VentureBeat

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, N.H.-based Adimab, a biotech working on new ways to discover antibody drugs, has raised a second round of funding. The company didn’t disclose the size of the round.

Adimab, which raised $6 million last July, is one of several startups looking to design new antibody drugs in bioengineered yeast cells, as we wrote at the time. (Alder Biopharmaceuticals, which raised $40 million in January, is another.) The technique promises to be much faster — and freer of patent restrictions — than current methods. When Adimab completes its current manufacturing facility in the second quarter, it claims it will be able to produce a panel of human antibodies against a particular target in just 90 days, instead of the year or more traditional methods can require.

Investors included Polaris Venture Partners and SV Life Sciences, who also invested in the company’s first round.

Lung-device maker Spiration gets $19M – Spiration, a Redmond, Wash., medical-device startup, raised $18.5 million in a seventh funding round. Investors included Versant Ventures, Olympus Medical Systems, New Enterprise Associates, New Leaf Venture Partners, InterWest Partners, Investor Growth Capital and Three Arch Partners.

Spiration has now raised a total of $97 million. It is developing a set of one-way valves for emphysema that can be implanted in the lung’s airways via a minimally invasive procedure. These valves are designed to shunt air away from diseased portions of the lung and redirect it to healthier areas. The company said the funding would support commercialization of its device in Europe and to complete studies for regulatory approval in the U.S.

Other startups working on similar technology include Emphasys Medical, Pulmonx and Broncus Technologies.

Sample-prep startup Protein Discovery pulls in $10M – Knoxville, Tenn.-based Protein Discovery, a biotech with new laboratory technology for protein identification, raised $10 million in a third funding round. Investors included Santé Ventures, Memphis Biomed Ventures, the Southern Appalachian Fund, and the Nashville Capital Network.

The startup is developing technology that aims to “simplify” the process of preparing biological samples for protein analysis. The details are probably too much for anyone who’s not a lab technician themselves, but feel free to check out the company’s explanation if you dare.)

Inogen takes in $13M for portable oxygen device – Inogen, a Goleta, Calif., medical-device maker, raised $12.6 million in its fifth funding round, VentureWire reports. Investors included Accuitive Medical Ventures, Arboretum Ventures, Avalon Ventures, Novo A/S, Numenor Ventures and Versant Ventures.

The company makes and sells portable oxygen-delivery systems for patients suffering from a lung problem called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The product has been on the market for several years, and Inogen says it believes it might take several more before it’s in a position to be acquired or to go public.

Featured companies: Enobia, F-star, N Spine, Omni Life Science

Enobia splints together $38M for bone disorders — Montreal’s Enobia, a biotech focused on aiming drugs specifically at bone diseases, raised C$40.1 million ($38 million) in a second funding round. Investors included OrbiMed Advisors, CTI Life Sciences Fund, the Fonds de solidarite FTQ, Desjardins Venture Capital, Lothian Partners and T2C2/Bio 2000.

Enobia intends to deliver bone-related drugs directly to bone tissue in order to reduce both dosages and possible side effects. Its first drug candidate targets hypophosphatasia, a genetic disease in which bones fail to absorb minerals correctly because an enzyme called alkaline phosphatase is mutated and fails to work properly. The condition can cause stunted growth and weak or deformed bones, and in its most severe forms can be fatal.

Enobia’s drug is a bone-targeted form of alkaline phosphatase designed to make up for the defective form of the enzyme. The company said the new funding will allow it to take its experimental drug through mid-stage clinical trials.

Orthopedics-device maker Omni Life Science raises $5M in debt — Raynham, Mass.-based Omni Life Science, a maker of hip- and knee-replacement implants, raised $5 million of a planned $12 million convertible-note round, VentureWire reports (subscription required), citing a regulatory filing. Investors including Apex Partners provided the funding.

Omni was founded in 1998 as an orthopedics-device company, but the products it currently sells mostly appear to have originated with Apex Surgical, which Omni acquired in 2005. VentureWire notes that Apex Partners is also located in Raynham, Mass., and is not related to a Florida firm of the same name.

Antibody maker F-star gets €6M — Vienna-based F-star, a developer of “modular” synthetic antibodies for use as drugs, raised €6 million ($8.3 million) in a first funding round. Aescap Venture and Atlas Venture provided the funding.

All told, F-star has raised €10 million to date. The company uses a vast library of antibody features to engineer the large molecules in new ways, potentially yielding smaller antibody fragments that retain the functionality of their larger counterparts or adding additional features to existing antibodies. There’s more here, if you’re into antibody-structure engineering.

N Spine raises $1M for device commercialization — San Diego’s N Spine, a maker of spinal fusion and stabilization devices, raised $1 million in bridge funding, VentureWire reports. Individual investors provided the funding.

From the VentureWire story:

The new funding comes as N Spine has been building a market presence for the NFix II dynamic pedicle screw and rod system, which received 510(k) clearance from the Food and Drug Administration in February. “Our product has been used clinically for a year,” [chief technology officer Jude Paganelli] said. “And in the U.S., we have been selling since March.”

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