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.
Recent Posts
Life-science briefing: Thursday, March 27, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Breathe Tech raises $15M for respiratory disease (release)
Protein-drug maker Pieris takes in €25M (release)
Apthera takes in $2.1M toward cancer vaccine (VentureWire)
Breathe Tech raises $15M for respiratory disease – Breathe Technologies, a Fremont, Calif., medical device maker, raised $15 million in a second round of funding. Investors included Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Synergy Partners International, Delphi Ventures and Life Science Angels.
Breathe is developing “compact” and “lightweight” respiratory systems for the hospital and home markets, and… Continue Reading
Heart diagnostic startup Aviir gets another $1.5M
See our story about this stealthy Palo Alto, Calif., startup in today’s daily briefing at VentureBeat LifeScience.
Fast, cheap gene-scanner BioNanomatrix gets $5M
BioNanomatrix, a Philadelphia developer of genome-analysis systems, raised $5.1 million in a first funding round. Investors included Battelle Ventures, Innovation Valley Partners, KT Venture Group, Ben Franklin Technology Partners and21Ventures.
BioNanomatrix is developing a single-molecule imaging and analysis system that the startup says is ideal for reading DNA sequences. The startup still isn’t divulging many details about its system, although the Philadelphia Inquirer suggested that the company’s “nanofluidics” technology could potentially read all three billion bases from a single DNA molecule without chopping it… Continue Reading
OptiMedica takes in $16M for eye-treatment laser
See our story on this Santa Clara, Calif., medical-device maker in today’s daily briefing at VentureBeat LifeScience.
Life-science briefing: Wednesday, March 26, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
OptiMedica takes in $16M for eye-treatment lasers (release)
Genome analyzer BioNanomatrix raises $5M (release)
Heart diagnostic startup Aviir gets another $1.5M (VBLS exclusive)
Pharmaca, integrative-pharmacy chain, draws $20M (release)
LifeWatch, cardiac-monitoring device maker, withdraws IPO (IPOhome)
Jerry DeVries, Steven Whitlock join PTV Sciences as venture partners (VentureWire)
OptiMedica takes in $16M for eye-treatment lasers – OptiMedica, a Santa Clara, Calif., medical-device maker, raised $16 million in a third funding round. Investors included Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Alloy Ventures and… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Tuesday, March 25, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Antibody-discovery startup Adimab raises new funding (release)
Lung-device maker Spiration gets $19M (release)
Sample-prep startup Protein Discovery pulls in $10M (release)
Inogen takes in $13M for portable oxygen device (VentureWire)
Healthcare IT concern Medaptus raises $11M for expansion (VentureWire)
Contract lab Synexis raises $14M (peHUB)
Medical-device VC firm BioStar Ventures takes in $24M of $80M fund (peHUB)
Halsa Pharma gets $250K for “natural” obesity-control treatment (release)
Diagnostics provider Lab21 acquires NPTech (peHUB)
Galil Medical names Martin Emerson CEO (release)
Antibody-discovery startup Adimab raises new funding – Lebanon,… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Monday, March 24, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Trius Therapeutics raises $30M for new antibiotics (release)
Genomas gets $1.2M grant for genomic side-effect tests (release)
Provasculon receives $500K, enters Biogen Idec incubator (VentureWire)
Animal diagnostics firm Quadraspec aims for $5M round (VentureWire)
MPM Capital names two executive partners (release)
Trius Therapeutics raises $30M for new antibiotics – Trius Therapeutics, a San Diego startup developing new treatments for antibiotic-resistant infections, raised $30 million in a second funding round. Investors included Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, FinTech Global Capital, Sofinnova… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Friday, March 21, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Cancer-vaccine maker MabVax gets $8M (release)
“Needle-free” drug maker Zogenix files for $86M IPO (Edgar)
“Needle-free” drug maker Zogenix files for $86M IPO — Zogenix, a San Diego developer of “needle-free” drug-delivery systems, has become the latest drug startup willing to brave the headwinds of the IPO market. The company filed to raise $86.3 million in its offering, an oddly familiar figure. (For reasons we haven’t yet had time to explore, quite a few biotech and… Continue Reading
ImmunoNewco: The background story emerges
Just over six weeks ago, we broke the news that 5AM Ventures had plunked $3.3 million into a stealthy biotech it was calling ImmunoNewco, and a few weeks later speculated further that the startup might be engaged in a pharmacogenomic “rescue” of immune-modulating drugs acquired from the low-profile Danish biotech Borean Pharma.
Well, I was largely right — but still partly wrong — about the goings-on at ImmunoNewco. I recently spoke with the company’s new… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Thursday, March 20, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Vantia Thera spins out of Ferring, raises £19M (PDF release)
Third Eye gets $150K for intracranial-pressure monitor (release)
Diabetes tester Oculir closes doors, returns capital (VentureWire)
Catalyst Health Ventures raising $60M fund (VentureWire)
Vantia Thera spins out of Ferring, raises £19M – Vantia Therapeutics, a U.K. spinout of Ferring Pharmaceuticals, has launched and raised £19 million ($37.7 million) in a first funding round (PDF link). Investors included MVM Life Science Partners, SV Life Sciences and Novo A/S.
