Life-science briefing: Thursday, April 3, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Mirna Thera spins out of Asuragen with $3M (release)
Stroke-therapy startup CoAxia raises $12M (release)
Stealthy device maker Synvascular gets $6.5M (peHUB)
AndroScience seeks $3.5M for anti-testosterone drugs (VentureWire)
Austria’s ProtAffin takes in €1.1M grant (release)
Singapore’s Moleac receives $3.5M for Chinese medicine… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Friday, March 14, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES
Cantimer takes in $2M for dehydration diagnostics (VentureWire)
Recodagen launches, takes aim at cancer (release)
Juniper Diagnostics spins out of ChemSensing (VentureWire)
Cantimer takes in $2M for dehydration diagnostics –The mystery of Menlo Park, Calif.-based Cantimer has resolved a bit. We wrote about… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Affinergy gets $3M in grants for biological “linkers” (release)
Specialty pharma EUSA raises $50M, spends $23M for public biotech Cytogen (release)
Calderome takes in $12M for cancer diagnostics (peHUB)
Pulse Health raises $2M for handheld free-radical device (release)
LifeMasters takes in $15M for… Continue Reading
Precision Thera merger with “blank check” firm Oracle Healthcare collapses
(UPDATED: See below.)
Another one bites the dust.
The saga of Precision Therapeutics, a Pittsburgh biotech developing what struck me last August as a particularly crude type of cancer-chemotherapy diagnostic, continues apace. In a tersely worded press release, the special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, Oracle… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, March 5, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Precision Thera merger with “blank check” Oracle Healthcare collapses (release)
Sleep Solutions takes in $21M for sleep-apnea diagnostics (release)
Trevena takes in $24M for drugs targeting G-proteins (release)
“Specialty biotech” PanGenetics gets €23M for antibody drugs (release)
Cancer-drug maker Unibioscreen pulls in €5M… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
RNAi developer PhaseRx gets $4M of a pledged $19M (Seattle Times)
TyRx Pharma, drug-device combo maker, raises $25M (release)
Agennix aims at $40M for cancer drugs (VentureWire)
Starr Life Sciences goes after $1.6M for small-animal vital-signs scanner (VW)
CardioNet sets IPO terms, aims… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
InSound Medical raises $11M for “invisible” hearing aids (VBLS exclusive)
Corventis takes in $20M for heart-failure therapy (VBLS exclusive)
Molecular diagnostics user AssureRx raises $1M (Cincinnati Enquirer)
Arresto Biosciences, cancer-drug developer, raises funds (VentureWire)
San Diego’s Obalon raises $4.7M for drug discovery (peHUB)… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Feb. 4, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
PEAK Surgical takes in $21M for electrosurgical tools (release)
CellGate acquired by Australian cancer biotech ProGen for $2.5M (release)
Traversa raises $2M for RNAi-delivery technologies (release)
RemitDATA, Web-based healthcare-service co., takes in $5.5M (bizjournals.com)
Spinal-implant maker Archus Orthopedics gets $10M venture loan (release)… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Jan. 25, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Health-info site HealthCentral Network pulls in $50M (paidContent)
BrightHeart Vet corrals $29M to acquire animal hospitals (release)
AviaraDx raises $8M for cancer diagnostics (peHUB)
Valor Medical aims for $15M for brain-aneurysm treatment (VentureWire)
IPC, inpatient-care provider, raises as much as $56M in IPO… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Satoris gets $5M for Alzheimer’s test (VentureWire)
Endotis Pharma pulls in €25M for clot-busting and cancer drugs (release)
Germany’s Direvo Biotech strikes drug-development pact with MedImmune (release)
OrthoAccel gets $1.3M for device to speed orthodonture (VW)
Medical-management software co. Accuro Healthcare files for… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Jan. 14, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Autonomic Technologies raises $3M for neurostimulators (PE Hub)
Canopy Financial raises $15M for outsourced healthcare management (release)
Cancer-drug developer AmpliMed draws $5M (PE Hub)
Caprotec Bioanalytics receives €6M for protein-analysis tech (release)
ProtAffin draws additional €1.4M for anti-inflammatory drugs (release)
Toxicology-services firm Bridge… Continue Reading
Alder Bio and its yeast-produced antibodies take in $40M
Alder Biopharmaceuticals, a Bothell, Wash., developer of antibody drugs, raised $40 million in a third funding round. Investors included Delphi Ventures, TPG Biotech, Sevin Rosen Funds, Ventures West, H.I.G. Ventures, and WRF Capital.
Alder develops antibody-based drugs for inflammation and autoimmune disease. The company’s lead… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Gelesis draws in $16M for obesity treatments (release)
Tempo Pharma raises $8B for nanoparticle drugs (release)
Calistoga Pharma receives additional $5M for cancer and inflammation drugs (release)
Montreux Equity Partners closes $250M life-sciences fund (release)
MTS Health Partners names Andrew Weisenfeld, Mark Epstein… Continue Reading
Precision Thera drops IPO, goes public via reverse merger
(UPDATE: The merger is dead.)
Pittsburgh’s Precision Therapeutics, a biotech working on diagnostics designed to identify the best chemotherapy for cancer patients, appears to have dropped its planned IPO and instead went public via a reverse merger with Oracle Healthcare Acquisition — a “blank check”… Continue Reading
Cancer-drug biotech Agensys sells to Astellas for $387M — but is it a pig in a poke?
Yet another biotech has succumbed to Big Pharma’s deep-pocketed blandishments. Agensys, a decade-old Santa Monica, Calif., biotech with an early-stage pipeline, just agreed to sell itself to Japan’s Astellas Pharma for $387 million in cash. The company’s shareholders can receive up to another $150 million… 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… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Nov. 9, 2007
Featured companies: Antisense Pharma, Arteriocyte, Excelimmune, Fluxion Biosciences
UPDATED: Expanded items on Antisense Pharma, Arteriocyte, and Excelimmune.
Antisense Pharma raises €27M for cancer drugs — Munich’s Antisense Pharma, a biotech developing gene-silencing drugs against cancer, raised €27 million ($38 million) in a fourth funding round…. 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… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Oct. 22, 2007
Featured companies: Ablynx, Avant Immunotherapeutics, BioForm Medical, Celldex Therapeutics, Genomas, High-Throughput Genomics, Orchid Cellmark, ReliaGene Technologies, SarCode, TransMolecular, VisEn Medical
UPDATED: Expanded items on SarCode, Celldex/Avant and Ablynx.
UPDATE REDUX: Added items on BioForm Medical, High-Throughput Genomics and Orchid Cellmark/ReliaGene.
San Francisco’s SarCode draws down… 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… Continue Reading