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By Staff Report / Tuesday, December 17th, 2013 / Health Care & Life Science, Technology, Top Stories / Comments Off on Amgen spinout Atara raises $38.5 million
Atara Biotherapeutics, a Thousand Oaks firm that emerged last year with major Silicon Valley backers and licenses to develop six Amgen assets, has raised $38.5 million to pursue treatments for dialysis complications and ovarian cancer.
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By Marlize van Romburgh / Friday, November 29th, 2013 / Health Care & Life Science, South Coast, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy / Comments Off on Sansum-Cottage deal heads to FTC for review
The future of health care in South Santa Barbara County became considerably clearer in recent days, with the biggest merger in decades headed off for regulatory review and hiccups in the delivery of care through the state insurance exchange and to the poor largely resolved.
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By Stephen Nellis / Friday, November 29th, 2013 / Health Care & Life Science, Technology, Top Stories / Comments Off on Active Life device finds link between diabetes, bone issues
A device made by Santa Barbara-based Active Life Scientific played a critical role in a new study at the Mayo Clinic linking Type 2 diabetes to bone problems.
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By Staff Report / Friday, November 22nd, 2013 / Health Care & Life Science, Top Stories / Comments Off on Sansum Clinic now on state insurance exchange
In a big step forward for Covered California’s ability to serve residents of the Tri-Counties, Sansum Clinic said late Friday afternoon that its 23 outpatient medical clinics will serve patients who buy Anthem Blue Cross coverage on the state’s online health insurance exchange. Sansum is one of the largest primary patient care providers in Covered California’s District 12, which includes Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties.
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By Marlize van Romburgh / Thursday, November 21st, 2013 / Health Care & Life Science, Nonprofits, South Coast, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy / Comments Off on With funds and new CEO, Neighborhood Clinics turn the corner
The struggling Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics nonprofit is narrowing its funding gap and has a strategic plan and new permanent CEO in place, putting it on track to become financially sustainable at a time when it looks to expand service to Goleta.
“Six months ago, we were in danger of closing our doors,” said Mark Palmer, president of the board.
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By Stephen Nellis / Friday, November 15th, 2013 / Health Care & Life Science, Technology, Top Stories / Comments Off on Thousand Oaks cancer drug firm raises $9M
Thousand Oaks-based ImmunGene, a cancer treatment firm led by a former Amgen scientist, has raised $9 million from Ally Bridge Group, an investment group with ties to Hong Kong.
ImmunGene’s so-called antibody-cytokine fusion technology could help improve the cancer-cell targeting in therapies. President and CEO Sanjay D. Khare was formerly the scientific director at Amgen, the biotech giant. Prior to the funding, ImmunGene had received several hundred thousand dollars in federal research grants.
Antibody technologies hold promise for creating cancer treatments that do less damage to healthy cells. Molecules are crafted to mimic the body’s own immune system and bind to specific defects in cancer cells.
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By Stephen Nellis / Friday, October 18th, 2013 / Banking & Finance, Health Care & Life Science, Technology, Top Stories, Tourism, Tri-County Public Companies / Comments Off on Gov. Brown vetoes Amgen-backed anti-biosimilars bill
Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill supported by Thousand Oaks-based Amgen and other biotechnology companies that would have made it more difficult for pharmacists to dispense so-called biosimilars, the biotech industry’s analogue to generic pharmaceuticals.
Senate Bill 598, approved by both houses of the legislature, looked mostly like a procedural change to state’s pharmacy laws. If it passed, the bill would have allowed pharmacists to fill prescriptions with biosimilars that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration deems “interchangeable” with brand-name counterparts.
