VentureBeat

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• Stemline Therapeutics, cancer stem-cell startup, gets $13M (release)
• Eye-disease biotech Potentia Pharma raises $12M (release)
• Sample-prep toolmaker Arcxis aims for $8M to $10M (VentureWire)
• Synvascular names Drew Hoffman as CEO (VentureWire)
• ArtusLabs gets $2.6M for life-science software and services (release)
• Cancer-drug maker Inotek loses CEO, Genentech partnership (release)
• GTESS, health-plan IT startup, names James Bradley CEO (release)
• Antibiotic developer Tetraphase Pharma names Guy MacDonald CEO (release)

Stemline Therapeutics, cancer stem-cell startup, gets $13M – New York-based Stemline Therapeutics, a biotech focused on new cancer treatments, raised $12.5 million in a funding round. Healthcare funds managed by Pequot Capital Management provided the funding.

Stemline is one of several companies that hope to attack cancer by taking aim at cancer “stem cells,” which are thought to give rise to tumors the same way embryonic stem cells develop into the body’s 200+ types of tissue. One theory holds that conventional cancer chemotherapy often fails because while it can kill huge numbers of tumor cells, it tends to miss the stem cells that can migrate through the body and spark metastatic tumor growth.

Stemline already has one experimental drug against acute myeloid leukemia in early stage clinical trials, although it licensed that drug from the Texas A&M Health Science Center rather than discovering the molecule itself. The startup reports eight other drug candidates at an earlier stage of development.

Stemline has so far been overshadowed by the much flashier OncoMed, another cancer stem-cell startup that  last December struck a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline potentially worth $1.4 billion. It’s not clear, though, whether OncoMed has actually begun clinical trials of its leading drug candidate yet.

Eye-disease biotech Potentia Pharma raises $12M – Potentia Pharmaceuticals, a Louisville, Ky., biotech focused on eye diseases of the elderly, raised $12 million in an unspecified funding round. Backers include HealthCare Ventures and MASA Life Science Ventures.

Potentia hopes to treat a blinding disorder known as age-related macular degeneration by reducing inflammation. Specifically, the startup’s lead drug candidate, POT-4, inhibits the complement system, an arm of the body’s immune defenses that may be responsible for much of the damage associated with AMD.

Sample-prep toolmaker Arcxis aims for $8M to $10M – Pleasanton, Calif.-based Arcxis Biotechnologies, a maker of systems that prepare biological samples for analysis, hopes to raise $8 million to $10 million in a second funding round, VentureWire reports. The company raised $6.5 million in its first funding round, which took place in three installments from August 2006 through February 2008.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this item incorrectly stated that Arcxis raised $11.1 million in February and wrongly attributed that fact to VentureWire. Arcxis CEO Howard Goldstein emailed me with the correct numbers.

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• Cancer stem-cell co. OncoMed strikes GSK partnership worth up to $1.4B (release)
• Kosmix pulls in $10M for health, lifestyle search (release)
• CDI Bioscience pulls in $3M for protein-production improvements (release)
• UroMedica takes in $7M for incontinence devices (VentureWire, sub req’d)
• Draths raises $2.5M for flu drugs (PE Hub)

Cancer stem-cell co. OncoMed strikes GSK partnership worth up to $1.4B – Redwood City, Calif.-based OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, a biotech founded to target and destroy the “cancer stem cells” that researchers believe may lurk at the heart of every tumor, struck a major partnership with GlaxoSmithKline to discover and commercialize new cancer drugs based on OncoMed’s technology.

The deal allows GSK to license up to four of OncoMed’s monoclonal antibody drugs that are directed at multiple cancer stem-cell targets. In turn, OncoMed gets an undisclosed initial payment, an equity investment, and milestone payments of up to $1.4 billion, plus double-digit royalties on any marketed products. The arrangement includes OncoMed’s leading product candidate, OMP-21M18, which is scheduled to begin human testing this year.

Cancer stem cells are, like most stem cells, thought to be progenitor cells that give rise to a diverse population of other cell types. In this case, however, the cancer stem cells theoretically keep tumors alive by constantly producing replacement tumor cells as they are killed off by chemotherapy, radiation or the body’s defenses. Cancer stem cells, in fact, may explain why tumors return so easily after surgery or chemotherapy, since if even a few stem cells survive, they can easily recreate the tumor.

CDI Bioscience pulls in $3M for protein-production improvements – CDI Bioscience, a Madison, Wisc., biotech aiming to improve the efficiency of genetically engineered cells in the production of biotech drugs, raised $3 million in a first funding round. Battelle Ventures and Innovation Valley Partners provided the funding.

CDI has developed a process that forces bioengineered cells into a “senescent” state, which CDI claims is characterized by greater energy production (in terms of increased numbers of mitochondria) and increased protein synthesis and output. The company claims that cells “shifted” into senescence routinely produce three to seven times the amount of engineered protein — the output that biotechs purify into drugs — than their unshifted counterparts.