Atara Biotherapeutics' headquarters in Thousand Oaks.
The share price of Thousand Oaks-based immunotherapy company Atara Biotherapeutics nearly doubled on May 7 after a welcome dose of positive news.
The company reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has laid out a path for resubmission of Atara’s cell therapy drug candidate that the agency had twice before rejected.
Shareholder jubilation was immediate. Within hours, Atara’s stock had nearly doubled to $10 a share. The price closed on May 7 at $9.93 – up 93% – with a record volume of 77 million shares. The stock slipped a bit in the following days though rebounded on May 13, a day after the company’s earnings release, closing at $10.48. The price still remains below the $14 to $18 range the stock was trading before news of the FDA’s second rejection hit in early January.
FDA rejections
Atara’s drug, called tabelecleucel (tab-cel for short), targets a rare and often fatal blood cancer that can occur after organ or stem cell transplants. Atara developed the drug in partnership with Paris-based pharma giant Pierre Fabre Laboratories. The latter company has taken the drug through the FDA regulatory process. The drug had already been approved in 2022 for sale in the European Union nations under the brand name Ebvallo.
In January of last year, the FDA rejected the drug for the first time, citing deficiencies in the manufacturing process, a common issue that arises in initial FDA reviews of drug applications. After meeting with the FDA to map out a corrective course of action, Pierre Fabre resubmitted the drug last summer to the FDA, fully expecting approval.
But in early January, the FDA shocked both companies by rejecting the drug a second time. The issue this time was more substantial: the failure to include “double-arm” clinical trial results in the application. A double-arm clinical trial is considered the gold standard. It involves one group of participants that receive the drug and another control group that receives either a placebo or the existing standard therapy.
In an interview with the Business Journal, Atara Chief Executive Cokey Nguyen said that they didn’t consider it ethical to deny some clinical trial participants the potentially life-saving drug. Instead, the companies used pre-determined baseline standards in so-called “single-arm” clinical trials.
Cokey Nguyen
News of this second denial was devastating: Atara’s share price plunged by more than two-thirds over two days as many shareholders concluded this denial was the FDA’s final word on the application. The denial was also taken as a sign that the FDA under the second administration of President Donald Trump was being far more rigorous in its reviews of new drug applications.
Hopeful meeting with FDA
Pierre Fabre sought and was granted another meeting earlier this month with the FDA to try to map out a way forward for approval. According to an announcement released on May 7 from Atara Biotherapeutics, the FDA agreed in the meeting to allow the usage of the single-arm clinical trial method. In exchange, Pierre Fabre agreed to submit additional data with a longer period of patient follow-up.
“We appreciate the FDA’s continued engagement with PFP and Atara, and we believe the Type A Meeting provided helpful alignment on the regulatory framework to resubmit,” Nguyen said in the announcement.
No timeline was given for resubmission of this expanded clinical trial data to the FDA. But Nguyen said an update would be issued in the third quarter.
One year cash runway
Last week, Atara released its quarterly earnings statement. The company reported $516,000 in revenue during the first quarter, down sharply from $98.2 million for the same quarter last year. The company noted that last year’s revenue figure was impacted by a one-time acceleration of sales as it transferred tabelecleucel manufacturing to Pierre Fabre.
Atara reported a net loss of $4.15 million for the first quarter as opposed to a gain of $38 million for the same quarter last year – also impacted by the one-time transfer. Atara reported that it expects its cash runway to last until the middle of next year, thanks to $4.8 million in proceeds from recent share offerings and extensive cutbacks. The company has shed more than 95% of its staff over the last five years.
A national registered financial advisory firm on an acquisition spree has snapped up Thousand Oaks-based Eagleson Arndt Financial Advisors.
In the last year, Mercer Advisors brought 18 firms under its wing, including two in the Los Angeles area, where it manages $3.2 billion in client assets of its $98 billion total.
Eagleson Arndt, composed of veteran adviser Vicki Arndt and client manager Kathryn Freid overseeing $100 million in assets, is the Denver-based RIA’s latest add-on.
