Weekly Newsletter

February 26th, 2025

Upcoming SoCalBio Events

SOCALBIO Networking Mixer in Valencia

Thursday, February 27 · 4 - 7pm PST

@ HuMannity Medtech

Join us for an exciting evening of networking in Santa Clarita's vibrant life science scene. Whether you’re looking to discuss the latest Industry updates, tour HUMANNITY’s facilities, or simply expand your professional network, this is the perfect opportunity to connect! We hope to see you there! Let us know how SoCalBio can better serve your company. Registration for this event is free for SoCalBio members!

SOCALBIO Networking Mixer in Valencia

Thursday, February 27 · 4 - 7 pm PST

@ HuMannity Medtech

Join us for an evening of networking! Connect with professionals from Orange County’s biotech, medtech, and digital health sectors while enjoying great food and drinks. Learn how SoCalBio can support your company and discover cost-saving opportunities through our Group Purchasing Program. Enjoy great food, drinks, and valuable conversations with industry peers!

News Updates

‘Fear and uncertainty’: Biotech investors warn of impact from NIH research cuts | BioPharmaDive

The Trump administration’s plans to reduce National Institutes of Health grant funding could have long-term consequences for the U.S. drug industry, investors said.

New non-opioid pain medication: How is the biotech industry fighting pain after the opioid crisis? | LABiotech

When Vertex Pharmaceuticals announced last month that its pain pill had received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it marked a major breakthrough in the hunt for new non-opioid pain medication.

FDA works to reverse layoffs, rehire lost staff: reports | Fierce Biotech

What a difference a week makes. After hundreds of FDA employees were suddenly laid off last weekend—including dozens at the agency’s device center tasked with reviewing products for clearance and approval

Boston Scientific reports first cases with next-gen Faraflex catheter | MassDevice

Boston Scientific today announced the completion of the first-ever cases with its Faraflex mapping and pulsed field ablation (PFA) catheter.

Eli Lilly plans at least $27 billion in new U.S. manufacturing investments | CNBC

Eli Lilly said it will invest at least $27 billion to build four new manufacturing sites in the U.S. as demand for its weight loss and diabetes injections soars and the company develops new drugs.

A little-known Chinese company made a drug that beat the world’s biggest-selling medicine | CNN

China’s DeepSeek shocked the world by delivering unexpected innovation at an unbelievable price. But this disruptive trend isn’t confined to Big Tech: it has been quietly happening in the pharmaceutical sector.

Medicare spending on diabetes drugs surged over 5 years, US report shows | Reuters

Medicare spending on some diabetes drugs, including popular treatments such as Ozempic, surged nearly five-fold to $35.8 billion between 2019 and 2023, a U.S. government watchdog's report showed this week.

Applications Now Open for the 2025 SoCalBio Annual Investor Conference!

Showcase your company to a network of angel investors, venture capitalists, and industry leaders at the 2025 SoCalBio Annual Investor Conference. In 2024, we had over 20 investors and over 200 one-on-one meetings scheduled.

Applicants will undergo a screening process with our Innovation Catalysts Committee. Selected companies will receive complimentary admission to the conference to present, as well as early registration for 1:1 networking meetings with investors.

Apply to today!

Join us in supporting the next generation of innovators.

The SoCalBio STEM College Bound Support Initiative (CBSI) team is excited to announce that applications for our 2025 program are now open. For over 20 years, SoCalBio's CBSI initiative has supported high school STEM education statewide by providing financial awards based on scientific proposals submitted to the California Science Fair.

By donating to our program, you can help fund awards, plaques, and certificates for the student winners and runners-up and their high schools. Your generous support will enable us to assist even more students in pursuing STEM education.

Donate Online

PBM legislation reintroduced in Senate

Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IW) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) reintroduced legislation to check practices by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) that artificially inflate the price of drugs.

Why it matters: PBMs act as middlemen, using their market power to drive up the prices of prescription drugs with opaque practices.

The Prescription Pricing for the People Act would require the “Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to complete a 6(b) study examining the effects of consolidation on pricing in the PBM industry, as well as other potentially abusive behavior by PBMs,” per Sen. Grassley’s office.

The PBM Transparency Act “bans deceptive and unfair pricing schemes, prohibits arbitrary claw backs of payments made to pharmacies, and requires PBMs to report to the FTC on how much money they make through spread pricing and pharmacy fees.”

Accelerated approval can speed new treatments to people who need them, but insurance coverage must improve, explained participants in a BIO Patient Advocacy Coffee Chat. Accelerated approval “translates to getting treatments to patients on average 3.2 years faster, which is huge for patients and families that are waiting for therapies. But we’ve seen a variety of coverage and reimbursement challenges,” says Karin Hoelzer, DVM, Ph.D., BIO’s Senior Director of Patient Advocacy. Patient advocates weighed in on the impact—read more on Bio.News.

Special Saving on Lab Supplies

Become a member of SoCalBio and enjoy fantastic savings on lab supplies from Avantor's extensive catalog through SoCalBio's Group Purchasing.

Learn More!

SoCalBio's Partner Events

11th Annual

American Biomanufacturing Summit

April 15-16, 2025 - San Francisco, CA

The American Biomanufacturing Summit is taking place April 15-16, 2025, in San Francisco, CA. The summit brings together over 200 biopharma and biotech executive leaders for 2 days of sessions, workshops, and networking.

With sessions led by top biotech executives, the agenda is designed to discuss current trends, strategic insights, and best practices in key topics like manufacturing, cell and gene therapy, capacity management, quality assurance, quality control, regulatory compliance, operational excellence, supply chain and logistics. Network with your fellow biopharma leaders as we explore strategies to maximize efficiency while remaining compliant within the biomanufacturing space.

Learn more

Caltech Entrepreneurs Forum:

The AI Hardware Ecosystem: AI Factories of the Future

March 15, 2025 - Pasadena, CA

The industry forecasts over $1 Trillion of hardware investment will be made in AI Factories between now and 2030. NVIDIA’s chips are only a fraction of the investment needed and small firms working on cooling solutions are becoming overnight unicorns. Anyone doing a better job solving the increasing technical challenges of data transmittal, power management, cooling and memory in an AI can find quick growth from customers like Microsoft, Amazon or Meta for their data centers. Join us to hear from industry thought leaders who have been through similar IT hardware growth cycles as well as those leading innovative startups in the ecosystem.

Local Highlights

Do you have a recent scientific breakthrough, investment milestone, or commitment you would like to share? We are always looking to share our member's stories Submit your stories to scbc@socalbio.org