Life sciences briefing: Monday, Jan. 7, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Surgical-device maker Aragon Surgical receives $25M (release)
Tacere Therapeutics strikes RNAi deal with Pfizer for up to $145M (release)
Benvenue Medical raises $15M for spine-repair devices (release)
Genome-association co. Genizon BioSciences draws C$31M (release)
Contract research organization Inclinix pulls in $10M (release)
EPocrates, healthcare IT developer, gets strategic investment from Goldman Sachs (release)
ZyGem closes first funding round (release)
Onset Ventures names John Ryan partner (release)
Retired Scripps immunologist Richard Ulevitch joins 5AM Ventures (release)
SV Life Sciences promotes Darren Black to partner… Continue Reading
FDA clears new uses for Aragon Surgical’s laparascopic device
Aragon Surgical, a Palo Alto, Calif., medical-devices maker, said the FDA cleared its LapCap product for use in general surgery. Aragon, which doesn’t seem to have a Web site, gained ownership of the LapCap when it acquired VeriSure, another device maker, in March.
The LapCap is designed to ease the initial steps of minimally invasive, or laparoscopic, surgery, in which surgeons must pass a needle into the abdomen in order to blow in gas that will… Continue Reading
Aragon buys laparoscopic company, Verisure
Aragon Surgical, a Palo Alto, Calif. surgical device company, said it has acquired VeriSure, Inc., a privately held medical device company.
The acquisition amount was undisclosed. Aragon said the deal gives it ownership of the LapCapTM, a laparoscopic product that allows a surgeon to “more easily, rapidly, and predictably” pass a Veress needle into the peritoneal cavity in order to create a pneumoperitoneum (the gas-filled space in which the surgeon operates).
Aragon is backed by Onset… Continue Reading