demand from hospitals for human milk-based fortifiers for severely premature infants" ... Read more

"Being the first device company to meet its primary efficacy endpoints in a randomized obesity trial is an important step forward on the path to FDA approval," said President and CEO of ReShape Medical, Inc., Richard Thompson. We saw very significant interest in participation in this study, and are looking forward to bringing the first, non-surgical weight-loss device to the U.S. market, where ReShape Duo has the potential to help patients lose significantly more weight than diet and exercise programs alone" ... Read Press release 

The Los Angeles-based Response Genetics, Inc., a company focused on the development and sale of molecular diagnostic tests that help determine a patient's response to cancer therapy, announced that it has recently closed four new payor contracts with national Preferred Provider Organization ("PPO") networks. The four new provider agreements are with: -- America's Choice Provider Network, LLC -- FedMed, Inc. -- Galaxy Health Network -- Prime Health Services, Inc ... Read more