California seeks three more iHubs, expands San Francisco program

GO-Biz executive director Rish Kajan.

San Francisco’s iHub is growing. The unfunded state Innovation Hub program, which began with a San Francisco focus on the biotech industry in Mission Bay, will open to the entire city, state officials said Wednesday. It also will expand to other sectors, including high tech, cleantech nd the city’s fashion and art communities. Kish Rajan, the newly appointed director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, or GO-Biz, also said the state is opening the application process from communities throughout the state to expand the number of iHubs by three.

Mission Bay roars to life: Biotechs, UCSF, residential developers jostle for space in S.F.'s newest neighborhood

QB3's Reg Kelly.

On a typical lunch hour in Mission Bay, drug researchers rub elbows with venture capitalists and postdoctoral fellows at Peasant Pies’ big communal table. When store co-founder Ali Keshavarzarrived with his French meat pies four years ago, his store was a vacant shell on an empty plaza. Now Peasant Pies serves lunch to some 400 people a day at its Mission Bay space. “We get more people every day, from housing units, pharma companies, students finishing Ph.D.s,” Keshavarz said. “It’s like a phoenix rising.” With more than 50 life sciences companies and venture capital firms, about 1.7 million square feet of commercial office and lab space, and pilings in place for another 423,900 square feet of office space, Mission Bay is emerging from the recession with plans for a new wave of growth that will crest in 2014-15. “All of this is opportunistic. You try to be flexible and nimble,” said Reg Kelly, director of the QB3 institute at theUniversity of California, San Francisco. “I would like Mission Bay to be a magnet for innovators of all kinds.”

Daniel O'Day to lead Roche Pharma as Pascal Soriot moves to AstraZeneca

Daniel O'Day.

Daniel O’Day, the former president and CEO of Roche Molecular Diagnostics in Pleasanton, will become chief operating officer of Roche Pharma as Pascal Soriot, who oversaw the tricky integration of Genentech Inc. into Roche, takes the helm of rival drug maker AstraZeneca. O’Day’s appointment is an important one, underscoring the Swiss drug maker’s commitment to developing companion diagnostics for its drugs. As COO of Roche Diagnostics since 2010, he has been a member of Roche’s executive committee. Roche CEO Severin Schwan noted in a press release late Monday night that O’Day has “a very impressive track record” in diagnostics and pharmaceuticals.

Adynxx glimpses gain from no-pain drugs

Adynxx's Julien Mamet and Rick Orr.

A team that built and sold three Bay Area drug companies over the past decade is looking for a fourth. But the latest venture, called Adynxx Inc., could be a big pain. The young San Francisco company is entering its first human trial of a treatment to prevent post-surgical pain and, ultimately, chronic pain.

Stanford researchers launch brain cancer study using Nektar drug

A team of Stanford University researchers will test a Nektar Therapeutics Inc. drug in a Phase II trial aimed at a common and aggressive form of brain cancer, the company said Tuesday. Dr. Lawrence Recht, a Stanford professor of neurology and neurosurgery, and co-investigators Dr. Seema Nagpal and Dr. Pamela Kunz will test Nektar's etirinotecan pegol in patients with high-grade glioma whose cancer is resistant to GenentechInc.'s Avastin, or bevacizumab.

Nektar Therapeutics raises $125 million in debt deal

Nektar Therapeutics raised $125 million by selling debt due in 2017. It will spend the money paying off other debt due this year.

San Francisco-based Nektar (NASDAQ: NKTR) sold $125 million in senior secured notes in a private placement. The sale should close July 11. Nektar will spend the money paying off convertible subordinated notes due Sept. 28, 2012.

Affymax, MAP drug approvals would net royalty bounty for Nektar

Nektar Therapeutics Inc. could help its bottom line — and move closer toward paying off debt — by doing almost nothing Monday and Tuesday.
San Francisco-based Nektar (NASDAQ: NKTR) is in line for royalty payments if the Food and Drug Administration on Monday approves an acute migraine drug from MAP Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: MAP) and partner Allergan Inc. It would collect more royalties if an anemia drug from Affymax Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFY) and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. is approved Tuesday.
Both drugs use know-how developed by and licensed from Nektar.

Nektar moving 30 research jobs to S.F.