Arndt is a “powerhouse,” said Martine Lellis, executive managing partner for M&A partner development at Mercer.
“She’s an amazing adviser … serving as a fiduciary, putting her clients first and leading with planning,” Lellis said. “(She is) a very natural fit for continuing to build out that team.”
Martine Lellis
Mercer positions itself as an integrator as opposed to an aggregator, despite its aggressive inorganic growth strategy, encouraging partner firms to operate independently with added scale and support, Lellis said.
“We don’t want to diminish what (Arndt) was capable of doing on her own,” she said. “It’s just going to help her create a more integrated process of delivery for wide-ranging advice that will incorporate areas like tax and estate planning and investments in other areas that her clients may need.”
‘Opportunity’ in L.A. markets
In a competitive, consolidating wealth management sector, smaller firms balance compliance, technological advancements and a patchwork of external solutions providers. Lellis said many firms that approach Mercer want to lift their operational burden.
“We have a lot of sellers who come to us because they are just in a state of wearing a lot of hats,” she said. “It’s taking them away from doing what a lot of them decided was going to be their life’s work.”
The deal builds on Mercer’s growing presence in and around L.A., where it runs six offices – including in Woodland Hills, Encino and Century City – staffed by 16 advisers and their teams. In October, the firm acquired Encino-based wealth management, tax and business advisory firm Singer Burke and its $1.2 billion in managed assets.
“Southern California is very attractive,” Lellis said. “There’s opportunity in the L.A. and Orange County markets, so we want to continue to try to activate those and bring our services to those clientele.”
A Sun Valley-based precision manufacturing firm with deep ties to the aerospace and defense industry has scored local private equity backing.
Precision Aircraft Machining Co. Inc., or Pamco, has been acquired by Avem Partners, a private equity firm based in Manhattan Beach, with additional capital support from True West Capital Partners, prominent family offices and high-net-worth investors. Avem principals and several aerospace industry executives also put up significant investment. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal will advance Pamco’s scaled platform supplying source-controlled fluid conveyance fittings for some of the biggest names in aerospace and defense, including SpaceX, Boeing and Northrop Grumman.
“Joining the Avem platform represents an exciting next chapter for Pamco,” said Pamco President Kim Pisano in a news release. “The partnership with Avem will allow us to build on our strong foundation and continue to expand our capabilities and customer support.”
Avem will step in to help Pamco expand production, enhance efficiency and pursue both organic and inorganic growth opportunities.
Nearly a decade of investments
Pamco, founded in 1980, is one of Avem’s four current portfolio companies. The private equity firm has invested in North American lower-middle-market aerospace and defense companies since 2017.
“Pamco is a strong addition to our aerospace and defense manufacturing platform, with deep technical capabilities, a long history of quality performance, and a highly skilled team,” said Brian Leibl, partner at Avem, in the release.
The firm’s push to expand its footprint in the aerospace and defense sectors took a “pivotal step” last April, when the company announced it acquired Valencia-based FMI Aerostructure Inc. out of bankruptcy. Like Pamco, FMI has a history of supplying parts to major clients like Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co., Northrop Grumman Corp. and Blue Origin.
Among Avem’s seven realized investments is Aero Pacific Corp., a Garden Grove-based aerospace supplier that provides assemblies and aerostructures to advanced aircrafts, including the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The company sold to contract manufacturer ARCH Global Precision in 2019 and now operates as part of the Align Precision network.
Young people, mostly students from the nearby UCLA, in line at the Bruin Theater entrance in Westwood Village to buy tickets for the evening screening of "The Avengers." The 3D film has been produced by Marvel Studios and is distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.
TheWalt Disney Co. is taking on Imax Corp. with Infinity Vision, a new theater certification for premium large format screens.
The Burbank-based entertainment giant made the announcement in April at CinemaCon 2026 in Las Vegas, the largest annual event for the motion picture theater business across the globe. Through the partnership between Disney and theatrical exhibition partners, the newly certified screens are expected to roll out with the re-release of Marvel Studios’ blockbuster “Avengers: Endgame” in September. Disney shared that the benchmark for certification includes “the largest screens,” laser projection and premium audio formats.
