Life-science briefing: Thursday, March 27, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Breathe Tech raises $15M for respiratory disease (release)
Protein-drug maker Pieris takes in €25M (release)
Apthera takes in $2.1M toward cancer vaccine (VentureWire)
Breathe Tech raises $15M for respiratory disease – Breathe Technologies, a Fremont, Calif., medical device maker, raised $15 million in a second round of funding. Investors included Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Synergy Partners International, Delphi Ventures and Life Science Angels.
Breathe is developing “compact” and “lightweight” respiratory systems for the hospital and home markets, and… Continue Reading
NewLink Genetics raises $17M for cancer vaccine, drugs
NewLink Genetics, an Ames, Iowa, biotech working on cancer vaccines and drugs that modulate the immune system, has so far raised about $17 million in a third funding round. The company aims to raise another $8 million in the round for a total of $25 million, according to Nicholas Vahanian, the company’s chief medical and operating officer.
In an unusual approach for a startup, NewLink is pursuing two different, but potentially related, approaches to treating cancer…. Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Jan. 31, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
5AM Ventures puts $3.3M into stealthy ImmunoNewco (VBLS exclusive)
NewLink Genetics raises $17M for cancer vaccine, immune drugs (VBLS exclusive)
Biochip, stem-cell biotech Minerva Bio ousts CEO Jim Czirr and sues (release)
Sonexa Therapeutics takes $30M for Alzheimer’s treatment (release)
Tissue regenerator Healionics pulls in $1.7M (release)
EGeen, clinical research organization, receives $245K (VentureWire)
Barnvet Labs, HeMemics Bio get $75K apiece from Maryland gov’t (release)
5AM Ventures puts $3.3M into new immune-related startup – I’ve moved this item to a standalone post… Continue Reading
Immunotope raises $350K for cancer vaccine
Immunotope, a Doylestown, Pa., biotechnology company working on cancer vaccines, raised a second $350,000 investment (PDF) from Ben Franklin Technology Partners.
An earlier $350,000 investment allowed the company to manufacture its cancer vaccine, which is initially aimed at ovarian and breast tumors. The new funding will supposedly permit Immunotope to fund early-stage patient-treatment and evaluation studies, although it’s really not clear how much the company can expect to accomplish with these relatively tiny investments. Cancer… Continue Reading
No immunity for Dendreon’s cancer vaccine
(UPDATED: See below.) For almost two months, it has seemed that the FDA might be ready to approve an entirely new attack on cancer — a “cancer vaccine” that immunizes patients with tumor fragments in order to activate the body’s immune defenses against cancerous cells.
That dream suffered a major setback earlier today, when the FDA threw up a fresh roadblock to the approval of Dendreon’s Provenge, the first such cancer vaccine to go before the agency… Continue Reading