Abraxis to Open Biopharmaceutical Campus in Culver City

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Abraxis BioScience Inc. has bought a 3.5-acre property in Culver City for a new research and development facility.


The biopharmaceutical campus, with a planned 2008 completion date, is intended to bring together the company’s proprietary research, development and clinical trial operations.


Abraxis, created by the merger of Santa Monica-based American BioScience Inc. and Schaumburg, Ill.-based American Pharmaceutical Partners Inc., has been operating out of American BioScience’s offices.


In addition to the Culver City property, Abraxis said it has acquired a 50,750-square-foot laboratory facility in Marina del Rey. The building will expand Abraxis’ research and process development capabilities as well as house the company’s regulatory affairs and medical writing staff.


In addition to the Los Angeles-area facilities, Abraxis retains American Pharmaceutical’s manufacturing facility in Illinois, which makes Abraxane and several injectible generic drugs.



Vitesse Turmoil


Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. fired three top executives including company co-founder and Chief Executive Louis Tomasetta following allegations that stock options might have been awarded inappropriately.


The three officials, including Chief Financial Officer Yatin Mody and Executive Vice President Eugene Hovanec, were put on suspension by the Camarillo-based chip maker last month following news reports suggesting stock option grants might have been back-dated to take advantage of stock price increases.


Vitesse shares dropped 20 percent on Wednesday to close at $1.48. The company, which has received a Nasdaq delisting notification because of the delayed filing of its most recent quarterly report, said it has expanded its internal investigation of the options grants to include a review of accounting practices that may have affected its reported cash positions.


Christopher Gardner and Shawn Hassel, who have been acting chief executive officer and acting chief financial officer, respectively, have been named permanently to those posts.



D.C. Sojourn


Seventy members of the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce and other local business groups made the rounds with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa last week in Washington D.C., pushing for more funds for transportation and goods movement.


Chamber executive vice president Ron Gastelum said the chamber pushed for passage of HR 4594, the Safe Port Act, by Rep. Jane Harman, D-Redondo Beach and Dan Lungren, R-Sacramento. That bill, which passed the House and is pending in the Senate, would provide $400 million for port security, much of that going to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.


The chamber also lobbied members of Congress and the Bush administration to gather up support for the Doha round of international trade negotiations. And chamber representatives pushed to defeat HR 1201, the Digital Media Consumer Rights Act. Gastelum said the Chamber believes this bill would legalize forms of DVD hacking and game copying software, thus hurting L.A. area entertainment firms.



XM Lawsuit


The Recording Industry Association of America filed a lawsuit last week against XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., alleging that XM’s Inno device infringes copyright by functioning as a download service.


The suit, filed in New York, alleges “massive wholesale infringement,” and seeks $150,000 in damages for every song copied by XM customers using the Inno devices, which went on sale earlier this month.


XM maintains that the $400 Innos, manufactured by Pioneer, are legal devices that allow consumers to listen to and record radio just as the law has allowed for decades.


The RIAA is trying to collect music distribution licenses similar to those that cover online downloads and XM rival Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., which already reached a license agreement to cover a similar device.



Religious Acquisitions


Camarillo-based Salem Communications Corp. said it has agreed to acquire Xulon Press, a premier on-demand digital publisher of books targeting the Christian audience.


Print-on-demand allows books to be stored electronically and printed only as they are ordered. The technology reduces the need for large inventory and warehousing.


“This acquisition is an opportunity for Salem to diversify our core radio, Internet and magazine platform, yet continue to serve our niche,” said Jim Cumbee, president of Non-Broadcast Media for Salem Communications.


Tom Freling, chief executive of Xulon, will join Nashville-based Salem Publishing as general manager of Xulon Press.


Also last week, Salem purchased American Ministry Resources LLC, which publishes a magazine and Web sites for ministers.



Jean Suit


Los Angeles-based denim clothing maker True Religion Apparel Inc. has won two court default judgments against several individuals and businesses charged with importing and selling counterfeit jeans.


The judgments from both cases total approximately $1 million. In one case, True Religion worked with Ben Sherman Ltd. to pursue a claim against individuals and businesses charged with selling counterfeit clothing for both brands. The $500,000 judgment in that case was awarded jointly to both plaintiffs.


“As the visibility of the True Religion brand continues to grow both in the U.S. and abroad, we are working aggressively to protect our intellectual property,” said True Religion chief executive Jeffrey Lubell in a statement.



Deborah Crowe, Howard Fine, Anne Riley-Katz

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