“Infinity Vision will signify to audiences which auditoriums offer the biggest, brightest, and most immersive cinematic experiences,” according to Disney.
Biggest release
Though not constructing new screens with proprietary technologies like its competitor Imax, the certification may allow Disney to protect its interests in the competitive theatrical release market. Australian culture media company Man of Many pointed out that the announcement came alongside reports that Imax is focused on the release of “Dune: Part Three” on Dec. 18, the same slot for Marvel’s “Avengers: Doomsday.”
“If that plays out, Disney’s biggest tentpole of the year could be left without prime Imax screen access,” said the report.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Disney had signed on about 75 brands to the format, which “illustrates how important premium screenings have become in today’s theatrical movie business.”
Amgen's headquarters in Thousand Oaks. (Photo c/o Amgen)
Thousand Oaks pharma giant Amgen Inc. is making a series of C-suite changes, triggered by the retirement announcement of Chief Technology Officer David Reese.
Reese, 63, is retiring effective June 1. He has served as the company’s first chief technology officer since 2023.
Sean Bruich, the current senior vice president of artificial intelligence and data, will be taking over the chief technology officer post on June 1. These changes are in turn resulting into others:
James Bradner, the current executive vice president of research and development, will add artificial intelligence and data to his portfolio; and Murdo Gordon, the current executive commercial operations, will add global markets and policy as well as government affairs and policy, to his responsibilities.Another C-suite executive, Paul Burton, will retain his chief medical officer title; his duties appear unchanged.
Robert Bradway will remain as chief executive and chairman. Although he is roughly the same age as the retiring Reese, there has been no indication of a forthcoming chief executive transition.
Retiring after 21 years
Reese joined Amgen in 2005 as a clinical development leader in oncology and later served as executive vice president of research and development from 2018 to 2023.
According to the announcement, Reese led approvals of numerous innovative medicines and biosimilars, advanced a pipeline of potential new therapies and strengthened discovery research capabilities. As chief technology officer, he encouraged the early adoption of technology and artificial intelligence across all facets of the business.
“Dave recognized early the impact that advances in biology and technology would have on our industry and helped lead Amgen through that shift,” chief executive Bradway said in the announcement. “The capabilities he built position us to advance what we call convergent innovation and strengthen our ability to serve patients in the years ahead.”
Genna Rosenberg of GennComm in her home office in Calabasas. (Photo by David Sprague)
Genna Rosenberg is the chief executive and founder of GennComm, a Calabasas-based toy licensing and product development firm holding six patents. With more than 30 years of experience, she consults with major intellectual property holders and manufacturers, focusing on consumer products, social impact and innovative business strategies.
“I’ve spent 30 years in the global toy industry as a storyteller and industry changemaker. I would consider myself a social impact activist. I remember that early in my career, I convinced a toy company to stop destroying excess warehouse inventory and let me find it a better home. Over 12 years, they gave me $60 million worth of toys to put in the hands of kids in need. That is the kind of impact I live for, and yet I’ve struggled to get my own projects off the ground, one of which is a podcast.
“So, my biggest mistake has been, at times, not trusting my intuition and letting negative self-talk take over.
“Connecting dots has always been one of my superpowers. I have very big ideas and see things sometimes that I think other people don’t – strategic synergies, collaborations that could be meaningful, products that could be huge. I put big things into the universe, I know the right people, my vision and enthusiasm are contagious. But then it happens. The self-doubt begins to fester. The ‘what ifs’ set in, anxiety-induced procrastination kicks in, and it becomes a cycle. My vision gets temporarily clouded by the unknowing – by not seeing every single step of the exact path forward.
“No project illustrates this more than my podcast, Play with Purpose: Conversations with Changemakers. The concept is completely me: a platform for spotlighting how everyday people and companies can leverage their resources – infrastructure, staff time, product, scale – to drive real social impact. I’ve lived this thesis. I’ve seen how Walmart mobilized faster than FEMA did after Hurricane Katrina because of its infrastructure. I know that if you’re a builder, you can create homes for people who are homeless. If you’re Colgate, you can provide toothpaste for unhoused communities. The show practically writes itself.”
