The fate of MannKind could be decided this month, and investors have gone into a frenzy betting on the outcome. Local billionaire Alfred Mann and his Valencia company, MannKind Corp., have spent years and about $1.5 billion developing an insulin inhaler for diabetics called Afrezza. The Food and Drug Administration’s expected decision Dec. 29 on [...]

For Carmen Izquierdo, the inspiration was sleep. The constant noise in her South L.A. neighborhood didn’t allow her mother, who works nights as a college custodian, to get much of it. So the senior at El Sereno’s Wilson High School came up with a potential solution. It’s called EquiSilent, a wireless earplug that would afford [...]

Hospitals that treat large populations of patients insured by cheaper, managed care plans are expected to do well under national health care reform. Analysts believe that is what spurred West L.A. leveraged buyout firm Leonard Green & Partners to take Prospect Medical Holdings Inc. private in a $205 million deal. Prospect, also of West Los [...]

Guess what’s coming to the Los Angeles Convention Center? Hemp Con, a trade show for products related to – you guessed it – the booming medical marijuana industry. Exhibitors range from purveyors of stoner products, such as a guy who makes 22-karat gold-plated pipes, to the more serious sounding, such as the L.A. Journal for [...]

The Business Journal’s issue of Aug. 16 featured a front-page article about Beverly Hills’ limits on medical office space (“What’s Up, Doc? Rents, as Beverly Hills clamps down on med space”) as well as a Comment column on the topic (“Beverly Hills’ Bad Medicine”). Since I am the former city manager of Beverly Hills and [...]

Since its establishment in 1985 as the world’s first such event, AIDS Walk Los Angeles has built itself into the premiere fundraiser of its type in town. Madonna and Elton John have waved to TV cameras over the years alongside other participants to raise money for the event’s non-profit organizer, AIDS Project Los Angeles. So [...]

With last week’s announcement that Patrick Soon-Shiong is selling Abraxis BioScience Inc. for $2.9 billion, the biotech entrepreneur won’t have a company to run for the first time in more than two decades. But there’s one thing the billionaire will have: more money, more liquidity and more time to pursue his philanthropy, as well as [...]

Last month’s departure of Ray Jankowski as chief executive of Community Hospital of Long Beach accelerated what may be the inevitable consolidation in the South Bay city’s hospital community. Following the departure, Community Hospital’s board agreed to have the owner of Long Beach Memorial Medical Center take over management of Community while ongoing merger negotiations [...]