Seeking $115 Million, Santa Monica-based Biotech, Kite Pharma, Files for IPO

Kite Pharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel cancer immunotherapy products

From Kite Pharma:

“Kite Pharma, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing engineered autologous T cell therapy (eACT™) products for the treatment of cancer, today announced that it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to a proposed initial public offering of shares of its common stock. All shares of common stock to be sold in the offering will be offered by Kite. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined.

Jefferies LLC, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and Cowen and Company, LLC are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Stifel is acting as co-manager…”

READ FULL PRESS RELEASE [web]
Kite Pharma, Inc. [web]

UCLA Startup, ImaginAb, Closes $21 Million Series B Financing

UCLA brainchild ImaginAb has hauled in another $21 million in venture cash to advance its antibody-re-engineering technology

From FierceBiotech:

“UCLA brainchild ImaginAb has hauled in another $21 million in venture cash to advance its antibody-re-engineering technology, a biotech approach to imaging that the company believes will help personalize treatments for cancer and immune disease.

Mérieux Développement, the investment arm of French life sciences outfit bioMérieux, led the latest round, joined by repeat investors Novartis ($NVS), Cycad Group and Nextech Invest. Each is betting ImaginAb’s novel take on imaging agents will help investigators better understand disease and match patients to their ideal therapies…”

READ FULL ARTICLE [web]
Read Press Release [web]
About ImaginAb [web]

Santa Monica-Based Biotech, Kite Pharma, Raises $50M in New Financing

Proceeds to Support Advancement of Clinical Programs in Cancer Immunotherapy

From Kite Pharma:

Kite Pharma, Inc. (Kite), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing engineered autologous T cell therapy (eACT™) products for the treatment of cancer, today announced the completion of a $50 million mezzanine private financing of convertible notes. Participants in the transaction included a syndicate of healthcare-dedicated investors, many of which are based in the United States and are first-time investors in Kite. Additional terms of the financing were not disclosed.

Kite expects to use proceeds of the financing to advance its programs developing novel cancer immunotherapy products. Kite’s lead investigational therapy is an autologous eACT™ product that targets CD19 expression on B cell malignancies, including diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Additional programs will target a number of both hematological malignancies and solid tumors…

READ FULL PRESS RELEASE [web]
FierceBiotech – Immuno-oncology specialist Kite adds $50M in new financing [web]
Kite Pharma [web]

LA Biotech, C3 Jian, Raises $60M Series D Financing

C3 Jian is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing and commercializing novel products to diagnose, treat and prevent diseases related to the human microbiome, with an initial focus on improving oral health.

From C3 Jian:

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — C3 Jian, Inc., a private company focused on developing proprietary drugs with an initial focus on improving oral healthcare, announced today the close of its Series D financing raising total proceeds of $60.5 million.

Funds from the financing will be used to support continued clinical development of the Company’s lead product, referred to as C16G2, a proprietary peptide-based antimicrobial drug specifically targeting Streptococcus mutans, a bacterium responsible for dental caries or tooth decay. Under a U.S. FDA Investigational New Drug Application, the Company recently began a Phase 2 Clinical Trial to study C16G2 formulated as a mouth rinse as well as a gel for both dental tray and tooth brush applications. Proceeds received will also help advance development of a second peptide drug candidate that has both teeth remineralization, as well as hair/nail growth properties. In addition, the Company plans to build a pipeline of additional innovative compounds using its proprietary STAMP (Specifically Targeted Antimicrobial Peptide) technology platform. STAMPs have the potential to alter human microbiomes by targeting and eliminating a specific bacterium versus broad spectrum antibiotics. The Company expects to explore development of STAMPs for medical uses in addition to oral healthcare…

READ FULL PRESS RELEASE [web]

Watch video about the technology [web]

UCLA Startup, Bruin Biometrics, Raises $10 Million Round

Funds will be deployed to market developed products, complete clinical trials and continue R&D on the product pipeline.

From BusinessWire:

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Bruin Biometrics, LLC (“BBI”), a medical device company with two biometric sensing products ready for market in Europe and the United States, announced it has closed a $10 million round of funding which was oversubscribed by almost $2.7 million. The funds will be deployed to market the developed products, complete clinical trials and continue R&D on the product pipeline.

“Investors are responding to this important opportunity ideally timed to solve critical issues that cost healthcare systems globally billions of dollars in expensive, preventable diagnostics and treatments. BBI’s biometric scanning technology is proven and ready to improve patient care simply and inexpensively,” said BBI’s Chief Executive Officer Martin Burns. “Investors, physicians and hospitals understand these sensors detect a number of key health conditions. They soon will become another essential tool used by nurses and other healthcare workers to check a patient’s vitals, just as the blood pressure cuff is used today…”

READ FULL PRESS RELEASE [web]

Culver City-based, NantHealth, Launches $1B Clinical Operating System (cOS)

(cOS) is an open, cloud-based platform for collecting and processing data to help deliver safer, more accountable care.

From MedCity News:

“Culver City, Calif.-based NantHealth is backed by a $1 billion from pharmaceutical magnate Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, and represents the rollup of eight legacy companies started or purchased by Soon-Shiong. It officially launched in January after nearly two years in stealth mode under Soon-Shiong’s NantWorks umbrella.

The company announced its presence at HIMSS in Orlando, Fla., Monday by unveiling the NantHealth Clinical Operating System (cOS), an open, cloud-based platform for collecting and processing data to help deliver safer, more accountable care. NantHealth is positioning cOS as the “centerpiece” of this massive investment…

READ FULL ARTICLE [web]

Meet Patrick Soon-Shiong, The LA Billionaire Reinventing Your Health Care

Dr. Soon-Shiong poured $800 million into 60 companies, university research programs and his own “do tanks.”

From Huffington Post:

“SANTA MONICA, Calif. –- You have been diagnosed with lung cancer.

There is a bewildering array of drugs, and combinations of drugs, that may shrink the tumor and prolong your life. Or they could make matters worse and give you terrible side effects.

In the past, this decision was mostly a crude guess, and it was often wrong.

No longer.

Now, your doctor draws blood and tissue, sends the information to a medical Big Data center that, in seconds, sequences your entire genome and, more importantly, maps how the proteins and the cells in your body are translating your specific DNA mutation into tumor cells. Your doctor then accesses a secure global “bank” of cancer DNA and tissue, and develops an individual cocktail for you, administering it with precise nanotechnology. You recover at home, monitored by high-information devices connected through transmitters to your doctor and clinic.

This is a glimpse of the future that Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong of Los Angeles has spent a decade imagining — and is now rapidly assembling. The technology and science are all at hand, he says. It’s “just” a matter of putting them together into a logical and humane whole…”

READ FULL ARTICLE [web]