Daily Business Report-June 7, 2016
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Report: Half of Registered
Voters in San Diego Will Vote
By City News Service
Around half of the registered voters in San Diego County will cast a ballot in today’s primary election, according to an analysis released Monday by the National University System Institute for Policy Research.The study by Vince Vasquez of National University System Institute for Policy Research projects countywide turnout at around 50 to 53 percent, a relatively high figure fueled by interest in the presidential primary race — particularly on the Democratic side where Hillary Clinton hasn’t quite clinched the nomination.
Guild Mortgage Acquires
AmeriPro Home Loans
San Diego-based Guild Mortgage Co. has reached an agreement to acquire AmeriPro Home Loans based in Austin, Texas, with 29 branches and $750 million in loan volume in 2015.
The transaction is expected to close July 1 and will make Guild one of the largest independent mortgage banking companies in Texas. The acquisition will also add new Guild branches in Oklahoma, Florida, Colorado, California and Utah. AmeriPro was founded in 2003 and has become recognized as a leading residential lender in the Southwest. Since 2008, it has been a subsidiary of Tenura Holdings Inc., an Austin-based investor in realty, title and insurance companies.
The acquisition is part of Guild’s long-range plan to grow through acquisition, adding branches in new and existing markets. From 2010 to 2015, Guild grew from its western base into the Southeast and Southwest, increasing its number of branches and satellites from 75 to more than 230. Loan volume in the same period jumped from $4.1 billion to $13.8 billion. Servicing volume more than tripled, from $6.4 billion to $22.3 billion.
NuVasive Buys Michigan
Company for $98 Million
Times of San Diego
San Diego-based NuVasive said Monday it will acquire Biotronic NeuroNetwork, a provider of neural monitoring services, for $98 million in cash.
NuVasive, which started as a maker of medical devices for spinal surgery, said the acquisition will allow it to expand its medical services business across the U.S. in complementary markets.
“We are extremely excited about this combination, as it more than doubles NuVasive’s neurophysiology footprint, creating an at-scale services business with improved growth and operational benefits,” said Gregory T. Lucier, chairman and chief executive officer of NuVasive.
Privately held Biotronic, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., was founded in 1982. It offers neural monitoring services in which certified specialists monitor a patient’s nervous system during surgery
The company supports more than 45,000 surgeries annually in more than 650 hospitals. It had revenue of more than $50 million in revenue in 2015.
Nearly All San Diego County Water
Agencies Met April Conservation Goals
By City News Service
Nearly all of the 24 water agencies in San Diego County easily met their state-mandated conservation goals in April, state water officials reported Monday. Statewide, Californians cut back their use by 26.1 percent in April compared to the same month in 2013, the state benchmark.
“Californians continue to demonstrate that they are serious about water conservation, which is fabulous,” said state Water Board Chairwoman Felicia Marcus. “We will be watching closely to make sure that water agencies continue to prioritize the conservation habits their customers have adopted, and don’t fall back into business as usual. In particular we expect them to continue to enforce bans on the worst types of wasteful water use, and to take a prudent approach with their water budgets.”
The city of San Diego, the region’s largest supplier of water to homes and businesses, saved 17.8 percent in April, compared to a target of 8 percent. Since June of last year, customers have reduced consumption by a cumulative 18 percent.
The local districts that missed their state-mandated targets in April, either for the month or cumulatively, were:
• Fallbrook Public Utility District, goal of 28 percent, cut back 20.6 percent in April, with cumulative savings of 23.9 percent.
• Olivenhain Municipal Water District, goal of 24 percent, April savings were 23.7 percent, cumulative of 25.2 percent.
• Santa Fe Irrigation District, goal of 28 percent, April savings of 22.9 percent, cumulative of 31.7 percent.
Area of San Diego Designated
‘Promise Zone’ by Obama Administration
By City News Service
A swath of San Diego that includes its most economically disadvantaged neighborhoods was designated a “Promise Zone” by the Obama administration Monday, which will give the area an edge in securing federal support to create jobs, ramp up the local economy, improve education and access to affordable housing, and lower the crime rate.
The San Diego Promise Zone is bordered by Downtown San Diego and State Route 94 to the north, National City to the south, the San Diego Unified Port District to the west and the city of Lemon Grove to the east, according to the White House Press Office.
“The zone is characterized by high unemployment, low educational attainment, insufficient access to healthy foods, concentrated poverty, rising crime, high rates of youth unemployment, and the least affordable housing in the nation,” according to a White House statement.
