Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Nov. 1, 2007
Featured companies: Asteres, HemaQuest Pharmaceuticals, Nanosphere, Novalar Pharmaceuticals, Tranzyme Pharma
(UPDATED: Expanded items for Nanosphere, HemaQuest and Transzyme. Moved Novalar to a separate item here.)
Diagnostic maker Nanosphere prices IPO at low end of range, raises up to $113M — Nanosphere, a Northbrook, Ill., biotech focused on nanotech-derived diagnostics, priced its IPO at $14 a share, at the low end of its estimated range. The company, which could sell as many as eight million shares, stands to raise up to $112.7 million in the offering, which values the company at as much as $309.4 million.
Nanosphere is focused on molecular diagnostics that gauge the likelihood of problems such as blood clots or a patient’s likely response to a particular medication. Our previous coverage of the company is here and here.
HemaQuest draws $20M to fight blood disease — Newton, Mass.-based HemaQuest Pharmaceuticals (no Web site), a biotech focused on new drugs for blood disorders such as sickle-cell anemia, raised $20 million in a first funding round. Investors included De Novo Ventures, Forward Ventures and Lilly Ventures.
The company said the funds will support clinical trials of its first drug candidate, an oral treatment for sickle-cell anemia and beta thalassemia. Both diseases involve disorders of hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying molecule found in red blood cells. HemaQuest said it intends to submit plans for a human test of its drug candidate, which it didn’t identify, by the end of this year.
Novalar raises $30M for dental-numbness reverser — See the full story here.
Tranzyme Pharma pulls in $20M for GI drugs — Tranzyme Pharma, a Research Triangle Park, N.C., biotech developing new drugs for gastrointestinal and metabolic disorders, raised $20 million in a third funding round. Investors included H.I.G. Ventures, Thomas, McNerney & Partners, Quaker BioVentures, and BDC Venture Capital.
Tranzyme’s lead drug candidate aims to treat severe gastroparesis, a condition in which food stops moving through the stomach, and ileus, a form of obstruction in the bowel. That drug, designated TZP-101, recently began mid-stage human trials in both conditions.
OTHER HEADLINES OF NOTE:
- Self-dispensing drug machine maker Asteres pulls in $8M (VentureWire, sub req’d)
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About the Author, David P. Hamilton
David Hamilton has been writing for VentureBeat LifeScience since April 2007. He formerly spent 14 years as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in its San Francisco and Tokyo bureaus. Prior to that, he spent several years as a reporter at Science Magazine and as a reporter/researcher for the New Republic, both in Washington.