Thirty research jobs will shift to San Francisco by July from a Nektar Therapeutics Inc. facility in Alabama, the company said Tuesday.
The move, the San Francisco-based drug developer (NASDAQ: NKTR) said, will consolidate all of its U.S. research and development work — biology, chemistry and clinical development — at its 102,283-square-foot Mission Bay location. After the move is complete, the San Francisco site will house about 230 employees.

Nektar to apply royalty windfall toward paying off debt

Nektar Therapeutics Inc. will use its $124 million windfall from the sale of its royalty interest in two drugs to help pay off a $215 million note due in September.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday, the San Francisco-based drug developer (NASDAQ: NKTR) said it also is pursuing other “non-dilutive financing alternatives,” including the sale of other royalty interests, to pay off the convertible subordinated note.

Nektar reaps $124M from sale of Cimzia, Mircera royalties

Nektar Therapeutics Inc. scored $124 million by selling potential royalty revenue from two drugs marketed by Roche and UCB Pharma.
The San Francisco-based drug developer (NASDAQ: NKTR) said it sold to RPI Finance Trust all of its royalty rights from Jan. 1 onward for the Crohn’s Disease and rheumatoid arthritis drug Cimzia, marketed by UCB Pharma, and for the anemia drug Mircera, sold by F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.
Nektar must pay RPI, a unit of New York-based Royalty Pharma, $3 million if worldwide net sales of Mircera don’t reach undisclosed thresholds in 2012 and up to $7 million if sales don’t hit certain levels for 2012 and 2013.

Nektar's drug diversity may be its strength

When Howard Robin took over as president and CEO of Nektar Therapeutics Inc. in early 2007, the company was based in San Carlos with a high payroll and, essentially, one product in the form of the inhaled insulin drug-device Exubera.
Since Pfizer Inc. pulled Exubera later that year, Nektar (NASDAQ: NKTR) has moved to San Francisco, shed workers, cut expenses and developed several programs, ranging from breast cancer to pain.
I take a look at one of those drugs, NKTR-181, in a print edition story in the Jan. 20 issue. But the real story here is Nektar’s ongoing metamorphosis from “the inhaled insulin company” to one with the proverbial multiple shots on goal in multiple diseases.

Nektar high on development of new opioid

After the pain of its past, it’s fitting that Nektar Therapeutics Inc. looks to a new-style pain-killer as a salve.
The San Francisco drug developer, jarred four years ago by partner Pfizer Inc.’s sudden decision to kill Nektar’s lead product, expects to start a Phase II trial by the middle part of 2012 of the first new pain-fighting opioid in several years.

Slideshow: Best Bay Area life sciences CEOs of 2011

It’s the most wonderful time of the year — slow news days that translate into “10 Best …” stories and other such lists summarizing the previous 12 months or predicting what’s going to happen during the next 12.
So, here’s my list of the best life sciences CEOs in the Bay Area. It’s a purely subjective undertaking, heavily weighted toward CEOs who managed through all or part of a year of adversity.

ASCO showcasing Bay Area cancer therapies

The cancer drug world will focus on Chicago at this weekend’s American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting.
As I reported in last week’s print edition, this opportunity to report data from recent studies is a make-or-break meeting for many drug developers. It’s a chance to hook up with potential clinicians, investors and partners.
Here is a quick look at what some Bay Area companies are showcasing at ASCO.

Nektar ovarian cancer drug wins orphan status

A Nektar Therapeutics Inc. treatment aimed at ovarian cancer has been designated an orphan drug by the Food and Drug Administration.
This means the drug, aimed at a disease that fewer than 200,000 people in the country get each year, will have seven years of market protection. Nektar (NASDAQ: NKTR) will also get tax credits related to the drug.

Nektar starts clinical work on next-generation opioid

Nektar Therapeutics Inc. started clinical trials on a next-generation drug to manage moderate to severe pain and, potentially, prevent abuse of pain-cutting opioids.
NKTR-181, as the drug is known, follows another drug developed by San Francisco-based Nektar (NASDAQ: NKTR) that focuses on opioid-induced constipation. That drug, which Nektar licensed in September 2009 to AstraZeneca in a potential $1.5 billion deal, this month entered a 630-patient, Phase III trial.
Nektar’s Phase I trial with NKTR-181 will enroll up to 75 healthy subjects to determine the effective dose range for the drug with minimal central nervous system side effects. It will be completed in the second half of this year, Nektar said.

Nektar nets $220M from stock sale

Nektar Therapeutics to sell 19M shares

Nektar Therapeutics plans stock sale