NCTimes.com Blogs

Three San Diego County biotechs have received venture funding, reports SoCalTech, a tracker of venture funding in the Southern California area. They are:

–  Farallon Biosciences Inc., of Encinitas, which raised $4 million

– Medsphere Systems, of Carlsbad, which raised a total of $3.1 million, in two fundings, $1.9 million and $1.2 million.

– Tioga Pharmaceuticals, of San Diego, which raised $1.9 million

SoCal Tech said these fundings were picked up through regulatory filings, they were not announced.

Ophthonix, a Vista-based maker of high-tech eyeglass lenses, said Tuesday it has raised $25.9 million from a group of venture capital investors.
The company said the money will help it continue rolling out its Z-View Aberrometer and iZon High Resolution Lens. It can be reached at www.izonlens.com.
The iZon lens is made to minimize optical aberrations that can impair vision quality, especially in environments with glare, low light, or low contrast. Customers get a prescription reading through Ophthonix’ Aberrometer.
Investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Enterprise Partners; DAG Ventures; Gund Investment Corp.; InterWest Partners; Trex Enterprises and Wasatch Advisors’ Cross Creek Capital Fund.

President Barack Obama’s draft of new rules for funding embryonic stem cell research will interfere with important work in finding disease treatments, says Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica-based consumer advocate group.

The group has often been critical of California’s $3 billion stem cell research program. But in its Wednesday statement, Consumer Watchdog endorsed changes proposed by the program, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM, along with the Interstate Alliance on Stem Cell Research.

The problem, according to Consumer Watchdog, is that Obama’s new rules conflict with funding guidelines President Bush enacted on Aug. 9, 2001. So about 20 lines of embryonic stem cells developed under the Bush guidelines cannot be funded under the Obama guidelines, proposed under Obama’s March 9, 2009, executive order.

One issue is Obama’s requirement that federally funded stem cell lines be derived from embryos whose donors were informed in detail about the commercial potential of this research, and that they would not get any monetary benefit. But some of the Bush-approved lines came from donors who were given less detailed information that omitted the commercial potential.

It makes sense to adopt the new guidelines from now on, but is unfair to impose them retroactively, said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s stem cell project director.

The draft regulations are available by clicking here.

Comments to the draft regulations can be made online by clicking here.

CIRM’s comments are here. (in PDF).

The Interstate Alliance’s comments are here. (also in PDF).