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 sciences briefing: Monday, Nov. 5, 2007
Featured companies: AvidBiotics, Codexis, Imalux, Myomo
UPDATED: Expanded items on AvidBiotics and Codexis.
AvidBiotics raises $1M for anti-infective drugs — AvidBiotics, a South San Francisco, Calif., biotech developing a new generation of antibacterial proteins, raised $1 million in a first funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The company didn’t disclose its investors.
AvidBiotics is using a new type of protein engineering to develop molecules that can successfully attack drug-resistant bacterial. That engineering system relies upon a “diversity generator” that produces… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Oct. 25, 2007
Featured companies: BioVex, Cavadis, Innovention, Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Phase Bioscience, Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Xencor
UPDATED: Expanded Paratek and Xencor items.
Paratek Pharma raises $40M for new antibiotics — Boston’s Paratek Pharmaceuticals, a biotech working on new antibiotics to treat drug-resistant bacterial infections, raised a first tranche of a $40 million eighth round of funding. The company’s release is here, VentureWire (subscription required) has more details here.
Investors in this funding included Aisling Capital, D.E. Shaw, Boston Life Science Venture Corporation, Nomura Phase4… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007
Featured companies: 20/20 GeneSystems, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Cumbre Pharmaceuticals, Dara BioSciences, Enterprise Partners Venture Capital, Fermentas, International, Iasis Medical, New Leaf Venture Partners, Point Therapeutics, Power Medical Interventions, Rules-Based Medicine, Spinal Restoration, Still River Systems, Targanta Therapeutics
(UPDATED: See below.)
[NOTE: In the interests of getting items up as quickly as possible, I’m going to begin posting linked headlines, which I’ll subsequently flesh out in many — but not all — cases. As the news gets heavier, the briefing is… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Oct. 8, 2007
Featured companies: AirInSpace, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Apollo Endosurgery, Ascension Health Partners, BG Medicine, CeraPedics, GlaxoSmithKline, Simplex Diabetic Supply, Zars Pharma
UPDATED: Last entry added at 2am PT on 10/8/07.
Anacor Pharma pulls in $22M from Glaxo, with hundreds of millions more on the line –Palo Alto, Calif.-based Anacor Pharmaceuticals, a biotech developing new anti-infective and anti-inflammatory drugs using boron chemistry, struck a wide-ranging partnership with GlaxoSmithKline worth up to $605 million. Anacor will receive a $12 million cash payment and… Continue Reading
IPO roundup: MAP Pharma’s mixed reception, other recent filings
MAP Pharmaceuticals, the Mountain View, Calif., specialty pharma, had a mixed reception to its IPO Friday. The company priced its shares at $12, below its anticipated range of $14 to $16, raising up to $69 million — substantially less than the $92 million it might have pulled in. Investors, however, reacted positively and pushed up the shares 11 percent to $13.35.
MAP reformulates existing drugs in order to deliver them via inhalers. Its leading product is… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007
Featured companies: Ablynx, Cardiosolutions, Carigent Thereapeutics, Elusys, Genome Corp., GlobeImmune, Novazone, Targanta Therapeutics, Waterfront Media
UPDATED at 5:45am on 9/27/07
GlobeImmune raises $41M for immune-system therapies — GlobeImmune, a Louisville, Colo., biotech focused on new forms of immunotherapy to treat viral infections and cancer, raised $41.2 million in a third funding round. Investors included Wexford Capital, Celgene, the Mellon Family Investment Company, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, Eminent Venture Capital, Boston Life Science Venture, WRF Capital, HealthCare Ventures,… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007
(UPDATED at 12:30pm PT — see below.)
Featured companies: Capnia, AutekBio, Novacta Biosystems, XLHealth, Leprechaun, Agility Healthcare Solutions, AM Pharma, Milestone Pharmaceuticals, ChanTest
Capnia names former Alza head as CEO – The tiny Palo Alto, Calif., biotech Capnia hired Ernest Mario, a storied figure in the pharma/biotech world, as its CEO. Mario was most recently chairman — and previously CEO — of Reliant Pharmaceuticals, but he’s best known for running drug giant Glaxo (now GlaxoSmithKline) and, immediately thereafter, helming Alza… Continue Reading
Antibiotic maker BioRelix gets $26M
BioRelix, a New Haven, Conn., developer of new antibiotics, raised $25.75 million in a first funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The round included New Leaf Venture Partners, Aisling Capital, CHL Medical Partners, Novartis Venture Fund, Elm Street Ventures and Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
BioRelix is developing antibiotics that target what the company says are common stretches of bacterial RNA that control many functions essential for bacterial survival. The funding should allow the company to push… Continue Reading
Antibiotic maker Targanta aims for $86.3M IPO
Targanta Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass. drug developer at work on a new generation of antibiotics, hopes to raise $86.3 million in an initial offering, according to an SEC filing. The company didn’t specify how many shares it plans to offer or what price it hopes they fetch.
Formerly known as PhageTech, Targanta moved its headquarters to Cambridge from Montreal last year. At about the same time, it brought on a new CEO, Mark Leuchtenberger, whose previous… Continue Reading