Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Metabolic-disease biotech NGM Biopharma raises $25M (peHUB)
Heart, HIV drug maker Numerate acquires assets of Pharmix (release)
Next-gen sequencer VisiGen promises $1,000 genome by late 2009 (Genome Technology)
CalciMedica raises $5.5M for autoimmune drugs (VentureWire)
Cancer-drug e-marketplace OneOncology raises funds (release)
U.K. biotech Hunter-Fleming acquired by Newron for €8M (release)
Intertek acquires Ireland’s Bioclin Labs, a contract research organization (release)
Metabolic-disease biotech NGM Biopharma raises $25M – South San Francisco-based NGM Biopharmaceuticals (Web site under construction), a biotech developing new drugs for… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Feb. 1, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Taligen Therapeutics raises $65M for novel anti-inflammatory drugs (release)
Dental-implant maker Biohorizons acquires Implant Logic (release)
MAKO Surgical sets IPO terms, seeks $94M for knee implants and robots (Edgar)
Canada’s Medical Ventures acquires two Israeli device startups (release)
CRO Chiltern acquires Drug Development Solutions (release)
Taligen Therapeutics raises $65M for novel anti-inflammatory drugs –Aurora, Colo.-based Taligen Therapeutics, a biotech working on targeted anti-inflammatory drugs, raised $65 million in a second round of funding. The deal is one of the… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Jan. 17, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
TransEnterix gets $21M for minimally invasive GI surgery (release)
Stem-cell developer Bioheart’s IPO postponed (Forbes.com)
Medical-practice software provider AdvancedMD acquired by Francisco Partners (release)
Peptimmune draws $8.2M for MS drug trials (release)
Drug-delivery co. Talima Thera names Martin Babler CEO (release)
Alimera Sciences aims for autumn IPO to fund diabetic eye-disease drug (VentureWire, sub req’d)
TransEnterix gets $21M for minimally invasive GI surgery — TransEnterix (no Web site), a Research Triangle Park, N.C., device maker developing tools for “natural orifice”… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Nov. 12, 2007
(UPDATED: See below.)
Featured companies: Anaptys Biosciences, Arterial Remodeling Technologies, Cambria Biosciences, CaseNet, ChemoCentryx, Ensemble Discovery, MediQuest, Piedmont Pharmaceuticals, Raven Biotechnologies, Sensys Medical, Verus Pharmaceuticals, Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals
UPDATED: Expanded items on Anaptys, Arterial Remodeling, Raven Biotech, Sensys and MediQuest. Moved ChemoCentryx and Xanodyne to a separate item.
Antibody-drug maker Raven Biotech merges with VaxGen — Raven Biotechnologies, a South San Francisco biotech developing antibody drugs, is merging with the troubled, publicly held vaccine maker VaxGen. The confusingly worded release is here.
Although… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007
Featured companies: AerovectRx, Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Harmony Information Systems, Intelligent Hospital Systems, Merrion Pharmaceuticals, Syntaxin, SymBio Pharmaceuticals
UPDATED: Expanded items on Harmony Info, SymBio Pharma and Merrion Pharma, added Dicerna item.
UPDATE REDUX: Added Syntaxin item.
U.K. biotech Syntaxin raises £16M for pain and nervous-system drugs — Syntaxin, a U.K. biotech focused on drugs that affect cell secretion, raised £16 million ($33.2 million) in a second funding round. The company’s release is here.
Investors in the round included SR One, the venture capital… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007
Featured companies: AngioScore, Forsight Labs, Genoptix, Metastatix, Optherion, QLT
UPDATED: See below.
Artery opener AngioScore pulls in $30M — AngioScore, a Fremont, Calif., maker of balloon catheters used to open up clogged arteries, raised $30 million in a fifth funding round. Investors included Telegraph Hill Partners, Psilos Group Management, QuestMark Partners, L.P., UV Partners, California Technology Ventures and Innomed Ventures.
AngioScore’s balloon catheters, which inflate inside blocked blood vessels to restore blood flow, are designed to overcome problems that sometimes… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007
(UPDATED at 7:40pm PT: See below.)
Featured companies: Adnexus Therapeutics, BioForm Medical, Confirma, Cardiovascular Systems, Mirabilis Medica, Neuromed Pharmaceuticals, PlaCor, Seno Medical Instruments, Vibrynt
BioForm Medical files $115M IPO for “medical aesthetics” — BioForm Medical, a San Mateo, Calif., developer of wrinkle fillers and other products for cosmetic procedures, filed to raise $115 million in an initial offering. BioForm’s major customers are plastic surgeons and dermatologists.
BioForm, however, takes pains to describe itself differently on its Web site…. Continue Reading