UCLA School of Law Establishes Student Entrepreneurship Competition

The competition, which includes a $100,000 prize, is the first of its kind sponsored by a top American law school.

From UCLA:

UCLA School of Law has established the Lowell Milken Institute-Sandler Prize for New Entrepreneurs (“LMI-Sandler Prize”), an entrepreneurship competition designed to recognize student innovation and leadership and support the real-world launch of promising new business ventures. The competition, which includes a $100,000 prize, is the first of its kind sponsored by a top American law school. It was established through gifts totaling more than $500,000 from the Lowell Milken Family Foundation and the Richard and Ellen Sandler Family Foundation.

“The LMI-Sandler Prize is a completely new way to reward law student achievement and promote the entrepreneurial ambitions of UCLA Law students and recent graduates,” UCLA School of Law Dean Rachel F. Moran said. “The competition will provide students with an opportunity to put the principles of entrepreneurship into practice and to use their law school education as a path to careers marked by fresh perspectives and bold initiatives…”

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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…”

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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…

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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…

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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…”

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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…

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Can Hyperloop Actually Be Built?

UCLA joins LA-based group to design prototypes…

From LA Weekly:

“The next big deal — or debate — in the transportation field isn’t a Jetsons-style flying car, high-speed train or monorail. It’s the Hyperloop, a 19th-century mailroom technology with a 21st-century twist. Instead of sucking documents through a pneumatic tube from the basement mailroom up to the executive suite, SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Tesla Motors’ Hyperloop would propel people, seated inside pods, from L.A. to San Francisco in 30 minutes. That’s about 760 mph, the speed of a cruising F-15.

That is, if it ever is built. If it ever can be built.

“We wouldn’t be wasting our time if we didn’t think so,” says Patricia Galloway, the first female president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, who is part of a Los Angeles–based group charged with figuring out how to make Hyperloop a reality.

Also on the “Hyperloopers” team — which is working out of the transformed former Howard Hughes Spruce Goose hangar at Playa Vista — is Paul Coleman, one of the original 100 engineers NASA hired for Apollo moon missions…”

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About Hyperloop [web]