Except it didn’t. Not for a long time.
“There were so many directions I could go. I started a Google Doc, kept coming back to the idea of ‘conversations with changemakers,’ but I was squirreling myself – too many ideas, not landing on any one of them. And then the personal stuff crept in. I have a million Post-it notes everywhere. I start a million projects. My brain moves really fast.
“And I’ve since learned there’s a name for what stops me cold: task paralysis. I can have a business agreement sitting in my inbox – we’re going to get paid the moment I sign it – and I just cannot open it. I think about it constantly. I feel bad about it. But I can’t touch it until the dopamine kicks in.
“But here’s what I’ve learned: if you can name it, you can push through it. I’ve been doing the work – vision boards, breathwork, podcasts about manifesting, learning to hack my own thinking. And I made a decision: I’m done playing small. I’m done with the ‘not enough-ness.’
“So I said it out loud on my socials. Play with Purpose is launching this fall. The response has been incredible – people writing the kindest things, the positivity flowing right back to me. My intuition has been spot-on, time and again. It’s not just a hunch. It’s 30 years of expertise. And it’s finally time to use it.”
Fiona Hutton in her office in Studio City. (Photo by David Sprague)
As the founder and chief executive of her namesake Studio City-based firm, Fiona Hutton has built one of the leading women-owned public affairs and strategic communications companies in the state, which was first established in 2001. Last year, she was tapped as one of Capitol Weekly’s Top 100 most influential players in California politics.
1: Hutton marks a milestone of 25 years in business. Hutton founded her firm with $30,000 in family savings and no formal roadmap, building it “client by client and hire by hire,” she says. “Twenty-five years later, the firm reflects a disciplined, tenacious, reputation-driven approach to growth. I credit that focus with its longevity.” Hutton also has offices in Sacramento.
2: Hutton has worked on some of California’s most consequential issues. She has advised more than 200 organizations statewide across an array of industries, including energy, water, health care, technology, manufacturing and entertainment. She says her work often involves helping clients “navigate complex regulatory environments, align stakeholders and make decisions under intense public and political scrutiny.”
3: Hutton is a “Valley girl – by choice.” She grew her business and raised her family in the San Fernando Valley, even though many told her she would succeed in the industry only if she moved to downtown Los Angeles or even the Westside. She held to her mission and stayed in the Valley. “I have remained committed to the region, establishing a statewide firm from the Valley and continuing to call it home,” she says.
4: Away from the office, she considers herself a “nature nerd.” Hutton enjoys the outdoors, hiking and traveling in her free time. She says she has “a particular affinity for critters, parks and open space, interests that provide a counterbalance to the pace and intensity in my professional life.” One of her favorite things to do: tend her Ojai farm.
5: That downtime matters for Hutton – simply because running a firm can mean operating in “fifth gear,” she says. Hutton says she’s moving nonstop in her chief executive role – “managing multiple priorities, anticipating risk and navigating what I call three-dimensional chess across clients, stakeholders and issues.” She adds that maintaining such a mindset helps shape how she leads her firm, being proactive and “staying ahead of challenges rather than reacting to them.”
The site for the Pacific Palisades Gelson's. (Photo c/o AC Martin)
Gelson’s Market is planning to return to Pacific Palisades, more than a year after its longtime store was destroyed in the devastating Palisades Fire.
The Encino-based grocer announced on March 26 that it intends to rebuild at its former site on Sunset Boulevard, marking a significant step in the broader recovery of the Palisades, which saw nearly 6,800 structures lost to the fires. A construction timeline has not yet been finalized, but the company said it’s actively moving forward with the process.
“Our Pacific Palisade store has been a part of the fabric of the community,” said Ryan Adams, president and chief executive of Gelson’s Markets. “Its loss was deeply felt across our organization.”
