What’s Inside: Announcing Our New Board Members; CIRM Elects Dr. Imbasciani as Chair; Gilead Receives $7.6M to Advance Health Equity in Breast Cancer; and more.
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New Members Added to Board of Directors and Board of Governors
We are proud to announce that we have appointed several new members to our board of directors and board of governors. Neil Bence, Ph.D., vice president and head of oncology discovery at Bristol Myers Squibb, and Connor Bates, vice president and general manager at BD, will join the board of governors. Additionally, Joydeep Ganguly, senior vice president of corporate operations at Gilead Sciences, Julie Gilmore, Ph.D., associate vice president and global head of Lilly Gateway Labs, and Matthew Bresnahan, partner for patents and innovations at Wilson Sonsini, have been appointed to Biocom California’s board of directors. All three formerly served on the board of governors.
NextMed Health Conference
Biocom California invites our members to join us at NextMed Health, a unique cross-disciplinary program exploring and catalyzing the future of healthcare and biomedicine. Biocom California will be leading a breakout session highlighting R&D companies in San Diego and is offering an exclusive discount code to members. Use code BIOCOM-NEXT to receive up to $1,000 off registration.
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Industry Intelligence & Member Moments
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- Bio Supply Management Alliance’s 15th annual Conference is back and Biocom California is proud to be a sponsor alongside Thermo Fisher Scientific in order to further industry capabilities in supply chain management.
- Bonneville Labs currently has co-working lab and office space availability in Berkeley, South San Francisco and their newest campus in Hayward. All locations feature flexible terms, easy access to freeways and custom amenities. Take a virtual tour or contact them for more information.
- California Institute of Regenerative Medicine elected Dr. Vito Imbasciani to serve as chair of the California stem cell agency.
- Capsida signed a multi-year partnership with a subsidiary of Eli Lilly to develop genetic medicines for a wide range of serious diseases.
- Gilead awarded $7.6M in grants to advance health equity in breast cancer and received FDA approval for Trodelvy to treat patients with HR-positive and HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.
- Inscripta has acquired two synthetic biology companies, Infinome Biosciences and Sestina Bio, to advance its goal of scaling and democratizing access to gene editing.
- Max Biopharma reported on the inhibition of profibrotic signaling in cellular models of lung and kidney fibrosis by its oxysterol drug candidate, Oxy210.
- Nanni Therapeutics received a $4M grant award from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine and won Amgen’s Golden Ticket for its immunotherapy technology.
- Salve Therapeutics was accepted into the Mass General Brigham MESH incubator for the development of a digital healthcare app for warfarin patient self-monitoring. Salve has also been accepted into Braid Theory’s Celsius SynBio Pre-Accelerator out of the Port of LA.
- Sana Biotechnology received its first FDA approval to start a clinical trial for its allogenic CAR-T therapy.
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Biocom California Hosts Meet & Greets with Members of Congress
Capitalizing on Congress fully reopening this year, Biocom California resumed in-person events in our nation’s capital this month and hosted meet-and-greet events for the new members of the California delegation, as well as a roundtable with Rep. Obernolte who was appointed to the Energy & Commerce Committee.
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National COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Ending
The National COVID-19 Public Health Emergency is set to expire on May 11 and HHS has released a fact sheet explaining its transition of COVID-19 policies. FDA’s EUAs for COVID-19 products and major Medicare and Medicaid telehealth flexibilities will not be affected at this time.
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Biocom California Unveils FDA User Fee Infographics
Biocom California has developed infographics for PDUFA VII, MDUFA V, and BsUFA III, providing backgrounds, accomplishments, goals and timelines for each user fee agreement signed into law last year.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom Signs Order to Protect California’s Water Supply
Gov. Newsom signed an executive order on Monday to safeguard the state’s water supplies from the effects of extreme weather. The order will help expand California’s capacity to capture storm runoff during wet years by accelerating groundwater recharge projects. While the extremely wet start to the year was a welcomed change, it wasn’t enough to eliminate drought conditions.
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California Will End its COVID-19 State of Emergency This Month
The state’s coronavirus emergency declaration will expire on February 28, almost three years after it began. Gov. Gavin Newsom released a statewide plan last year that calls for treating the virus as a manageable risk, as opposed to a crisis.
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New Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Rule Takes Effect
The new Cal/OSHA COVID-19 regulation became effective on February 3 and will be in effect for two years, ending February 3, 2025. This brings to an end the previous Emergency Temporary Standard, which California employers had been following for the better part of the last three years.
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Land Development Code 2022 Code Update
The San Diego City Council heard the Land Development Code 2022 Update on February 14. The package includes streamlining new regulatory requirements, providing additional incentives to increase the supply of housing, and a proposal to add more developable acreage in transit-oriented areas in their local housing programs. Biocom California spoke in support of this proposal known as Sustainable Development Areas (SDAs); it narrowly passed council with a 5-4 vote. Biocom California is supportive of this proposal known as Sustainable Development Areas (SDAs).
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Moorpark College to Offer Community College Bachelor’s Degree
Moorpark College will be the first community college in Ventura County to offer bachelor’s degrees when a new biotechnology program launches in fall 2024. The college will continue to offer its associate degree in biotechnology, a program that was built on connections with the area’s large biotech industry. The district hopes the new program will remove barriers and offer more employment opportunities for low-income and minority individuals.
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San Carlos Proposal to Ban Biosafety Level 3 Labs
On February 6, the San Carlos Planning Commission heard an unprecedented, proposed ban on biosafety level 3 labs (BSL-3), which are a rare but necessary component of some life-saving research processes. Biocom California staff testified at the hearing on the regulatory compliance and overall safety of life science facilities. We urged the Planning Commission to instead move forward with a conditional use permit process. Planning Commission directed staff to come back within 30 days with more information about BSL-3 operations and an option for these facilities to utilize a conditional use permit process.
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Biocom California
For over 27 years, Biocom California has helped move the life science industry forward with transformative resources that enable companies to make meaningful connections. With a membership base of over 1,700 companies, we connect our members to each other so they can collaborate and work stronger and smarter together. We connect organizations to capital investment and purchasing solutions so they can grow faster and work more efficiently. We’re their link to advocacy that fights for innovation and we provide an environment where their business and talent can thrive. Biocom California is how the life science industry gets connected.
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