T H E C O M M U N I T Y O F B U S I N E S S ™

L A B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L . C O M

Vol. 40, No. 21 May 21 – 27, 2018 • $5.00

LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL

PPBI.com

Serving Businesses across Southern California

Pacific Premier Bank is a registered trademark. All rights reserved.

By JERRY SULLIVAN

The members of the 2018 Wealthiest Ange-lenos list combined for an increase in fortune despite a slight decline in their ranks, accord-ing to Business Journal estimates.

The list includes 56 fortunes and 60 indi-viduals – there are four couples listed as joint entries. The estimated cumulative net worth of the bunch came to $219 billion, an increase of about 7.7 percent from last year.

The gains are relatively modest compared with strong runs for equities, real estate and other asset classes over the past year, as well

Top Line on Wealthiest: $219 BillionModerate gain over course of unpredictable year; Soon-Shiong still tops

Please see WEALTHIEST ANGELENOS page 6

Our annual update on the Wealthiest Angelenos considers Elon Musk’s first steps toward civic engagement, Lynda Resnick’s view of the glass ceiling, how wealth intersects with art in the community of business, and a trophy case of prized properties, projects and passions. Our Special Edition starts on page 29.

ALL SORTS OF ANGLESBeyond the numbers on this year’s crop of billionaires

Stylish SoulièsIt’s not complicated for the co-proprietor of Pitchoun French Bakery & Café

Roadshows by the RunwayLAX injects entertainment into travelers’ itineraries

Please see HEALTH CARE page 123

Please see MEDIA page 122

Please see RESTAURANTS page 11

By DANA BARTHOLOMEW Staff Reporter

A biotech firm in City of In-dustry has secured nearly $12 million to market a newly ap-proved drug to treat hyperten-sion in a therapy paired with a digital monitoring platform to help ensure patient compliance.

By ETHAN VARIAN

KCETLink Media Group Inc.’s proposed merger with PBS SoCal/KOCE-TV Foundation in Orange County aims to create a new center for public broad-casting in Burbank as part of a two-headed public TV station.

By SHWANIKA NARAYAN Staff Reporter

It’s no surprise that the Business Journal’s list of the top restau-

rant chains is again dominated by fast-food and fast-casual restaurants – concepts based on large-scale operations.

New Beachhead for Biotech

KCET Set to Share Billing

Millennials onChains’ Menus?

HEALTH CARE: Veteran sets up in City of Industry

MEDIA: Deal with OCstation ends flight from PBS

RESTAURANTS: Signs pointto trend of younger franchisees

as bullish performanc-es for a number of op-erating companies that count members of the list as owners or signifi-cant investors.

Not everyone got the benefits of those trends, though.

Cook

Soon-Shiong

– S P E C I A L E D I T I O N –

W E A LT H I E S T A N G E L E N O S

RNAL

THE LISTRank

Restaurant Chain• name• address

L.A. County Units• 2018• 2017

Type of Food

Profile• year established• parent company

Other• website

• stock symbol

Top Executive• name• title

• phone

1Starbucks2401 Utah Ave. South

Seattle, Wash. 98134631587

coffee, specialty drinks, food1985Starbucks Corp. starbucks.comSBUX

Kevin JohnsonCEO(206) 447-1575

2Subway325 Sub WayMilford, Conn. 06461

594608

submarine sandwiches

1965Doctor's Associates Inc. subway.comprivate

Suzanne GrecoCEO(203) 877-4281

3McDonald's2111 McDonald's Drive

Oak Brook, Ill. 60523322318

hamburgers, specialty foods1955McDonald's Corp. mcdonalds.comMCD

Steve EasterbrookCEO(630) 623-3000

4Jack in the Box9330 Balboa Ave.San Diego 92123

222223

hamburgers, specialty foods1951Jack in the Box Inc. jackinthebox.comJACK

Leonard CommaCEO, Chairman(858) 571-2121

5Taco Bell1 Glen Bell WayIrvine 92618

153155

Mexican

1962Yum Brands Inc. tacobell.comYUM

Julie Felss MasinoPresident, Taco Bell North America

(949) 863-4500

6Carl's Jr.6700 Tower Circle, Suite 1000

Franklin, Tenn. 37067149151

hamburgers, specialty foods1941CKE Restaurants Inc. carlsjr.comprivate

Jason MarkerCEO(877) 799-7827

El Pollo Loco3535 Harbor Blvd., Suite 100

Costa Mesa 92626149149

chicken

1975El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc. elpolloloco.comLOCO

Bernard AcocaCEO(714) 599-5000

8Pizza Hut7100 Corporate Drive

Plano, Texas 75024148151

pizza

1958Yum Brands Inc. pizzahut.comYUM

Arthur StarrsPresident, Pizza Hut U.S.(972) 338-7700

9Domino's Pizza30 Frank Lloyd Wright Drive

Ann Arbor, Mich. 48105142136

pizza

1960Domino's Pizza Inc. dominos.comDPZ

Richard AllisonCEO(734) 930-3030

10Panda Express1683 Walnut Grove Ave.

