Daily Business Report-Sept. 1, 2020
Smart ring from leading wearable technology and smart apparel company Formsense. (Photo: Business Wire)
Formsense to test
rehab outcomes in stroke survivors
with $2.4 million NIH grant
Formsense, a wearable technology and smart apparel company, has been chosen as technology partner for a $2.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health that includes an interdisciplinary team of world-renowned researchers in rehabilitation sciences.
The grant will help deploy and test a novel mobile health (mHealth) system, leveraging Formsense’s wearable sensor that slips on a finger like a ring, to monitor and encourage movement and activity in the weak upper limb of stroke survivors in an ambulatory setting.
For several years, Formsense and its university partners tested the use of this novel solution validating its capability of monitoring both gross-arm and fine-hand movements clinically relevant to track and assess activities of daily living for affected patients.
“As a research-driven company, Formsense supports early and strong collaborations in academia in order to validate its technologies and explore commercial solutions that can accelerate adoption in the market,” says Nathan Ramasarma, founder and CEO of San Diego-based Formsense. The company develops wearable sensor technologies that objectively measure human performance in health, fitness, and sport.
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Converging on Entrepreneurship
Students use summer incubator program to build business
By Michelle Franklin | UC San Diego
When Bolarin Lawrence first came to UC San Diego, he had planned to minor in entrepreneurship. His demanding academic workload made that impossible, but his interest in entrepreneurship never faded.
Lawrence, now a third-year nanoengineering major, heard about the Converge Summer Incubator Program and realized it was a great opportunity to learn new business skills and also invest time in a venture project he’d long been interested in: supporting first-generation students in STEM careers.
Students in the Converge program such as Lawrence spend each week of the program focused on a new aspect of entrepreneurship including design thinking, creating a vision for their company, building business models, and understanding the financial and legal aspects of running a startup. Blackstone LaunchPad also hosted a series of virtual fireside chats with startup founders who shared their own entrepreneurial experiences.
“When we launched the Converge Summer Incubator Program in 2018, we realized the summer months gave students the perfect opportunity to work on developing their ideas, build business skills and learn what it means to be an entrepreneur,” said Gloria Negrete, executive director of The Basement.
Supported by the Office of Innovation and Commercialization, The Basement is a student incubator and the home of the Blackstone LaunchPad program. Converge is also part of UC San Diego’s Summer Research Program.
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U.S. court orders Illumina to produce
inventors for deposition in BGI lawsuit
A U.S. federal court has ordered Illumina to make as many as nine inventors of patents covering sequencing-by-synthesis chemistry available for videoconferencing-based depositions as part of a patent infringement lawsuit the firm has brought against BGI.
In an order dated Aug. 24, 2020, Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California suggested that Illumina must exercise a contractual right to compel the inventors to testify in U.S. patent proceedings, which was written into their assignment agreements for U.S. Patent Nos. 7,566,537 and 9,410,200, both titled “Labelled Nucleotides.”
“The court has some concerns that plaintiffs may have been priming the inventors to refuse to attend a deposition,” Hixson noted. At a hearing held earlier in August on the matter, “Plaintiffs repeatedly described the inventor depositions as optional and said that no one had volunteered,” he wrote.
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Erasca extends Series B financing to $236 million
San Diego-based Erasca, a company whose mission is to erase cancer, announced the completion of a $36 million extension of its Series B financing round, which brings the total round to $236 million. New investors include Partner Fund Management and OrbiMed.
This financing brings the total capital raised by the company to $300 million. Erasca will use the proceeds to finance the clinical development of multiple promising oncology programs, continue driving corporate development efforts and further advance the company’s in-house drug discovery pipeline.
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Gudarz Davar appointed head of research
and development for ACADIA Pharmaceuticals
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced the appointment of Dr. Gudarz Davar as executive vice president and head of research and development. Davar will be responsible for leading research and development activities at ACADIA and will serve as a member of the company’s Executive Management Committee.
In this role, he will report to Serge Stankovic, M.D., president of ACADIA. Stankovic will continue to oversee research and development, regulatory, medical affairs, external innovation and pharmacovigilance functions for the company.
Davar joins ACADIA from Eli Lilly where he was vice president, head of global neurology clinical development, the senior leadership role responsible for the global development of all neuroscience and core Lilly biomedicines assets through clinical testing and life of the product.
Prior to Eli Lilly, he served in senior leadership roles in neurology and clinical development at Allergan, Biogen Idec and Amgen.
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MTS rejects many who applied
for disabled fare reductions
Voice of San Diego
San Diegans who meet certain requirements and can show with a doctor’s written prescription that they suffer from a disability are entitled to reduced bus and trolley rides. Yet the Metropolitan Transit System has declined hundreds of those requests.
Lisa Halverstadt reports that, over the last three years, the agency rejected about 1,660 of the roughly 5,660 long-form applications, or nearly a third. Another third were deemed incomplete.