The January 2025 wildfires, which ignited amid dry conditions and strong Santa Ana winds, swept through residential and commercial corridors in the Palisades and Altadena – becoming one of the most destructive fires in Los Angeles County. Together, the blazes destroyed tens of thousands of acres, including more than 16,000 homes and commercial structures. More than 100,000 residents were displaced, and the fires officially claimed nearly three dozen lives – 12 of whom were in the Palisades.
Located at 15424 Sunset Blvd. near La Cruz Drive, Gelson’s noted that it had served Palisades residents for decades before the fire. While redevelopment plans are still in early stages, the rebuilt store is expected to feature a modernized design while maintaining its premium offerings. Additional amenities are under consideration.
“We will return in a way that reflects the resilience of the Palisades and our long-term investment there,” Adams said.
The plan to rebuild its Palisades store also comes as Gaelson’s, which has 26 stores throughout Southern California, continues to expand its footprint. It recently opened a smaller-format market in Toluca Lake as part of a mixed-use development, tailoring its store format to neighborhood demographics and shopping patterns.
“We are focused on the long term,” Adams said. “The same commitment to thoughtful growth and genuine community connection that guides our expansion across Southern California will guide our return to Pacific Palisades.” –Monée Fields-White
Newton Golf Posts Record 2025 Sales
Newton Golf Co. posted record revenue growth in 2025, fueled by rising demand for its technology-driven golf shafts and an expanding direct-to-consumer business.
The Camarillo-based golf equipment company reported net sales of $8.1 million for the full year, a 136% increase from $3.4 million in 2024, marking the highest annual revenue in its history. The surge was bolstered by the adoption of the company’s Newton Motion shift platform, which has gained traction among both individual consumers and professional club fitters, said Akinobu Yorihiro, Newton Golf’s interim chief executive and chief technology officer, in a statement.
“We expanded our direct-to-consumer channel through our websites, supported by improvements in digital marketing efficiency, higher conversion rates, and increasing repeat customer purchases,” he said. “Our direct-to-consumer growth included record single-day sales on Black Friday, reflecting strong consumer demand across key product lines.”
Fourth-quarter sales rose 112% year over year to $2.3 million, reflecting continued momentum heading into 2026. Yorihiro attributed the gains to improved digital marketing, higher conversion rates, and a jump in repeat purchases through its direct-to-consumer platform. Repeat customers accounted for 26.7% of orders in 2025, more than a third higher than the share in the prior year.
Newton has also expanded its footprint in the professional fitting market, growing its network to roughly 230 locations – an increase of about 130% from 2024. The company also touted that its shafts ranked as the top-selling option for drivers and fairway woods at Club Champion.
Yorihiro shared that the company has introduced several new product lines for professional golfers. That included several new shaft configurations during the 2026 PGA Show in Orlando – “the Fast Motion fairway wood shaft, dedicated hybrid shafts across our product offerings, and refined 2026 versions of our existing Fast Motion and Motion driver and fairway shafts,” he said.
The company is also pushing into international markets, launching a Japanese e-commerce platform and securing a distribution agreement in South Korea.
Yorihiro noted that the company’s push to expand its U.S. operations and international presence reflects the overall growth in golf participation. Citing the National Golf Foundation and The R&A, Yorihiro said the share of avid golfers remains “elevated relative to historical levels,” with more than 64 million golfers worldwide – 47 million in the U.S. alone.
“We believe Newton Golf remains in the early stages of scaling the Newton Motion shaft platform,” he said. “Continued adoption across professional club fitters, retail partners, and international distributors, together with expansion of our shaft configuration lineup, positions the company to pursue sustained revenue growth while leveraging our existing manufacturing infrastructure.” –Monée Fields-White
Panorama City Affordable Complex Opens
open Officials hold a ribbon-cutting for Vista Terrace in Panorama City. (Photo c/o Carlos Ibarra)
A 102-unit affordable housing development has landed in Panorama City.
The four-story Vista Terrace is Brentwood-based multifamily housing developer Thomas Safran & Associates’ first property in the high-density neighborhood.
