San Diego

Amylin axes 340 jobs in San Diego

Maureen Martino — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:05:26 -0500

Hit by declining Byetta sales, Amylin Pharmaceuticals is cutting 340 jobs in San Diego and reducing anticipated 2009 cash expenditures by more than $80 million. Sales of the company's top drug, Byetta, dropped on news that the treatment could be linked with an increased risk of acute pancreatitis in some patients. The restructuring and workforce reductions impact administration, operations and R&D positions, the company said in a statement. However, it won't affect development of once-weekly Byetta. Amylin still has 900 employees in San Diego and 1,800 worldwide.

"Sales revenues have not met the expectations we had when we scaled up our organization," said said Daniel M. Bradbury, president and CEO at Amylin. "Today's actions will bring operating expenses more in line with revenue and enable us to continue to achieve our business goals of increasing sales of Byetta and Symlin and bringing exenatide once weekly to market as quickly as possible."

- see Amylin's release

Gen-Probe bids $334 for Innogenetics

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:59:58 -0400

In a bid to create the world's largest stand-alone molecular diagnostics company, San Diego-based Gen-Probe has launched a $334 million cash bid for Belgium's Innogenetics. That's a seven percent premium over the June 2nd close and a six percent premium over a bid by Solvay. Gen-Probe says that if its bid is successful, the combined company will have more than a half billion dollars in annual revenue. A spokesman for Solvay says the company is aware of the counter-offer and will make its position known "in due time."

A merger with the European firm would give Gen-Probe a presence on the continent, where the diagnostics business has been growing at a more rapid pace than in the U.S.

- here's the release
- read the AFX report

Following trial failure, Favrille cuts staff

Thu, 29 May 2008 06:59:54 -0400

San Diego's Favrille is making massive cuts following the trial failure of Specifid announced earlier this week. The company is axing 132 of its 144 employees, including six of its eight executive officers. There was no word on which of the 12 remaining employees would be managing the company. Specifid was treatment for follicular B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The drug failed both primary and secondary endpoints in a Phase III trial. The company's stock plunged 90 percent after the announcement on Tuesday and another 30 percent yesterday.

- see the layoff announcement
- read this report for more

Favrille dumps Specifid after trial failure

Tue, 27 May 2008 06:59:57 -0400

San Diego-based Favrille has halted development of Specifid, a treatment for follicular B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. In a Phase III trial the drug failed to show a statistically significant improvement in the treatment arm, failing both primary and secondary endpoints.

"We are clearly very disappointed with the data from this trial, particularly on behalf of the patients and their families," said John P. Longenecker, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Favrille. "Based on these results, we are discontinuing development of Specifid and are currently evaluating steps to conserve cash and recognize value on our assets.

- here's Favrille's release for more

Related Article:
Favrille raises $45M for Phase III work

Forbes Medi-Tech gets out the axe, restructures

Thu, 15 May 2008 06:59:55 -0400

Forbes Medi-Tech says it will slash a third of its staff and shelve all in-house drug development work as it focuses its efforts on the nutraceutical business. The shakeup includes a move to shutter the company's drug development facility in San Diego.

"We realize the need to realign our business to focus on areas that are generating immediate revenue," the company said in a statement. "The head count and expense reductions that we're announcing today, while difficult, allow us to focus on further developing our nutraceutical business."

- here's the release
- read the report from AFX

California grants ignite a boom of lab construction

Wed, 07 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

After four years of litigation and detailed planning, the first $271 million in facilities grants is just about ready to be doled out by the California stem cell institute. And that in turn will trigger more than three-quarters of a billion dollars worth of new construction for the laboratories that are being designed to develop the stem cell therapies of the future.

In the Bay Area alone four projects are vying for funding. If all four win, builders will construct $443 million in new stem cell laboratories.

California's $3 billion stem cell initiative--which was bitterly opposed by conservative groups--has inspired universities in the state to come up with ambitious plans for new research centers, leveraging the bond money with hundreds of millions of dollars of their own money. The state's plans involve stepping in where the federal government has refused to tread for seven years, and they are well on their way to making the state a world leader in the field.

- read the report in the San Francisco Chronicle

San Diego institutes plan $115M stem cell lab

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Four of San Diego's biggest research institutions are teaming up to form the San Diego Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, a group aimed at advancing stem cell work. The four research bodies--UCSD, Scripps Research Institute, the Salk Institute and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research--are planning a $115 million research "collaboratory" that would open in 2010. Each of the institutes brings something different to the Consortium. Salk and the Burnham Institute both have strong stem cell programs, Scripps is know for it medicinal chemistry, and UCSD has a stem cell program, medical engineers and access to patients who could participate in tests for therapies. Consortium members hope that by pooling their strengths they can quickly identify breakthrough drugs based on stem cell research.

"We have this vision of getting people with common interests in the same place so you get a synergy that enhances everyone's individual capacity and makes things go faster," said Larry Goldstein, a Howard Hughes Institute stem cell researcher at the University of California San Diego.

Some of the project's funding will come from the $3 billion stem cell initiative California approved in 2004. An unnamed donor contributed $30 million to the project and the Consortium will have to scrape together $72 million more. The center will be based in San Diego in the Torrey Pines biotech cluster.

- here's the report from the San Diego Union-Tribune
- and check out the AP report

Related Articles:
California--Top Five Regions Targeting Biotech, 2008. Report
Stem cells take center stage in San Diego summit. Stem cell report
California biotech: Strong, growing but worried. California report