Life sciences briefing: Friday, Aug. 24, 2007
(UPDATED at 11am PT on Sunday, 8/26/07: See below.)
Featured companies: Clinical Data, Epidauros Biotechnologie, Precision Therapeutics, UMD, Zars Pharma
UMD to close $8M for menstrual pain and osteoporosis — Cincinnati’s UMD, a developer of vaginal drug-delivery technologies, expects to close up to $8 million in a fifth funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The company has backing from an undisclosed new investor, and expects former investors Charter Life Sciences and Asset Management to join the round.
UMD is developing… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2007
Featured companies: Alpex Pharma, Applied Computational Technologies, Separation Design Group, ThermalTherapeutics Systems
Switzerland’s Alpex Pharma raises $9M for plop, plop, fizz, fizz drugs– Alpex Pharma, a Mezzovico, Switzerland drug-formulation company, raised $9 million (CHF 10.9 million) in a second round of funding. Investors included BB Biotech Ventures and Signet Healthcare Partners.
The company essentially reformulates pharmaceuticals for other companies with technologies that make pills melt quickly, allowing them to be taken without water, or to “effervesce” — that… Continue Reading
Celator: Combining chemo drugs for fun and profit
(UPDATED: See below.)
Is there a better way to combine drugs in cancer chemotherapy? Celator Pharmaceuticals, a Princeton, N.J., venture drug maker that just raised $10 million, aims to find out.
Like Horizon Therapeutics, which we wrote about here, Celator is convinced that combining two existing drugs in a single formulation at the right proportions can yield better results than current treatments. Although many chemo drugs are already used in combination, the drugs that can be used this… Continue Reading
ProCertus pulls in $2.3M for prevention of chemo, radiation side effects
ProCertus BioPharm, a Madison, Wis., company developing drugs to minimize the side effects of radiation and chemotherapy, raised $2.3 million in a first round of financing. The company will use the money to begin human tests of products such as DermX, which is supposed to prevent radiation-therapy induced dermatitis.
The round was led by Venture Investors, a significant Midwest-based healthcare and IT venture firm. Existing investors including the Novartis Venture Fund also joined the round.
These… Continue Reading
Roundup: Anemia drugs under assault, stem-cell trial moves forward, medical interventions and poor “quality of death,” and more
Is the bell tolling for EPO? – The news keeps going from bad to worse for the wonder drugs of biotech — the anemia treatments known as ESAs or EPO, shorthand for “erythropoiesis stimulating agents” and “erythropoietin,” respectively. Earlier today, an FDA advisory panel recommended new warnings for the drugs, which stimulate the production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells, as well as fresh clinical studies on their safety. Recent studies in kidney-dialysis patients linked higher doses… Continue Reading