Vista Terrace, financed in part with low-income housing tax credits and a construction-to-permanent loan from City Bank, celebrated its grand opening on April 9 after welcoming its first residents last fall.
“We’re proud to partner with the city to deliver high-quality, permanent housing – located close to public transportation, health facilities, restaurants and retail stores – that provides stability and opportunity for low-income residents,” said Jordan Pynes, president of Thomas Safran & Associates, in a news release. “We will provide on-site social services to ensure their long-term success.”
The property at 8134-8146 Van Nuys Blvd. includes a 55-car parking garage and houses a library, community room, fitness center, laundry facility and landscaped outdoor areas.
Rents range from $1,575 for studios to $2,733 for 3-bedroom apartments, with units reserved for residents earning 60% to 70% of the area median income. Twenty-five units are set aside for residents who were formerly homeless.
Vista Terrace, located near a future stop on the in-progress Metro East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit line, adds “much-needed affordable housing” to the San Fernando Valley, Pynes said. The development is among the largest affordable housing projects in its area, alongside the newly completed 180-unit Corazón del Valle complex at 14545 Lanark St.
Thomas Safran & Associates has built more than 6,500 luxury, affordable and mixed-use units in Southern California. City Councilmember Imelda Padilla, who represents the Sixth District, said she was “incredibly excited” when the developer first announced the Vista Terrace project.
Pointing to its green space and community feel, Padilla said the property is “a prime example of what affordable housing should be.” – Christina Chkarboul
Santa Clarita Gets New Community
Pelona Hills at Sand Canyon. (Rendering c/o Intracorp Homes)
Intracorp Homes is expanding its footprint in Los Angeles County with the launch of a new single-family housing community in Santa Clarita – making it the developer’s first project in the San Fernando Valley.
The company announced the grand opening of Pelona Hills at Sand Canyon, a 119-home development along the foothills of the Sierra Pelona Mountains. The project officially debuted on March 28 with the reveal of its first phase of homes.
Ranging from roughly 1,830 to 2,181 square feet, the houses are designed in the contemporary California ranch style and include up to four bedrooms. Prices were not disclosed. Local brokerage The Neal Weichel Group of RE/MAX has handled the sales.
The new community reflects continued demand for suburban housing options within commuting distance of Los Angeles, the company said in its release.
The site offers access to Interstate 14 and proximity to the Visita Canyon Transit Center, connecting residents to Downtown Los Angeles via Metrolink.
In the area, the community is adjacent to Sand Canyon Village, a recently developed retail center anchored by tenants such as Sprouts Farmers Market and Starbucks Corp.’s café. –Monée Fields-White
Clay Alexander, founder Ember Life Sciences, poses besides a stack of small Ember Cube 2s in the lab in Westlake Village. (Photo by David Sprague)
Fresh off his success in developing a battery-powered, temperature-controlled mug that was flying off shelves in Starbucks Corp. stores a decade ago, inventor and serial entrepreneur Clay Alexander didn’t have far to look for his next challenge.
The founder of Westlake Village-based Ember Technologies decided he wanted to apply similar technology to life-or-death situations in the health care arena.
“That’s when a team from the Mayo Clinic approached us and asked us to make a reliable refrigeration technology box that they could use to transport temperature-sensitive vaccines and other medications to a remote Haitian village that was desperate for the medications,” Alexander says.
Alexander and his team came up with a pair of battery-powered cubes packed with refrigeration technology and sensors to keep a constant temperature just above freezing.
That project between 2017 and 2018 marked the start of Ember LifeSciences and its Ember cubes that have become the first self-powered, temperature-controlled containers capable of transporting medications requiring cold storage almost anywhere in the world.
Replacing wasteful and ineffective packaging
For decades, the primary method of transporting these vaccines and other crucial medications has been cardboard boxes lined with frozen gel packs or the equivalent.
“There has been some tinkering with the insulation for the boxes used for cold storage transport, but essentially, it’s the same technology that was in use 50 years ago,” says Dan Bell, chief strategy officer at Durham, North Carolina-based Marken UPS Healthcare Precision Logistics. “But it’s passive technology that exposes medications to temperature excursions.”
