September 26, 2018 Comments (0) Views: 1539 Biotech, Biotech Briefing, Blog

Biotech Briefing: Forge Therapeutics Gets Info from Achaogen to Develop New Antibiotics

Plus: Cell and Gene Meeting on the Mesa celebrates 13 years

Reports + Research

Forge Therapeutics Gets Info from Achaogen to Develop New Antibiotics

As part of CARB-X, Achaogen will share data, assays, and compounds from “unsuccessful research” from its LpxC program—which was discontinued due to unexpected toxicity findings—with Forge Therapeutics. The goal of this information transfer is to accelerate the development of antibiotics and other products to treat drug-resistant infections. Forge is taking a different chemistry approach than Achoagen to develop LpxC inhibitors, a novel class of antibiotics, to treat Gram-negative bacteria.

Cell and Gene Meeting on the Mesa Celebrates 13 Years

What started out as a “scientific symposium” on stem cells has grown into a three-day conference with talks, corporate presentations, and a partnering forum for cell and gene therapies. The Cell and Gene Meeting on the Mesa will bring together over 1,000 attendees who will take part in more than 1,450 one-on-one meetings to support partnering. In addition, more than 100 speakers will give presentations highlighting the significant clinical and commercial progress in the field.

CLSA Honors California Life Science Leaders with Pantheon DiNA Awards

The Pantheon DiNA Award from the California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) recognizes “California’s hardest-working innovators and entrepreneurs who are producing advanced medicines, diagnostics and technologies to improve medical care.” This year, the Life Sciences Leadership Awards were given to Stelios Papadopoulos, chairman of Biogen, Exelixis, and Regulus Therapeutics; and to George Scangos, CEO and director of Vir Biotechnology. The Deal of the Year Award went to Nektar and Bristol-Myers Squibb for NKTR-214, and the Outstanding Product Award, Therapeutic was given to Amgen for Aimovig.

Read + Listen

POW! Podcast of the Week

The podcast How Stuff Works takes on a wide range of current medical topics, from smart bandages to “right to try.”

Events

It’s Happening Here

October 4:
San Diego’s sixth annual MFG Day, Thursday, October 4, caps off a number of events taking place across San Diego October 2–4.

CONNECT and Allen Matkins are presenting a workshop on Mergers & Acquisitions from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on October 4.

October 5:
Want to rock out for a good cause? Head to Belly Up in Solana Beach on October 5 for the Immunotherapy Foundation Rock & Roll Avalanche 2.0. All funds raised go toward cancer immunotherapy research at the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center and the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology.

October 16:
LaunchBio is hosting iTALK: Speaking SciComm, a panel on science communication, on October 16 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Genesis Kitchen + Drinks at Campus Point.