Jorge Mercado is a staff writer with the Business Times. His beats include technology, agriculture, cannabis, energy and the environment, and higher education.
Elon Musk has been making headlines, mostly at his expense, nearly every day since his $44 billion purchase of Twitter. But for Dan O’Dowd, Musk’s Tesla software is no laughing matter. It has been nearly a year since Dan O’Dowd took out his first full-page newspaper advertisement, highlighting his disdain for Tesla’s assisted-driving technology. But the Read More →
Thousand Oaks-based Atara Biotherapeutics announced on Dec. 19 that the European Commission has approved its drug, Ebvallo. Ebvallo, also known as tabelecleucel, has been Atara’s main product development in its pipeline since 2015. It is the first time Atara has received approval for one of its treatments. The drug is a monotherapy for the treatment Read More →
The Central Coast has the potential to be the premier place to grow cannabis, especially if the federal market ever comes into play — that is what Will Terry believes. A fifth-generation farmer, Terry founded a new operation, Farming First Holdings in 2019 and invested his time, money, and effort into building a robust setup. Read More →
Santa Barbara-based Beni closed its first seed round Dec. 13, announcing a $4 million financing round led by Buoyant Ventures. Beni, a free-to-use browser extension meant to amplify secondhand shopping efforts, with the money will continue to develop its technology and partnerships over the next year. According to a press release, Beni has partnered with Read More →
The unemployment rate in the tri-county region has ticked up steadily over the past couple of months, rising to 3.2% in November, according to data released Dec. 16 by the California Employment Development Department. San Luis Obispo County continues to post the region’s lowest unemployment rate, currently sitting at 2.8%. In Santa Barbara County, the Read More →
By Jorge Mercado Senior Staff Writer Thousand Oaks-based Amgen has announced its largest acquisition in company history, $27 billion for Horizon Therapeutics, positioning itself with a pipeline of treatments that could pay dividends over the coming decades. Amgen, one of the largest biotechnology companies in the world, beat out competition from Sanofi and Johnson and Read More →
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