That’s the term used in the logistics industry for when the temperature inside the transport container deviates from the required range. While each type of medication has a specific temperature range, the most frequent range is between 2 degrees and 8 degrees Celsius (35 degrees and 46 degrees Fahrenheit).
However, if the standard container with its liquid gel ice packs is left out in the sun too long, the frozen packs start melting and temperature inside can spike, rendering the vaccines or other temperature-sensitive medications ineffective, Bell says.
This is no small problem. According to a range of studies cited by Ember LifeSciences, at least 25% of all temperature-sensitive medications that are transported are rendered ineffective by these temperature excursions. Alexander says this translates to a loss of $35 billion a year in medications rendered useless.
And there’s one other major downside: tons of single-use packaging, including non-biodegradable Styrofoam.
Prototypes of Ember Technologies mugs on display in Westlake Village. (Photo by David Sprague)
Controlling temperature combined with tracking
Alexander says all this makes cold storage transport of medications an industry ripe for disruption.
He’s no stranger to such disruption. A self-described inventor who claims at least 300 patents to his name, Alexander turned his attention to temperature-controlled products nearly 20 years ago. The innovation was installing an onboard computer and an array of digital temperature sensors. Those sensors relay information back to the computer, which then makes decisions on inducing a convection heating component. The use of convection currents helps evenly distribute heat to achieve the desired constant temperature.
In 2012, Alexander formed a company called Ember Technologies, and four years later, he unveiled the company’s signature mug product in a partnership with Seattle-based Starbucks. To date, Alexander says cumulative sales of the mug have exceeded $500 million.
Switching to cold storage transport
Shortly after developing the prototype medicine cold-transport cubes used by that Mayo Clinic team in Haiti, Alexander and his team at newly formed Ember LifeSciences honed the technology. They added one crucial feature: software that constantly tracks the location of the cubes until they reach the end use location. While carriers such as FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc. do put tracking labels on boxes they ship, those tracking labels are only in effect while the medication box is in their custody.
The team at Ember also added a “return to sender” feature that displays the return address for the cube. This makes the Ember cube fully reusable.
The Ember cube is meant to be portable and modular: Its interior medicine storage dimensions measure about 7 inches by 6 inches by 3 inches.
According to Bell of Marken UPS Precision Healthcare Logistics, no other product on the market offers both self-regulating temperature control and tracking.
He notes that other companies, such as Stockholm-based Envirotainer, have temperature-controlled containers for the transport of medications, but not in combination with the tracking technology.
“They are the first mover in this space, though eventually other companies will follow suit,” Bell says.
Ember LifeSciences also benefitted from the Covid-19 pandemic, which exposed the shortcomings of the existing cold storage medication transport system. Hundreds of millions of vials of Covid vaccines had to be transported all around the globe at cold temperatures; bottlenecks in the “last mile” portion of the transport system limited availability of the vaccines in some areas during the crucial first few weeks.
Reaching patients in Amish communities
Unlike Ember Technologies, which is primarily direct-to-consumer, Ember LifeSciences has a business-to-business model. Customers include pharmacies, distributors, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and other care providers.
One of Ember LifeSciences major customers is University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Chartwell, an alternative site pharmacy. President David Benedict says his pharmacy deals mainly in specialty medications, home infusions and enteral therapy. Unlike most medications picked up from a standard pharmacy, most of the medications at UPMC Chartwell must be kept at cold temperatures.
“For a long time, we used traditional Styrofoam cardboard coolers with lots of ice coolers in them,” Benedict says. “Everything was single use, which is incredibly wasteful.”
Also, anytime there was a delay in shipping, there was always the risk that a temperature excursion could ruin the medications, which range in cost from $5,000 to $250,000 per container.
Benedict says he was made aware through specialists at UPMC of the Ember cube and immediately saw it as a better alternative, especially for treatments involving fecal transplants in the home.
