Life-science briefing: Monday, March 10, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
BrainCells raises $30M for neuroregeneration drugs (release)
EKR Therapeutics takes in $50M plus $95M in debt for pain, heart drugs (release)
Wright Medical acquires Berkeley’s Inbone Tech for $24M (release)
Argolyn Bioscience names Nixon Ellis as CEO (release)
BrainCells raises $30M for neuroregeneration drugs – San Diego’s BrainCells, a startup focused on drugs intended to stimulate the growth of new neurons, raised $30 million in a second funding round. Investors included MedImmune Ventures, Bay City Capital, Oxford Bioscience Partners,… Continue Reading
EKR Therapeutics and the sweet taste of “re-acquisition”
A few months ago, I wrote about the intriguing trend toward “re-launching” biotech startups that had been recently acquired by Big Pharma or Big Biotech — minus, of course, whatever promising drug candidates had prompted the acquisition in the first place. Now an entrepreneur has taken the logic one step further, having just re-acquired a drug from the troubled biotech that bought out his previous startup three years earlier.
EKR Therapeutics, a Cedar Knolls, N.J., specialty… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007
Featured companies: Apex Radiology, Arcxis Biotechnologies, EKR Therapeutics, Franklin & Seidelmann, Michelson Diagnostics, SensiGen, Vascular Closure Systems
UPDATED: Expanded items on Arcxis, Vascular Closure and Archemix.
Arcxis pulls in $2M for DNA tools — Arcxis Biotechnologies, a Pleasanton, Calif., biotech tool maker focused on analysis of DNA and proteins in biological samples, raised $2 million in a follow-on to its first funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Investors included Kaiser Permanente Ventures and Claremont Creek Ventures.
Arcxis released its first… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007
(UPDATED at 5:55pm PT: See below.)
Featured companies: Sierra Surgical Technologies, HerbalScience Nutraceuticals, Topigen Pharmaceuticals, EKR Therapeutics, Molecular Partners, Celsense, Glucose Sensing Technologies, Falcon Genomics, Waters, Calorimetry Sciences, Parion Sciences, Gilead Sciences, Isto Technologies, Fluidnet, NABsys
Sierra Surgical raises $7.1M — Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sierra Surgical Technologies, a developer of female sterilization technology, raised $7.1 million in a first funding round, PE Hub reports, citing a regulatory filing. Alta Partners and De Novo Ventures provided the funding.
Singapore’s HerbalScience raises… Continue Reading