{"id":148989,"date":"2010-01-07T07:40:27","date_gmt":"2010-01-07T12:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xconomy.com\/?p=57473"},"modified":"2010-01-07T07:40:27","modified_gmt":"2010-01-07T12:40:27","slug":"biogen-idec-ceo-stepping-down-ambrx-focuses-on-empowered-antibodies-intellikine-testing-first-drug-candidate-more-san-diego-life-sciences-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/148989","title":{"rendered":"Biogen Idec CEO Stepping Down, Ambrx Focuses on Empowered Antibodies, Intellikine Testing First Drug Candidate, & More San Diego Life Sciences News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Roundup<\/a>, Life Sciences<\/a>, Drug Development<\/a><\/div>\n

\t\tBruce V. Bigelow wrote:<\/strong><\/p>\n

San Diego’s biotech community got busy in the first week of 2010, with a flurry of news falling as heavily as a New England snowstorm. Better get your snow shovel.<\/p>\n

—James Mullen announced his plans to retire June 8 (at the tender age of 51) as CEO of Cambridge, MA-based Biogen Idec <\/a>(NASDAQ: BIIB<\/a>). Mullen was promoted to head Biogen in 2000 and assumed command of the combined companies following the 2003 merger of Biogen with San Diego-based Idec Pharmaceuticals. In recent years, however, Mullen became a lightning rod for criticism among activist shareholders (including billionaire Carl Icahn), who complained that Biogen Idec shares were underperforming in comparison with biotech peers.<\/p>\n

—San Diego-based Ambrx CEO Steve Kaldor told Luke that about one-third of the biotech firm’s staff—and half of its resources—are now focused on building on recent breakthroughs in the development of antibody drug conjugates<\/a>, a class of protein drugs also known as “empowered antibodies.” For example, Ambrx is developing a new anti-cancer drug, called T-DM1, that combines the ability of an antibody to seek out cancerous cells with a potent toxin that gives the treatment extra tumor-killing kick.<\/p>\n

—San Diego’s Intellikine is still on a fast track to develop drug candidates that block a hot cancer target known as the PI3 kinase<\/a>. Kinases are a type of enzyme that control complex cellular processes, usually by transferring phosphate molecules to specific places in the cells. Intellikine is developing a portfolio of drug candidates designed to disrupt the processes controlled by the PI3 kinase. Intellikine, which was founded a little more than two years ago, is now testing its first drug candidate in humans.<\/p>\n

—San Diego-based Sequenom (NASDAQ: SQNM) settled a dispute with Michigan-based SensiGen by issuing about $1.5 million worth of Sequenom shares. After the value of Sequenom shares plunged last year, a lawyer for SensiGen asserted claims that Sequenom had breached representations made when Sequenom acquired SensiGen’s molecular diagnostic tests<\/a>.<\/p>\n

—San Diego’s Adventrx Pharmaceuticals (AMEX: ANX<\/a>) said it has submitted a new drug application for a new formulation of the anti-cancer drug vinorelbine that Adventrx says has fewer side effects<\/a>. The application represents an extraordinary comeback for the biotech, which announced plans last March to substantially end its operations. Adventrx also said it was raising $19 million through a private placement of its convertible preferred shares.<\/p>\n

—With technology developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Carlsbad, CA-based Life Technologies (NASDAQ: LIFE<\/a>) has developed a new type of flow cytometer, used to count and catalog large numbers of cells in a biological sample. The new design uses sound waves <\/a>to measure the size and type of certain cells flowing through a tube.<\/p>\n

Comments<\/a> | Reprints<\/a> | Share:  
\n\"Retweet\"\/<\/a>
\n \"Facebook\"\/<\/a>
\n \"Email\"\/<\/a>
\n \"Share\"\/<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\t \t\t

\n

\n\"\"<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/img><\/a>
\n<\/img><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roundup, Life Sciences, Drug Development Bruce V. Bigelow wrote: San Diego’s biotech community got busy in the first week of 2010, with a flurry of news falling as heavily as a New England snowstorm. Better get your snow shovel. —James Mullen announced his plans to retire June 8 (at the tender age of 51) as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148989\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}