However, recent rezoning, vacant land along high traffic corridors and the area being well-served by public transit are assets that officials said would help “bring economic vitality to these underserved communities.”
Officials said Promise Zones will receive federal support that includes preferred access to certain competitive federal investments, federal staffers to help implement programs and five full-time AmeriCorps VISTA members. The previous designates have received more than $550 million in federal funding, according to the White House.
San Diego Solar Day Set for June 18
San Diego Solar Day presented by Baker Electric Solar and Cleantech San Diego will be held on Saturday, June 18, at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park. It is a private event.
The observance is the city’s first event of its kind to “celebrate a shared vision around the power of solar energy to promote healthy lives, create a healthy economy and sustain a healthy planet.”
“The fact of the matter is we need to make a difference today in order to see a change for future generations,” said Mike Teresso, president of Baker Electric Solar. “There’s no question solar energy, a renewable resource that sunny San Diego is perfectly positioned to take advantage of, represents the ideal energy source for homeowners and businesses alike. We hope San Diego Solar Day lights the way for children to build a healthy and sustainable planet they can be proud of.”
The Fascinating World of Circadian Rhythm
Are you a morning person or a night owl? Do you experience jet lag when you travel? Why don’t new babies sleep through the night? And what does any of this have to do with increased risks of diabetes and cancer in shift workers?
Learn the fascinating world of circadian rhythms at a free public lecture featuring The Scripps Research Institute Assistant Professor Katja Lamia on Wednesday, June 22, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the TSRI Auditorium, 10620 John Jay Hopkins Drive in La Jolla.
For questions or to reserve a spot, contact Chelsea Luedeke at (858) 784-7083 or cluedeke@scripps.edu.
Personalized Medicine Leads to
Better Outcomes for Cancer Patients
By City News Service
Personalized medicine using a patient’s DNA to treat cancer leads to better results, according to researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine in findings published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association Oncology.
In a meta-analysis of hundreds of clinical trials involving thousands of patients, researchers report that therapeutic approaches using precision medicine, which emphasizes the use of individual genetics to refine cancer treatment, showed improved response and longer periods of disease remission, even in phase I trials.
After reviewing 346 phase I clinical trials involving 13,203 patients, the authors found that in precision medicine treatment arms, more than 30 percent of patients responded to treatment compared to 4.9 percent of patients enrolled in non-personalized arms.
Patients treated with precision medicine also benefited from longer progression-free survival with a median of 5.7 months before their disease worsened compared to 2.95 months for the others.
Sequenom Files Patent Infringement
Suit Against Ariosa, Others in Australia
GenomeWeb
Sequenom has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Sonic Healthcare, Australian Clinical Labs, and Ariosa Diagnostics in the Australian Federal Court, alleging the firms infringe a patent it holds related to noninvasive prenatal testing.
Sequenom alleges in its suit that Sonic Healthcare and Australian Clinical Labs run Ariosa’s Harmony noninvasive prenatal test, which it said infringes Sequenom’s Australian Patent 727,919.
The patent is a counterpart to the broad US-based patent that Sequenom held related to NIPT, US Patent No. 6,258,540, and which the US District Court for the Northern District of California found ineligible for patenting in 2013.
Sequenom said in the suit that it would seek all available remedies, including damages and orders of restraint.
PERSONNEL Announcements
Mayor’s Former Deputy Chief of Staff
Joins San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
Jaymie Bradford, former deputy chief of staff /chief of policy for Mayor Kevin Faulconer, has joined the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce as the new vice president of public policy and economic research.
“Jaymie’s experience and impressive credentials are a tremendous asset to the Chamber, our members, and the work we are doing at the local, state, and federal levels to make San Diego the best place to do business in California,” said Jerry Sanders, president and CEO of the chamber.
In her role in the mayor’s office, Bradford managed a team of policy experts who work on citywide issues including land use, environment, economic development, water, infrastructure and budget. State, federal and binational affairs staff have also been part of her policy team.
Prior to her role with Faulconer, Bradford served in a similar capacity for Interim Mayor Todd Gloria while on loan from her position in government affairs at SANDAG. She was director of intergovernmental relations during Sanders’s tenure as Mayor of San Diego.
At the Chamber, Bradford will oversee day-to-day activity of the chamber’s public policy department and economic research efforts while managing the policy positions and agendas for the chamber’s various policy committees. She will also be reviewing the organization’s positions at local, state and federal levels and setting its legislative agenda in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento.