Life sciences briefing: Friday, Feb. 29, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
- Arriva Pharma recaps with $6M for respiratory anti-inflammatory drugs (release)
- Genetic tester Sciona gets another $5.2M, distribution deal (VentureWire)
- Joint resurfacer Arthrosurface takes in $4M (release)
- Automated medication dispenser MDG Medical receives $14M in debt, equity (release)
- California Stem Cell raises funds for heart, neurodegenerative treatments (release)
Arriva Pharma recaps with $6M for respiratory anti-inflammatory drugs – Arriva Pharmaceuticals, an Alameda, Calif., drug developer focused on inflammatory respiratory disease, raised $6 million in a convertible-stock funding that recapitalized the company. Investors included Nordic Biotech and MPM BioVentures.
Arriva is working on a bioengineered form — that is, one that can be manufactured via biotech methods — of an enzyme called alpha-1 antitrypsin, which is currently derived from donated blood. Natural deficiencies of the enzyme are linked to lung disease, and Arriva hopes to use a manufactured version to treat hereditary emphysema.
The company has been locked in litigation over the rights to the enzyme with the Florida startup AlphaMed Pharmaceuticals (see our coverage here), and filed for bankruptcy protection last year, according to VentureWire. Now emerging from that process, Arriva is looking to start mid-stage, phase II trials of its recombinant enzyme. Arriva is a majority-owned unit of the Dutch firm Arriva Pharmaceuticals BV.
Genetic tester Sciona gets another $5.2M, distribution deal – Sciona, a Boulder, Colo., startup that offers genetic testing related to health and well-being, raised $5.2 million in a third funding round, VentureWire reports and the company confirms. Investors included Burrill & Co., BioVentures Investors, DSM Ventures, DFJ Esprit and BASF Venture Capital. The funding brings the company’s third round to a total of at least $15 million.
Sciona claims to combine nutrition and genetics in order to help individuals live healthier lifestyles. Its tests measure genetic predisposition to particular diseases and generates nutrition, exercise and lifestyle recommendations. You might think this sort of thing sounds like it runs way ahead of what science actually knows about genetic influence on our physical traits and disease susceptibility — and you’d almost certainly be right. The glitzy Web site for the company’s tests, which resembles a late-night TV infomercial, doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the company’s scientific underpinnings, either.
On top of all that, Sciona just reached a distribution arrangement with Spa Team International that will provide the companies tests through a network of 1,000 spas nationwide.
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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.