Genentech's early days offer lesson for today's biotechs

We don’t do book reviews at the San Francisco Business Times — but at the risk of my email inbox flooding with requests, I must say that I found Sally Smith Hughes’ new book about the early days of biotech powerhouse Genentech fascinating.
Much of the story has been heard before — your typical boy-meets-technology story — ending up with scientist Herb Boyer and venture capitalist Bob Swanson hooking up to form the South San Francisco company that largely created a new industry and changed the face of drug development.
But there’s an underlying (unintentional?) message in the way Hughes, a historican of science at the University of California, Berkeley’s Bancroft Library, presents the story in the aptly named “Genentech: The Beginnings of Biotech.” It’s all about balance.

One-on-One with Deborah Bellush of Biotech Partners

Sometimes longevity says more than anything. Take Biotech Partners, the East Bay program started 19 years ago to steer at-risk high school students into Bay Area life sciences jobs.
But Biotech Partners is getting some important recognition as well. It was one of eight programs recognized recently with the Innovations in Life Sciences prize, sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and backed by the Carnegie Foundation. The prize is designed to recognize programs that promote life sciences partnerships between scientists and science educators at middle schools and high schools.
The award is part of Ashoka Changemakers’ emphasis on so-called STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — education. It comes at a time when Bay Area educators and companies are pushing for more attention to STEM to provide a next-generation workforce for high-tech, biotech and cleantech jobs.
Biotech Partners, started as part of an agreement between Bayer HealthCare and the City of Berkeley, will receive $10,000.
I spoke with Deborah Bellush, the executive director of Biotech Partners, shortly after the nonprofit announced Wednesday that it had won the award.

Former Genentech CEO Art Levinson named chairman of Apple

Computer and popular electronics company Apple Inc. made Arthur Levinson non-executive chairman of its board of directors on Tuesday.
Cupertino-based Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) also added Robert Iger, president and CEO of Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) to its board.
Levinson, who is chairman of South San Francisco-based Genentech and was its CEO in the past, has been on Apple’s board since 2000. Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said Levinson is the company’s “longest serving co-lead director.”

What Geron's stem cells exit means. (It ain't good)

Geron Corp.’s dismantling of its stem cell research on Monday puts the pressure on companies trying to discover or develop drugs by tapping into the cells that make us what we are.
Geron may have been trying to do too much too soon, but the real issue is that human embryonic stem cell drug development clearly was costing too much money for a publicly held company (NASDAQ: GERN).
That’s a shame in many ways. After all, Menlo Park-based Geron was in stem cells before stem cells were cool from a commercial point of view — not that they are more hip now. By being one of the first to harness embryonic stem cells as a potential treatment, it blazed a trail, enduring a Food and Drug Administration hold on its trial in acute spinal cord injuries.

Stem cell pioneer Geron to focus on cancer, cut 66 jobs

Pioneering stem cell drug developer Geron Corp. said it will axe 66 jobs, halt its stem cell R&D programs and seek buyers for those assets.
The Menlo Park company (NASDAQ: GERN) said it will concentrate on cancer treatments that could produce milestone events over the next 20 months. While researchers stress the promise of stem cells, treatments using embryonic stem cells could be several years in the future.

Mendel Biotechnology raises $11.8M toward $36M target

Mendel Biotechnology Inc., a Hayward company manipulating plant genes for the bio-agriculture and bioenergy fields, has raised $11.8 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
In all, Mendel is aiming to raise $36 million. It did not say how the money would be used.

Hospitals in line for Vascular Designs catheter as cancer treatment

A new type of catheter developed by a San Jose company to treat cancer patients is making its way into operating rooms.
The IsoFlow Infusion Catheter, developed by Vascular Designs Inc., is now being used to treat liver cancer patients at the University of California, Davis Medical Center. CEO Robert Goldman said he also has a “bunch of other hospitals about to come on line,” though he couldn’t disclose details.

