LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Southern California Biomedical Council (SoCalBio) today announced the list of companies that will present at its 18th Annual Conference, which will be held November 4 at the Hilton Long Beach Hotel.
The 30-plus companies include many of Southern California’s most innovative biotech, medtech and digital health ventures. They focus on market segments ranging from regenerative medicine and bio-pharmaceuticals to molecular imaging, biosensors and personalized medicine.
“This year’s SoCalBio Conference will showcase an extraordinary range of local companies and explore the most efficient pathways to bring their life-changing innovations to market,” said SoCalBio President and CEO Ahmed Enany. “We will affirm how our region, anchored by Los Angeles and Orange Counties, is helping shape the future of the bioscience industry.”
In addition to company presentations, the full-day conference will include keynotes and panel discussions on issues such as capital/partnership formation, public policy, bioelectric medicine, and what it takes to build a smarter healthcare system. There will also be breakout sessions for angel, institutional and foreign investors.
Pre-registration is required to attend the conference. More information is available at http://socalbioinvest.com/register.
Following is the list of presenting companies. Each will share its business plan with attendees, including potential investors and partners. They were selected from a large pool of applicants by a SoCalBio advisory board made up of leading business professionals.
- 3iDx (Developing an instrument that provides clear identification of a specific microbe strain, including AMR strains, within an hour)
- ABL Denim (A Los Angeles company that makes functionally-enhanced yet stylish clothing for people with disabilities)
- Advanced Prenatal Therapeutics, Inc. (An Irvine-based startup using targeted apheresis to treat preeclampsia)
- Afecta Pharmaceuticals (An Irvine company using 2D/3D computer aided molecular screening to redesign existing drug molecules and "fit" them to target drug-able proteins, metabolic pathways, diseases, and/or clinical patient subsets)
- Airware, Inc. (A Goleta company developing a non-invasive, optical monitoring device to sense interstitial glucose in the skin)
- AmberSand Biopharmaceuticals (Based in Westlake Village, AmberSand is developing a platform technology that enhances para-cellular transport by hosting drugs in a flexible micelle delivery vehicle and solubilizing the skin's lipid barrier with chemical penetration enhancers)
- Auritec Pharmaceuticals (A Pasadena Collaborative alumnus specializing in extended-release drug delivery systems)
- BioVinc (A USC spinoff developing bone targeted therapeutics & diagnostics)
- Care3 (A Los Angeles-based firm developing a digital health platform for care coordination)
- CureMatch (A San Diego-based digital health company developing a computational system for decision support in personalized cancer medicine)
- Cytolumina (A UCLA-spinoff -- now based in Agoura Hills -- that is developing a liquid biopsy platform by capturing circulating cancer cells)
- Delta Brain Inc. (A Los Angeles machine learning firm developing applications in medicine)
- Deton Corp. (An early stage company incubated by the Pasadena Collaborative to develop a sample collection device for lower respiratory infections)
- Episona (Based in Glendale, Episona is commercializing personalized diagnostics for male infertility using epigenetics)
- Eyes 4 Lives, Inc. (A Long Beach company seeking to minimize digital eye strain and the progression of nearsightedness by correcting improper electronic usage habits)
- GNADX (Commercializing a novel iPad-controlled minicube PCR machine)
- Hillhurst Biopharmaceuticals (A Montrose-based biotech targeting debilitating inflammation)
- Kumba Health (A Beverly Hills-based digital health company developing a marketplace where providers and patients can connect)
- Mastoscopia (A USC spinoff developing a novel multimodal ultrasound tomography for breast cancer detection)
- Meditope Biosciences (A Pasadena-based City of Hope-spinoff developing antibody-drug conjugates for oncological applications)
- NanoValent Pharmaceuticals (A Children's Hospital Los Angeles spinoff using a nanoparticle delivery system to target cancer)
- NeuroCore (An early-stage company developing a rapid outpatient platform for treating major depressions)
- NeuroRecovery Technologies (A UCLA spinoff developing devices for restoring movement in patients with paralysis)
- Onco Therapies (A Pasadena Collaborative firm developing a technology to remove FoxP3+ regulatory T cells and inhibit tumor growth)
- Oxeia Biopharmaceuticals (A San Diego company researching therapeutics for brain concussion)
- PersonalRN (A Hermosa Beach digital health company offering personal digital RN solutions by providing personalized information for patients and their families)
- PhenoTraits (A Hermosa Beach company developing analytics to predict drug non-adherence and identify at-risk populations)
- Quantason (A Los Angeles-based company developing a dual-mode, hybrid ultrasound-based platform for breast screening and follow-up monitoring)
- SilverGens (A Canoga Park company designing a virtual care platform called the eNURZ to increase adherence to long-term therapies in a home setting)
- STORM (Based in San Diego, STORM is developing a collaborative informatics environment that enables community-based hospitals to apply precision medicine to personalized cancer care)
- TreThera (A UCLA-spinoff developing a targeted metabolic pathway therapy that involves a rationally-designed combination of two or three drugs from the very start for cancer treatment)
The morning keynote address, titled “Advancing Medical Innovation through Public Policy,” will be delivered by James Greenwood, president & CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).