Vantia inherits a… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Wednesday, March 19, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Paris-based Stentys takes $18M for “bifurcated” stents (release)
Blood analyzer IntelliDx raises $22M (PDF release)
Cancer-test biotech Calderome changes name to VeraCyte (VentureWire)
Predictive Biosciences names Peter Klemm as CEO (release)
Paris-based Stentys takes $18M for “bifurcated” stents – Stentys, a Paris-based medical device maker, raised $18 million in a second funding round. The company is developing “bifurcated” stents intended to prop open clogged arteries at blood-vessel junctions.
The startup said the funding will allow it to complete clinical trials… Continue Reading
A heart-device startup braves the IPO waters
(UPDATED: See below.)
It’s been a rough few months for life-science IPOs, what with all the collapsed offerings and, often enough, miserable post-offering performance for those startups that have managed to inch their way across the finish line.
Yet the lure of the public markets remains strong, even with the Nasdaq down about 15 percent since the beginning of the year, and some startups simply will not be denied. That certainly seems to be the case with CardioNet,… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Luminous Medical raises $24M for automated glucose monitoring (release)
Alimera Sciences gets $30M for eye-disease drug (release)
Vaccine maker LigoCyte draws $28M (release)
Heartbeat tracker CardioNet trims IPO, aims for listing today (IPOhome)
Axial Biotech takes in $6M for spinal diagnostics (release)
Insulin bioengineer enGene receives $6.4M (release)
GlucoLight raises funding for, well, glucose monitoring (release)
Germany’s InflaRx gets seed funding for sepsis work (release)
Cell imager Amnis pulls in $3.5M (VentureWire)
Korea Bone Bank gets funding for bone transplants (release)
Luminous Medical raises… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Monday, March 17, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Defibrillator maker Cameron Health takes in $14M (VBLS exclusive)
Miramar Labs gets $20M for “aesthetic” devices (VBLS exclusive)
Nellix raises $6.5M for aneurysm grafts (VBLS exclusive)
Vessel-clog remover Chestnut Medical pulls in $7.8M (VBLS exclusive)
Consumer genetics tester DNA Direct receives $7M (PDF release)
Precision Thera again prowling for venture funding (VentureWire)
Cancer-drug maker ChimeraCore raises $4.3M (VentureWire)
Kai Sensors pulls in $2.2M for radar-based sensors (VentureWire)
ProNAi raises $6M for DNA drugs, seeks $20M more (VentureWire)
(NOTE: Items on Cameron Health, Miramar Labs, Nellix and… Continue Reading
Exclusive news on life-science start-up fundings: Cameron, Nellix, Miramar, Chestnut
We’ve just posted a number of exclusive life-science fundings over at VentureBeat LifeScience. Click on the following links for news on:
Cameron Health (San Clemente, Calif.), a maker of implantable defibrillators
Nellix (Palo Alto, Calif.), a device-maker focused on aneurysms
Miramar Labs (Menlo Park, Calif.), a developer of cosmetic-surgery devices
Chestnut Medical Technologies (Menlo Park, Calif.), a maker of blood-clot removal devices
Vessel-clog remover Chestnut pulls in $7.8M
Chestnut Medical Technologies, a Menlo Park, Calif., medical-device maker, raised $7.8 million against an anticipated $10 million third funding round, I’ve learned. An SEC document (PDF link) the company filed with the California Department of Corporations disclosed the funding.
Chestnut makes a device best described as a medical version of a plumber’s snake. Its Alligator retrieval device, which the FDA approved in 2005, is designed to remove “foreign bodies” such as blood clots from vessels in… Continue Reading
Miramar Labs gets $20M for “aesthetic” devices
Miramar Labs (no Web site), a Menlo Park, Calif., medical-device maker, raised $20.3 million in a second funding round, I’ve learned. There isn’t a huge amount of public information about the company, although it appears that the company is working on electromechanical devices of some sort for “aesthetic indications” — cosmetic surgery, in short.
Investors in the round included Split Rock Partners, Morgenthaler Partners and Domain Partners.
Nellix raises $6.5M for aneurysm grafts
Nellix Endovascular, a Palo Alto, Calif., medical-device maker, raised $6.5 million in a third funding round, I’ve learned. The startup is developing a new treatment for repairing blood-vessel flaws in the chest and abdomen.
Those flaws, known as aneurysms, are thin-walled “bubbles” in blood vessels that can rupture on short notice, often fatally. The Nellix device and treatment apparently injects some form of goop into these aneurysms, filling and sealing them in order to prevent rupture.
Investors… Continue Reading
Defibrillator maker Cameron Health takes in $14M
Cameron Health, a San Clemente, Calif., medical-device maker, has raised $14.1 million of a planned $50 million fifth funding round, I’ve learned. The company is working on a new type of implantable defibrillator that’s designed to be easier to implant and program than existing models.
Implantable defibrillators administer shocks to the hearts of people who are at risk of cardiac arrest — a critical condition in which the heart simply stops beating. When the device senses… Continue Reading
Cantimer takes in $2M for dehydration diagnostics
See our story about this Menlo Park, Calif., diagnostics-device maker in today’s daily briefing at VentureBeat LifeScience.