Hansen Medical robot used to treat peripheral vascular disease

Hansen Medical Inc. said Friday it has clinically used its branded Magellan Robotic System for the first time to treat peripheral vascular disease, or a when blood vessels narrow and harden, often in the legs.
The condition affects more than 27 million people worldwide, with diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis and obesity being contributing factors.

Executive Profile: Bill Lis of Portola Pharmaceuticals

Bill Lis joined Portola Pharmaceuticals in 2008, became chief operating officer in August 2009 and was named CEO in May 2010. A Philadelphia native, Lis previously worked at Scios, COR Therapeutics/Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer and Ethicon Endo-Surgery. He is one of many former COR employees, including several key scientists, to join Portola. The company last month struck a potential $553 million deal with Biogen Idec around so-called Syk inhibitors that play key roles in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Ekso Bionics makes big strides forward

Ekso Bionics is giving people with spinal cord injuries something that medical intervention and surgeries can’t — the ability to walk.
Hikers, military pilots and spinal cord patients have all benefited from Ekso Bionics’ weight-bearing frame, which supplements a person’s bone structure. Engineers at the Robotics and Engineering Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, first built the mechanical exoskeleton in 2005.

Xoma, partner Servier to expand eye disease trial

Xoma Ltd. and French drug partner Les Laboratoires Servier will broaden their late-stage clinical program to include patients diagnosed with a group of non-infectious eye maladies.
The Phase III trial of XOMA-052, also known as gevokizumab, had focused on Behcet’s uveitis, an eye disease that affects about 7,500 patients in the United States. By including several eye diseases categorized as non-infectious uveitis, including Behcet’s, the potential number of patients is increased to more than 150,000, the Berkeley-based company (NASDAQ: XOMA) said.

New president of Impax generic drug unit to make $470K

The new president of Impax Laboratories Inc.’s generic drug business will be paid a base salary of $470,000, plus a one-time $75,000 hiring bonus, and work out of company offices in suburban Philadelphia.
Carole Ben-Maimon, who the Hayward-based company (NASDAQ: IPXL) said in September it had hired to run its global pharmaceuticals division, also can participate in Impax’s management bonus program and received an option to buy 75,000 shares of common stock and 24,000 shares of restricted stock, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday.

Dynavax raises $64M in stock sale, chairman buys 160,000 shares

Dynavax Technologies Corp. raised a net of $64.5 million in a stock sale in which its chairman, Arnold Oronsky, bought 160,000 shares.
Berkeley-based Dynavax (NASDAQ: DVAX) sold 27.6 million shares in the offering, including 3.6 million sold by the underwriters — Cowen and Co. and William Blair & Co. — to cover overallotments. They bought the shares from Dynavax at $2.35 each and sold them to the public at $2.50 each.

Medivation shares soar on positive prostate cancer trial

Medivation Inc.’s late-stage prostate cancer drug showed in a study that it could help the sickest patients live a median 4.8 months longer, the company said Thursday.
The announcement, coming 1-1/2 years after its high-profile Alzheimer’s disease drug Dimebon flopped in a Phase III trial, sent shares of the San Francisco-based drug developer (NASDAQ: MDVN) sharply higher in pre-market trading Thursday. The stock, which closed Wednesday at $16.53, climbed 121 percent to $36.60.

Exelixis zooms past off-ramp on way to prostate cancer destination

Driving through Utah several years ago, my wife proclaimed as I missed an exit which we had planned miles back to take, “What were you thinking?”
My reply — “I wasn’t” — was all I could say.
Investors in South San Francisco-based biotech drug developer Exelixis Inc. (NASDAQ: EXEL) seemed to be asking my wife’s question. The stock lost nearly 40 percent of its value from Monday’s close to late Tuesday, trading down $3.05 to $4.68 per share.
The downturn came after Exelixis said late Monday that it would push forward on a Phase III trial of its heralded cancer-fighting medicine, cabozantinib, that focuses on relieving bone pain in men with advanced prostate cancer. These are the sickest of the sick — men whose cancerous lesions have spread to the bone and are causing excruciating pain.