Life sciences briefing: Monday, Dec. 17, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
- Specialty pharma Innocoll raises $30M for collagen technologies (release)
- Immusol changes name to ItherX Pharma, names Jeffery McKelvy CEO (release)
- Austin’s Santé Ventures raises $130M healthcare VC fund (release)
- Belgium’s AlgoNomics, immunogenicity screener, names Philippe Stas as CEO (release)
Specialty pharma Innocoll raises $30M for collagen technologies — Ashburn, Va.-based Innocoll, a developer of collagen-based drugs and drug-releasing implants, raised $30 million in an equity financing. Investors included Camulos Capital, NewSmith Asset Management and Morgan Stanley. In addition, previous investors Rolf and William Schmidt converted $16 million of existing loans into convertible preferred stock.
The company doesn’t yet have a Web site — even the link in its release doesn’t work — but apparently specializes in biodegradable surgical implants that release drugs over a period of time, as well as topical versions of existing drugs. Its main product is an implant that releases the antibiotic gentamicin at the site of surgical procedures. Innocoll is also developing a topical form of gentamicin and an implant for the control of postsurgical pain.
Austin’s Santé Ventures raises $130M healthcare VC fund — Santé Ventures, a newly formed Austin, Tex., VC firm, raised a debut $130 million healthcare fund. The fund will invest in seed and early-stage companies working on new medical technologies and healthcare services.
Santé traces its roots to three organizations — Ascension Health, a network of Catholic hospitals; Ascension Health Ventures, an associated $150 million VC fund; and Austin Ventures. The firm will invest nationally, although with a focus on the central U.S., and has offices in Austin and Nashville, Tenn.
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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.