Santen Inc., the American business unit of Japanese eye drug maker Santen Pharmaceutical Co., has opened a satellite business development office in Irvine.
Being in Orange County will give Santen “participation in a well-developed network” of ophthalmic companies and specialized venture funds, said Schalon Newton, the drug maker’s vice president of strategic marketing and business development.
Santen joins several other OC drug and device makers that focus on the eye. Newton said that was one reason why his company wanted to be here.
“This is the classic textbook case of an industry cluster,” said Newton, who spent 21 years with Irvine drug maker Allergan Inc.
Santen’s primary U.S. office is in Napa; its worldwide headquarters is in Osaka.
Santen, which had sales of about $1 billion in the 12 months that ended in March, intends to build up commercial sales and marketing from its new office, which is near the corner of MacArthur Boulevard and Jamboree Road, Newton said.
Santen’s international business development group now is made up of three people, including Newton. He said Santen would hire more people, but how many still is up in the air. Some workers may come to Irvine from Osaka.
Santen will be building up its business development and sales and marketing arm with an eye toward commercializing four drug candidates in 2014 to 2015, Newton said. Santen is developing drugs for glaucoma and other eye disorders.
The company was attracted to the Irvine location because of its proximity to John Wayne Airport.
“For our business development group, this is a far better venue,” Newton said
Santen has four Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs that already are being sold in the U.S. They are Iquix, an eye drop for treating ulcers on the surface of the eye; Quixin, an eye drop that treats bacterial infections; Betimol, a beta blocker for treating glaucoma and pressure in the eye; and Alamast, which treats eye allergies.
Santen makes the drugs and is responsible for research and regulatory activities. Vistakon Pharmaceuticals LLC, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based division of Johnson & Johnson, sells the drugs.
Santen also entered into partnership deals in the past year with New York-based Bausch & Lomb Inc., Merck & Co. Inc. of New Jersey, and MacuSight Inc., a drug maker in Northern California.
Edwards Considers Utah
Utah is willing to pay Irvine-based heart valve maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp. to keep a plant in the state.
Edwards has a 228-worker manufacturing plant in Midvale, a suburb of Salt Lake City.
But Edwards has outgrown that facility and is considering other options, including leaving the state.
Recently, the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development’s board approved a plan to give Edwards $11.5 million in incentives during a 15-year period to move its plant from Midvale to Draper, a city that lies halfway between Salt Lake and Provo, and to add more jobs, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Company spokeswoman Amanda Fowler told the Tribune that the heart valve maker is going to make its decision on whether it will stay in Utah during the next several months.
The article noted that the incentives are based on Edwards’ retaining its current workforce and adding more than 1,000 jobs to the state’s economy in the next 15 years.
BioLase Gets Chinese OK
BioLase Technology Inc., an Irvine dental laser maker, said it received Chinese regulatory approval to sell its Waterlase systems in that country.
Waterlase uses a mix of laser light and water to cut patients’ hard and soft tissues. BioLase touts its product as an alternative to procedures performed with dental drills and scalpels.
In a release, Chief Executive David Mulder said that BioLase and its distribution partners have been working on entering China for “a considerable time.”
BioLase noted that dentistry in China is “changing very rapidly with the establishment of new private clinics” and patients are increasingly willing to spend more on what Mulder called “modern dental care.”
BioLase already sells its products in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Bits and Pieces:>
Children’s Hospital of Orange County received a $3 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to use stem cells to study autism’s impact on the brain. Researchers working out of the Orange hospital will generate, investigate and store neural stem cells derived from skin cells donated by children with autism … Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach said its breast care center received a “certified quality breast center” designation by the National Consortium of Breast Centers, a trade group based in Indiana. The consortium uses several quality measures to rank breast care centers … In other Hoag-related news, Coast Internal Medical Consultants opened a practice at the Hoag Health Center. Coast is affiliated with Greater Newport Physicians.