UPMC Chartwell now leases about 100 Ember cubes that are routinely sent out to patients. Once empty, the patients or their caregivers can press the “return to sender” button and the cube is soon on its way back to UPMC Chartwell’s facility.
But not all the cubes are immediately returned.
“The Amish community in Pennsylvania doesn’t use refrigeration or electricity,” Benedict says. “Instead, they use root cellars for cold storage. But that doesn’t work for these temperature-sensitive medications. The Ember cubes are the only way to keep the medications at a consistent cold temperature.”
Looking ahead
Alexander says Ember LifeSciences has raised roughly $76 million to date, including a $16.5 million series A round led by Greenwich, Connecticut-based Sea Court Capital that was announced in January. Prior to that, two major investors were Dublin, Ohio-based pharmaceutical and medical products distributor Cardinal Health Inc. and refrigeration company Carrier Global Corp. of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
He says that later this year, the company plans to formally launch its second-generation Ember cube, which is roughly half the weight of the first-generation model. The cost to make the cube is also expected to drop about 50%, with much of the savings passed on to customers through lower lease rates.
Looking even further ahead, Bell of Marken UPS Precision Healthcare Logistics says there will be a need for transport of medications at much colder temperatures than the current standard of a few degrees above freezing. He specifically cites nuclear medication.
“We’re talking about near cryogenic levels, or deep frozen, which is going to be a much tougher thing to handle,” he says. “That’s the next frontier.”
Daniel Pahl poses with Ryder Toys vehicles at his Encino home. (Photo by David Sprague)
Daniel Pahl worked as a growth marketing consultant for the majority of his life, both in his native Germany and in Los Angeles, which he has called home for more than eight years.
This month, he became his own boss for the first time – with the acquisition of a $7 million business, Ryder Toys.
Once featured on “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” the brand is top in the business of electric toy cars for children, according to Car and Driver magazine. Originally based in Sacramento, the premium toy car brand will move to Encino, where the TechStyle Fashion Group and eBay veteran operates from his home office. The deal officially closed on March 31, tapping Pahl as chief executive.
“I often tell people what they should do. I could also do it myself at some point,” Pahl says. “In this case, I can make parents and children happy at the same time.”
Owning a business for the first time, Pahl says, is simultaneously “exciting” and “nerve-wracking.” One of the first insights he gained as a business owner is how important it is to be transparent. In a globalized supply chain disrupted by unpredictable tariffs and geopolitical tensions, Pahl says he intends for transparency to play a big role in attracting and retaining customers.
“We need to be smarter in communicating where our products are coming from, what’s the supply chain and so on and so forth,” Pahl says.
Building through partnerships
Going forward, Ryder Toys will experiment with local collaborations such as the Los Angeles Fire and Police Departments.
“Which kid at some point in their life didn’t want to be a policeman or didn’t want to be a fireman?” Pahl says. “I see a massive growth potential.”
The brand will for now stay focused on e-commerce, which is Pahl’s specialty. Once the business finds its footing, he is considering showcasing the toy cars, either through pop-ups or demonstrations.
“Sometimes people want to feel it and touch it, and that might even help us if people can touch the quality,” Pahl says. “Once a child sits in there and has fun, the parents don’t have good arguments not to buy that product.”
Industry overview
Pahl has joined the industry at a good time. Despite ongoing pressure from tariffs and an unstable political environment, the toy industry has returned to growth after a prolonged period of turbulence, based on recent studies.
The Toy Association said the total annual dollar sales increased by 6% last year, and units sold climbed 3%, according to data from the Chicago-based market research firm Circana. The growth can be attributed to a “rebound in unit demand and consumer appetite for higher-priced and licensed toys,” the February report says.
That’s exactly up Ryder Toys’ alley.
“Following a flat performance in 2024, the U.S. toy industry regained its footing in 2025, fueled by renewed consumer demand and a clear shift toward higher‑value purchases,” Juli Lennett, U.S. toys industry adviser at Circana, says in the report. “The return of unit growth alongside price growth signals a healthier market, with licensed, collectible, and fandom‑driven toys continuing to outperform.”
