Life sciences briefing: Monday, Jan. 28, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
- RNA-drug developer Quark aims for $30M after withdrawn IPO (VentureWire)
- Lilly takes stake in Gastrotech in irritable-bowel drug partnership (VentureWire)
- Health and wellness company Nurtur acquires Work/Life Innovations (release)
- Profectus Biosciences names Shawn Patrick O’Brien CEO (release)
- Lentigen appoints Tim Ravenscroft as CEO (release)
Lilly takes stake in Gastrotech in irritable-bowel drug partnership — Gastrotech Pharma, a Danish biotech focused on gastrointestinal disease, struck a partnership with Eli Lilly involving a drug candidate for irritable bowel syndrome in which Lilly agreed to take an equity stake in the startup, VentureWire reports. Neither company disclosed financial details of the partnership.
Gastrotech had previously licensed the compound, GTP-101, from Lilly and is running the experimental drug through clinical trials. The drug, an analogue of the natural metabolic hormone GLP-1, is under study as a treatment for both IBS and a painful GI condition called functional dyspepsia. Gastrotech now has exclusive rights to develop and market the drug as a treatment for both conditions.
Gastrotech is also looking to raise another round of funding by this summer. A bare-bones release from the two companies is here.
Health and wellness company Nurtur acquires Work/Life Innovations — Farmington, Conn.-based Nurtur, a self-described “health and wellness” company that develops long-term care programs for people with chronic disease, acquired Work/Life Innovations, another Connecticut firm that provides life-management, employee-assistance and concierge-services programs. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. The companies’ release is here.
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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.