Reports + Research
Takeda Opens New Global Research Center in San Diego
According to Xconomy, Takeda, a Japanese pharma, first North American acquisition was a San Diego biotech. Since that deal 14 years ago, Takeda has now established an impressive 165,000-square-foot R&D facility, where more than 250 employees, mostly researchers, will pursue drug discovery in gastroenterology and neuroscience. Takeda has global R&D centers in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Shonan, Japan. A company announcement states that, “(t)he work being done in San Diego today represents the future of Takeda’s pipeline.”
Vividion Raises $82 Million to Test Newly Drugged Targets in the Clinic
When Vividion Therapeutics launched as a company, the underlying technology, from Scripps Research, promised to find ways to hit drug targets considered “undruggable” with small molecules. According to FierceBiotech, Vividion’s platform, “is designed to identify new sites in the proteome—which is distinct in each cell—that can be drugged.” Today, they have a deal with Celgene and a new round of financing to take three drug candidates, in parallel, into the clinic in oncology and immunology.
Editorial: It’s Time to Take a New Tack for Treating Alzheimer’s
Raymond J Tesi, MD, CEO and cofounder of INmune Bio, located in La Jolla, writes in an editorial for STAT that, “(g)roupthink describes the funding and execution of Alzheimer’s disease research and drug development over the last 30 years.” After the failure of three “carefully designed, well-executed, and fully resourced” clinical trials investigating therapeutics that target amyloid protein, Dr. Tesi challenges the industry to take a new approach. Alzheimer’s is a complex disease, so it needs research not only for new drug development but also for better biomarkers to aid in diagnostic development and classification of the disease.
Read + Listen
POW: Podcast of the Week
For its 150th birthday, Nature is rebroadcasting episodes from their PastCast series, which highlights big scientific breakthroughs. This episode delves into Watson and Crick’s famous paper and the other two published at the same time about DNA and the proposed structure.
It’s Happening Here
May 2:
Discovery at the Disco Tech happens the evening of May 2 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds to support research at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute.
May 18-21:
Digestive Disease Week (DDW), one of the top 50 medical meetings, will be taking place at the San Diego Convention Center May 18-21. DDW is the world’s largest gathering for leaders in the fields of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy, and gastrointestinal surgery.
May 29:
The inaugural Xconomy Awards San Diego will celebrate the finalists and announce award winners at their Gala on the evening of May 29 at Estancia La Jolla.
Tags: Alzheimer’s, Biotech, Biotech Briefing, Life Sciences, Medical Research