“A contingent of advocates, health care providers and MTS riders with disabilities have criticized the flood of denials and say they point to a broken system for doling out discounted fares and passes the agency is required to offer qualified riders with disabilities as a condition of federal funds it receives,” Halverstadt writes.
Patients with mental health conditions rarely receive discounted passes. Others described confusion about the form itself.
For years, MTS has defended itself against these criticisms by maintaining that its requirements are consistent with Federal Transit Administration policies — even though it’s placed a higher bar for approval on applications than at least one nearby transit agency.
Both the CEO and board chair are signaling that changes are on the way.
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New startup members announced by
CONNECT All @ the Jacobs Center
CONNECT ALL @ the Jacobs Center (CAJC), the region’s first business accelerator program focused on low-to-moderate income- and diverse entrepreneurs, has announced 14 new businesses that will be part of its third cohort, receiving six-months of free programming and support.
Applications are now also open for the next group of businesses, which will start in winter 2020 for a four-month program. Applications are available at bit.ly/cohort4application and due by Oct. 18.
A strategic partnership between the City of San Diego, the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation and CONNECT w/ San Diego Venture Group, CAJC launched in May 2019 and has since jumpstarted 25 local businesses through the business accelerator program, as well as assisted multiple entrepreneurs through its free Business Resource Center.
CAJC is geared specifically for San Diego-based, early-stage startups that are poised for growth and job creation. All components of the program are free to participants, with no equity stake required.
Businesses in the current program this summer are: Aline Design + Drafting, Best Way Construction Services, Best Vibes Family Tribes, Blue Robin Kitchen, Los Brothers, Meri Consulting Services, Moon Garden, Meals in Motion, Nakamura, San Diego Black Professionals, San Diego International Birthing Project, The STEAM Collaborative, Welfie and Worthy Picks. To learn more about each business, visit www.connectallsd.org/cohort-summer-2020.
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USD Tele-mental Health Training Clinic
opens to provide affordable mental health support
The University of San Diego’s Tele-mental Health Training Clinic opened this summer, providing affordable video-based counseling services in English and Spanish to families, especially in underserved communities. The low-cost community clinic offers full-access to mental health services to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay.
“The goal is to get access to services to as many people as possible. Part of being in an MUA (Medically Underserved Area) is it tends to be more vulnerable populations that don’t have the access and also aren’t accustomed to accessing mental health services on a regular basis. Part of what we hope to do is to make mental health services as accessible as going to the dentist or going to your physician for a routine check-up,” said Wendell Callahan, chief operating officer of the USD Tele-mental Health Clinic.
The clinic is staffed by five USD graduate-level counseling trainees, under the supervision of a licensed clinical counselor. Graduate students are trained to deliver mental health services using a telehealth platform, while helping the community with mental health services.
Click here for more information.
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KTUA Planning and Landscape Architecture
elevates 3 to senior leadership status
San Diego-based KTUA Planning and Landscape Architecture announces that studio leaders Brooke Whalen, Chris Langdon and Joe Punsalan have been elevated to KTUA’s senior leadership as principals.
Brooke Whalen, principal landscape architect: Since joining KTUA in 2002, Whalen’s passion is creating memorable places with an emphasis on sustainability, identity, pride, and opportunities for social activation. She has been an influential force in projects such as Paseo de Colachis at the University of San Diego, The Fairmont Grand Del Mar, and several projects currently in progress at Southwestern College.
Chris Langdon, principal landscape architect: Langdon’s leadership is grounded with 27 years of experience in Southern California. His experience on park and recreation projects is fueled by his love for creating public spaces that support active living and connect people with their environment. Langdon joined KTUA in 2014.
Joe Punsalan, principal transportation planner: Punsalan is leading KTUA’s transportation planning services. His career has been evolving at KTUA since 1998 and his passion lies in developing collaborative planning and design solutions that provide communities with activated, safe, and engaging active transportation infrastructure.
KTUA is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
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California prison chief Ralph Diaz to retire
CalMatters
The head of California’s prison system will retire Oct. 1 after two years on the job, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday. The news of Ralph Diaz’s departure from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation comes weeks after other top officials announced they were leaving Newsom’s administration.
It also comes amid heightened scrutiny on prison leadership following a May transfer of inmates from a facility hard-hit by coronavirus to San Quentin State Prison. That decision led to the ousting of California’s top prison medical officer, and San Quentin later became the site of the nation’s worst coronavirus outbreak.
Diaz also oversaw the shrinking of state prisons amid the pandemic, bringing their combined population below 100,000 for the first time in 30 years. Kathleen Allison, one of Diaz’s top aides, will lead the system beginning Oct. 1.
Newsom: “(Diaz) has overseen incredible transformation as well as unparalleled challenges at (the corrections department) during his time there and has truly met the moment with leadership and humility.”
Diaz: “I am confident that our department’s transformative focus on rehabilitation will continue to result in safer prisons, healthier communities, and lower recidivism.”
