Life sciences briefing: Monday, Feb. 11, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
PolyRemedy, developer of robotic wound care, takes in $25M (release)
Bacchus Vascular gets $15M for clot-busting device (VentureWire)
Protein-evolution company Modular Genetics gets $1.2M (VentureWire)
PharmatrophiX gets $300K for Alzheimer’s disease prevention drugs (release)
Light Sciences Oncology withdraws IPO (Edgar)
Arizona’s Translational Accelerator launches $20M life-sciences fund (bizjournals.com)
Cornea-reshaper Avedro gets $7M (VentureWire)
Gastrotech Pharma gets $6M in wake of Lilly deal (VentureWire)
Biomaterials maker MiMedx goes public via reverse merger (release)
Acrongenomics to complete acquisition of Molecular Vision by the end of… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007
Featured companies: American Oriental Bioengineering, Guangxi Boke, Inspired Technologies, Nanosphere, Patton Medical Devices
UPDATED: Expanded items on Nanosphere and Patton Medical Devices.
Molecular-diagnostics firm Nanosphere sets IPO range, now expects $129M — Northbrook, Ill.-based Nanosphere, a maker of nanotech-derived molecular diagnostics, now expects to raise up to $129 million by selling as many as eight million shares in an initial offering. The company’s latest SEC filing is here. Nanosphere intends to price its shares between $14 and $16 apiece.
The… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Sept. 21, 2007
Featured companies: CG Therapeutics, Complete Genomics, ConforMIS, Flexible Medical Systems, LeMaitre Vascular, MAP Pharmaceuticals, ParaPro, Vascular Architects, Zars Pharma
(UPDATED on 10/1/07: See below.)
[NOTE: Posting has been slow recently for personal reasons. I'll be doing my best to catch up today.]
Complete Genomics raises funding for high-speed sequencing — Complete Genomics, a Mountain View, Calif., developer of high-speed genome sequencing technology, said it raised an undisclosed sum in a second funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The company said… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007
Featured companies: Acceleron Pharma, AdvanDx, Altheus Therapeutics, BiPar Sciences, Coventina Healthcare Enterprises, ForteBio, Ganymed Pharmaceuticals, Mako Surgical, Nile Therapeutics, Novate Medical
[NOTE: This briefing was posted on Friday, 9/21/07; I've edited its timestamp to preserve chronological order among the briefings.]
Nile Therapeutics raises $20M, goes public in reverse merger — Berkeley, Calif.-based Nile Therapeutics, a developer of cardiovascular drugs, raised $20 million from new and existing investors and carried out a reverse merger that takes the company public…. Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Sept. 10, 2007
Featured companies: BioVascular, Carefx, ClinResearch, Healthcare Management Directions, NanoCor, OxyPlus, Revitus, Spotlight Surgical, United BioSource
UPDATED: See below.
Healthcare IT provider Carefx pulls in $17.9M — Carefx, a Scottsdale, Ariz., provider of hardware and software that “aggregates” patient records, has raised $17.85 million in a third funding round, Private Equity Hub reports, citing a regulatory filing. Investors included Carlyle Venture Partners and UV Partners.
Carefx’s pitch is basically the same as that from any system integrator — a term guaranteed… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007
Featured companies: Atritech, Avalon Partners, Ensemble Discovery, Hyperion Therapeutics, LifeBond, ReShape Medical, SafeStitch, Trophos, UltraShape
Hyperion Therapeutics raises $40M against GI and kidney disease — Hyperion Therapeutics, a South San Francisco, Calif., specialty pharmaceutical company, raised $40 million in a second funding round. Investors included Sofinnova Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, New Enterprise Associates and WRF Capital.
Hyperion, which buys the rights to test and market drug candidates from other companies, said the proceeds will allow it to complete… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Aug. 31, 2007
Featured companies: Aryx Therapeutics, FlowCardia, Graftcath
FlowCardia raises $30M for artery roto-rooters — Sunnyvale, Calif.-based FlowCardia, a medical-device maker building catheter systems that bore holes in blood clots, raised $30 million in a third funding round. Investors included Gilde Healthcare Partners, Life Sciences Partners, Hambrecht & Quist Capital Management, New Science Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, JP Morgan Partners, Pappas Ventures, Rockport Venture Partners and Gold Hill Capital. The funding is intended to speed commercialization of the company’s… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Aug. 17, 2007
Featured companies: Concentric Medical, Vertebration, Vision RT, Kemeta
Clotbuster Concentric Medical files for $69M IPO — Mountain View, Calif.-based Concentric Medical, which makes and markets devices for removing dangerous blood clots from the brains of stroke patients, filed to raise up to $69 million in an initial offering. The company’s devices consist of catheters that are threaded into the body’s circulatory system via the femoral artery in the groin and passed into the brain to the site… Continue Reading
ImaRx: A blood-clot attacker with sinking IPO hopes
ImaRx, a Tuscon, Ariz., biotech developing new ways to dissolve blood clots in the lungs, lowered its IPO sights and now expects to raise no more than $17.3 million in the offering. (Its latest SEC filing is here.) Late last month, the company had hoped to raise as much as $25.9 million by pricing its shares between $6.50 and $7.50 apiece.
ImaRx now expects to price its shares at $5 apiece. That will value the… Continue Reading
EndoVention raises $1.5M for clot-removing catheters
San Francisco’s EndoVention, a developer of catheters for use in blood-clot removal, raised $1.5 million of an expected $2.5 million first round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Such catheters are flexible tubes that doctors can insert into blocked blood vessels in order to “vacuum out” clots, sometimes with the assistances of clot-dissolving drugs. EndoVention’s device has an “expandable mouth” to regulate the intake of clots.
Angel investors provided the funding, EndoVention CEO Peter Yorke told VentureWire.
Ultrasound clot-buster Ekos raises $10M in debt
Ekos, a Bothell, Wash., maker of ultrasound-enhanced drug-delivery systems, raised $10 million in debt capital from Hercules Technology Growth Capital. The financing will support the sales and marketing of drug-delivery catheters that feature an ultrasound system designed to help drugs break up blood clots more quickly. Ekos launched its catheters in early 2006.
Ekos most recently raised $26 million in a third financing round led by Ascension Health Ventures, joined by new investors Oakwood Medical Investors… Continue Reading