Rosemead 91770140138

Chinese

1983Panda Restaurant Group pandaexpress.comprivate

Andrew CherngPeggy CherngCo-Chairman/Co-Chairwoma

(626) 799-9898

11Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf5700 Wilshire Blvd.Los Angeles 90036

123122

coffee, specialty drinks, food1963International Coffee & Tea coffeeb

12Baskin-Robbins130 Royall St.Canton, Mass. 02021

117119

ice cream h13

Littl

Ranked by number of L.A. County units

RESTAURANT CHAINS NEXT WEEKThe Largest Money Management

Firms in L.A. County

RESTAURANT CHAINS Ranked by number of L.A. County unitsSee page 12

THE LIST 5 119

THE LIST

RESTAURANTS

See page 12

Trieu

MAY 21, 2018 LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL 123

Even our adsare different from other banks.

Official Business Bank

PPBI.com

Serving Businesses across Southern California

Pacific Premier Bank is a registered trademark. All rights reserved.

No photo of our corporate headquarters?

The funding puts Marina Biotech Inc. on course to start sales of Prestalia, which is in-tended for patients at risk of stroke, a global market worth an estimated $20 billion annually.

Marina bought the drug from Symplmed Pharmaceuticals in Cincinnati for $1 million a year ago, according to the company, and plans to sell it with a Total Care package to encourage compliance. The bundle includes an at-blood pressure monitor with data uploaded to a digital cloud accessible to doctors and patients, with 24/7 counseling available through an online pharmacy.

“We’re very excited,” said Dr. Vuong Trieu, executive chairman for the recently revamped Marina Biotech. “We have funding to build out our sales force, to deliver our hypertension drug to patients.”

Trieu has been involved in drug research and development for more than two decades. He’s a veteran of several enterprises that have involved Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong (see related Wealthi-est Angelenos coverage, page 1; Special Edition starting on page 29).

Trieu served as director of pharmacology and biology at Soon-Shiong’s Abraxis Biosci-ence Inc. before its sale to New Jersey-based Celgene Corp. for $2.9 billion in 2010.

He then launched IgDraSol Inc., a Fountain Valley-based biotech company that was ac-quired in 2013 by Sorrento Therapeutics in a stock deal valued at $28.3 million. Trieu was chief executive of IgDraSol, and became chief scientific officer of Sorrento, with a seat on the board.

Sorrento maintained IgDraSol as a distinct operating unit, and sold it to Soon-Shiong’s NantPharma in a deal valued as high as $1.3 billion with milestones in 2015.

Several members of the IgDraSol founding team, including Trieu, walked away with $30 million to $40 million, he said

Sector strengthThe infusion of nearly $12 million into Mari-

na Biotech late last month was among the latest in significant funding rounds for the biomedical sector in Los Angeles area.

Seventeen biotech/pharma companies in the region have drawn $95.1 million since the be-ginning of the year, said Ahmed Enany, chief executive of the Southern California Biomed-ical Council, an advocacy trade group.

Marina Biotech’s funds came on the sale of preferred stock to nearly 100 investors in April. It was the third largest, after the $15.5 million deal on Jan. 23 by the Newport Beach-based Bonti Inc., and a $23 million round earlier this month by Aadi Bioscience Inc. of Pacific Pal-isades.

PipelineMarina Biotech has another drug in develop-

ment behind its flagship Prestalia.For now it’s called IT-102/IT-103, a combi-

nation of Celebrex, made by Pfizer Inc., with a proprietary drug that’s aimed at addressing the national opioid epidemic with a non-addictive painkiller. Trieu said the drug could gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval as soon as 2019. The market for opioid replacements is now estimated at $10 billion annually, accord-ing to industry observers.

Marina Biotech has gotten its footing as part of Autotelic Inc., an incubator founded by Trieu for late-stage biopharmaceutical startups.

Autotelic now oversees a consortium of biopharma companies across the western U.S., including Oncotelic Inc., Stocosil Inc., ITh-enaPharma Inc., and LipoMedics Inc. of Fort Worth, Texas.

Fountain Valley-based IThena Pharma was the vehicle Trieu, a native of Vietnam, used to get control of Marina Biotech through a reverse merger.

Marina Biotech, founded in 1983 in Seattle, had been unsuccessful in developing a nasal medical device to deliver insulin to diabetics.

Health Care: Drug Developer Adds Digital MonitorThen it moved into gene-based therapies for colorectal cancer and other illnesses.

But the company had run out of cash, Trieu said.

Marina Biotech was – and remains – a pub-licly traded company, with shares sold over-the counter.

“We essentially took IThenaPharma and merged it with Marina to create a public com-pany – to transform Marina, a failed company, with a late-stage (drug) pipeline Trieu said. “That essentially saved Marina and gave it a fresh start.”

FundingMarina Biotech immediately began rais-

ing money to establish a new pipeline of drug therapies.

Trieu extended a $540,000 line of credit from

Autotelic. He and other investors then injected another $2 million in private funds, he said.

The company has yet to develop revenue streams. It posted a loss of $6.2 million last year, and has seen its share price dip significant-ly over the period.

It’s recent market capitalization was $10. 5 million, and it closed on its $11.7 million pri-vate placement of preferred stock to nearly 100 investors in April, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The infusion of funds will allow Marina Biotech to pursue a double-barreled strategy of marketing Prestalia for hypertension and de-veloping its drug intended as an opioid replace-ment.

Marina Biotech, which has 10 employees, is hiring 20 more sales representatives for a na-tionwide marketing push on Prestalia.

Continued from page 1 Marina Biotech Inc.(OTC: MRNA)

HEADQUARTERS: City of Industry

BUSINESS: Drug developer

CEO: Vuong Trieu

MARKET CAP: $10.5 million

RECENT EARNINGS: Q4 $2.9 million

Source: Yahoo Finance

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