Life sciences briefing: Monday, Aug. 13, 2007
(UPDATED: See below.)
Featured companies: FoldRx Pharmaceuticals, Ophthotech, Pevion Biotech, Restoration Robotics, Glide Pharma, Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Nanosphere, SurModics, BioFX Laboratories
FoldRx Pharma to receive $22M against cystic fibrosis — Cambridge, Mass.-based FoldRx Pharmaceuticals, a biotech focused on diseases that result from misfolded proteins, will get $22 million over the next five years from an affiliate of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to further its work against the genetic lung disease. The money will be paid as FoldRx meets various developmental… Continue Reading
Merck buys cardio-drug maker NovaCardia for $350M
San Diego’s NovaCardia, a developer of drugs for cardiovascular disease, agreed to sell itself to Merck for $350 million.
The specialty pharmaceutical company has in-licensed two drugs from other drug makers, one to treat kidney problems in heart failure patients and another for atrial fibrillation. The heart-failure drug, KW-3902, should enter a late-stage trial this year; the atrial-fibrillation drug, meanwhile, is slated to enter mid-stage trials this year.
Actually, I take that back — KW-3902… Continue Reading
Bioheart: A risky stem-cell company boosts its IPO hopes
(UPDATED: See below.)
Sunrise, Fla.-based Bioheart thinks enough of its stem-cell treatment for heart disease that it has just boosted its expected IPO take by $10 million, to $45 million. A close reading of its latest SEC filing, however, raises a fair number of questions for would-be investors.
Bioheart’s leading therapy candidate is MyoCell, a treatment designed to reverse heart-attack damage. MyoCell consists of myoblasts — a kind of muscle stem cell — that are removed from a… Continue Reading
Cardiovascular biotech Portola Pharmaceuticals raises $70M, eyes IPO
Portola Pharmaceuticals, a South San Francisco, Calif., biotech aiming to develop treatments for blood clots and other heart-related problems, raised $70 million in a third round of financing dominated by late-stage and public-market investors.
Among new investors in the round were Brookside Capital; AllianceBernstein; Teachers’ Private Capital, the private investment arm of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan; Goldman Sachs, T. Rowe Price, IBTM and CIDC. They were joined by existing investors Abingworth, Alta Partners, Advanced Technology Ventures,… Continue Reading