Mr. Greenwood’s presentation will be followed by a plenary session focused on innovations in bioelectric medicine – a field that has evolved into a new technological frontier where biology meets electronics to deliver therapies that are superior to pharmaceuticals in terms of efficacy, safety and cost.
This plenary session will be moderated by Barry Keenan, PhD, CTO of medical technology accelerator/investor CliniFlow Technologies, and will feature:
- Roy Katso, PhD, representing GlaxoSmithKline(GSK) - the UK’s biggest drug maker, which has made significant strides in bioelectric medicine since 2012.
- Victor Pikov, PhD, representing Galvani Bioelectronics - a $700 million joint venture between GSK and Google formed to explore pioneering bioelectronics therapies.
- Robert Greenberg, PhD, MD, Chairman of Second Sight Medical Products (Sylmar) - developer of the first FDA approved bionic eye.
- Jerry Schloffman, Head of Clinical Operations and Market Development at Valencia Technologies (Valencia) - a neuromodulation startup developing a device-based treatment for hypertension.
These panelists will explore how to bring bioelectric medicine to market faster, and what it takes to foster and grow LA’s regional leadership in this emerging commercial field.
The luncheon plenary session will continue the theme of what it takes to accelerate innovation commercialization and build a smarter healthcare system. It will feature an introductory presentation by Sajjid Yacoob, MD, CIO of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), and include brief presentations/discussion by Adrian Bot, MD, PhD, VP of Translation Medicine at Kite Pharma (Santa Monica); Sid Bhatia, M.S., M.B.A. Program Director, Cognitive Disease Mgmt Solutions IBM Watson Health (San Francisco); and Huzefa Neemuchwala, PhD, MBA, Sr. Director of Data & Informatics Innovation at Medtronic Diabetes (Northridge). They will discuss how interaction among innovators, providers, payors and public policy makers impacts efforts to transform the US healthcare system and deliver the best possible care for each patient.
The SoCalBio Conference will conclude with breakout sessions where investors share their investment strategies and the technologies they find most promising. The list of investor groups represented includes Tech Coast Angeles, Maverick Investor Group, Keiretsu Forum Southern California and Pasadena Angeles. A number of institutional investors will also participate, including California Technology Ventures, Frontline Bioventures, Fosan, Frontise Fund, Qi Jian Fund, NewCap Partners, Sangel Capital Corp, Jiangsu Crosslink Investment Co, Holdus Capital Group and Gaotejia Investment Group.
SoCalBio acknowledges the support of the following Conference sponsors:
Platinum sponsors:
Gold Sponsors
Silver Sponsor:
Bronze Sponsors:
- AON
- Bench International
- BIO
- CBIZ MhM, LLC
- DxTerity Diagnostics
- Knobbe Martens
- Office Depot
- Stradling
Supporters:
- Bolton & Company
- California Community Colleges Doing What Matters
- Charles River Labs
- Intertek
- Pasadena Bioscience Collaborative
- PCM Trials
- Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corporation
- Sharevault
About SoCalBio:
SoCalBio is a nonprofit, member-supported trade association that promotes bioscience research, development, manufacturing, job creation and overall economic growth in the Greater Los Angeles region. The Council’s programs help local firms gain access to capital, potential partners and business support services. The annual SoCalBio Conference has grown to become the region's premiere showcase for emerging life-science companies and technologies. SoCalBio also promotes technology transfer and workforce training, while informing policy makers and the public at-large about the benefits of the region’s life-science industry. More information about SoCalBio is available at www.socalbio.org.
