Medical device startups will make their way to Irvine this fall in a bid to get money.
Aliso Viejo-based Octane, a booster group for startup companies, is calling for investment presentations at its annual medical device and investor forum scheduled for Oct. 22 and 23 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine.
Scheduled speakers include a mix of device and healthcare executives and venture capitalists.
They include Dr. Richard Afable, president and chief executive of Irvine-based Covenant Health Network; Joe Kiani, chief executive of Masimo Corp., an Irvine-based maker of patient monitors; Paul LaViolette, a partner with Boston-based venture capital firm SV Life Sciences; and James Mazzo, former president of Abbott Medical Optics who’s now the executive chairman of AcuFocus Inc., an early-stage Irvine company that makes devices to prevent near-vision loss.
Several panels are part of the event, including one on “Healthcare in 2020.”
Other topics to be addressed include the Affordable Care Act, medical device user fees, the federal tax on medical device makers’ revenue, and transparency in life science data.
The forum, in addition to panels and speakers, also will set aside time for device makers to meet up with potential investors. Companies that have presented in the past include OrthAlign Inc., an Aliso Viejo maker of devices used in knee surgeries, and Sequent Medical, which is also based in Aliso Viejo and makes devices to treat ballooning blood vessels in the brain.
Octane said several other startups have grown from their investment presentations at past forums, including Allegro Ophthalmics, a San Juan Capistrano-based maker of treatments for wet age-related macular degeneration, a major cause of blindness.
Motley to Allergan Investors: Relax
The recent “hand of cards dealt” to Irvine-based drug maker Allergan Inc. “isn’t as bad as the market believes,” according to a recent article on the Motley Fool investor website.
Allergan’s shares sank at the end of June after the Food and Drug Administration suggested a generic version of the company’s dry-eye drug Restasis could be approved without human clinical trials if the generic’s composition is similar enough to the branded product.
The company has vowed to fight that opinion and plans to make its case that a human test is needed on a generic for Restasis.
Restasis’ patent expires in May; some analysts have said a generic version could be on the market as early as 2016.
Restasis could reach nearly $900 million in sales this year, or as much as 15% of Allergan’s $6 billion in projected annual product sales, which are slightly less than total sales.
“Readers shouldn’t assume that Allergan faces a road to irrelevance in the world of Big Pharma,” author John Macris wrote.
Allergan “has a number of valuable drugs that continue to deliver in a big way,” Macris said, adding that the company’s flagship Botox is now approved in 85 countries for 25 medical conditions.
Macris also noted that Allergan “maintains a broad portfolio” among several market segments, making his case by citing other drug makers that went through patent losses on major products, such as New York-based Pfizer Inc., which lost patent protection on cholesterol controller Lipitor in November 2011.
Pfizer’s shares have risen more than 50% since Lipitor’s patent loss, Macris said.
Allergan shares are down by just more than 10% since the start of the year, with a recent market value of $25 billion.
Placentia-Linda’s New COO
Dwayne Richardson is the new chief operations officer at Placentia-Linda Hospital in Placentia.
Richardson replaces Eileen “Pat” Swaller, who retired from the position this year. He reports to Kent Clayton, Placentia-Linda’s chief executive.
Richardson was most recently the senior director of imaging and vascular lab at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia. His career also includes management positions with the Princeton Heart Program and Cath Lab at Temple University.
He has degrees from Pennsylvania State University-Schuylkill, Widener University College of Nursing, Temple University and Drexel University.
Placentia-Linda Hospital had $81.2 million in net patient revenue for the months ended in September 2012. It has nearly 500 employees and 114 licensed beds.
Bits and Pieces
Newport Beach-based patent acquirer Acacia Research Corp. said its Catheter Ablation Solutions LLC entered a settlement deal with Minnetonka, Minn.-based American Medical Systems Inc. Acacia said the agreement resolved pending litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division. … Mission Viejo-based Auxilio Inc. said William Leonard, former chief executive of Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp., has joined its board of directors. Auxilio, which helps hospitals and other healthcare providers reduce their dependence on paper records, also said Leonard bought 6.1% of the company late last year, making him one of its largest single shareholders.
