VentureBeat

Featured companies: Adenosine Therapeutics, Allylix, Caprotec BioAnalytics, Equipois, F-Star, Insightec, MedNets.com, Renal Solutions, Transport Pharmaceuticals, VeriCare Management

UPDATED: Expanded items on Transport Pharmaceuticals, InSightec and VeriCare Management.

Transport Pharma aims for $35M for cold-sore treatment — Framingham, Mass.-based Transport Pharmaceuticals, a dermatology-focused biotech developing a new treatment for cold sores, is looking to raise $35 million in a fifth funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Hillman Co., Quaker BioVentures, Carlyle Group and EGS Healthcare Capital Partners have pledged $15 million in the round, which the company expects to close in February.

Transport’s leading product candidate is device that uses a low-voltage electrical current to improve the absorption of drugs through the skin. The handheld device, which the company calls the Solovir electrokinetic transdermal system, delivers a reformulated version of the antiviral drug acyclovir directly to cold sores in a ten-minute treatment. The company has so far raised roughly $36 million in venture funding.

InSightec takes in $30M for ultrasound surgery — Israel’s InSightec, a developer of ultrasound-based surgical systems, raised $30 million in a new funding round. Investors included Elbit Imaging, GE Capital Equity Holdings, MediTech Advisors and directors and managers of the company.

InSightec’s system combines MRI scanning and focused ultrasound in order to attack tumors in a non-invasive fashion. The device has been approved in the U.S. for treatment of uterine fibroids, which are non-cancerous tumors of the female reproductive system. InSightec is currently studying ways to apply the system to brain, liver and bone tumors as well.

VeriCare Management gets $9.5M for mental healthcare services — San Diego’s VeriCare Management, a provider of mental-health care to the elderly, raised $9.5 million (MS Word document) in a second funding round. Investors included HLM Venture Partners, Salix Ventures, Acacia Venture Partners and Aetna Ventures.

This is sort of an interesting investment, as VCs haven’t traditionally been all that interested in healthcare providers. In the release, Aetna managing director Adam Grossman notes that the investment is aimed specifically at improving the quality of healthcare, which suggests that some VCs, at least, are starting to view quality improvements as financially rewarding. The logic isn’t entirely clear to me, but it seems to parallel the effort that David Brailer’s new outfit, Health Evolution Partners, is just getting off the ground. (See our coverage of Health Evolution here.)

HEADLINES OF NOTE:

• Adenosine Thera gets $4.5M for a grab-bag of drugs (release)
• Caprotec BioAnalytics raises $6.6M for protein-analysis tools (GenomeWeb News)
• Ergonomic-arm maker Equipois raises $1.5M (VW)
• F-Star adds $4.5M for engineered antibodies (release)
• Healthnostics acquires med-info portal MedNets.com (release)
• Flavor and fragrance producer Allylix raises $3.4M (release)
• Renal Solutions acquired by Fresenius Medical for $190M (release)

Featured companies: Enobia, F-star, N Spine, Omni Life Science

Enobia splints together $38M for bone disorders — Montreal’s Enobia, a biotech focused on aiming drugs specifically at bone diseases, raised C$40.1 million ($38 million) in a second funding round. Investors included OrbiMed Advisors, CTI Life Sciences Fund, the Fonds de solidarite FTQ, Desjardins Venture Capital, Lothian Partners and T2C2/Bio 2000.

Enobia intends to deliver bone-related drugs directly to bone tissue in order to reduce both dosages and possible side effects. Its first drug candidate targets hypophosphatasia, a genetic disease in which bones fail to absorb minerals correctly because an enzyme called alkaline phosphatase is mutated and fails to work properly. The condition can cause stunted growth and weak or deformed bones, and in its most severe forms can be fatal.

Enobia’s drug is a bone-targeted form of alkaline phosphatase designed to make up for the defective form of the enzyme. The company said the new funding will allow it to take its experimental drug through mid-stage clinical trials.

Orthopedics-device maker Omni Life Science raises $5M in debt — Raynham, Mass.-based Omni Life Science, a maker of hip- and knee-replacement implants, raised $5 million of a planned $12 million convertible-note round, VentureWire reports (subscription required), citing a regulatory filing. Investors including Apex Partners provided the funding.

Omni was founded in 1998 as an orthopedics-device company, but the products it currently sells mostly appear to have originated with Apex Surgical, which Omni acquired in 2005. VentureWire notes that Apex Partners is also located in Raynham, Mass., and is not related to a Florida firm of the same name.

Antibody maker F-star gets €6M — Vienna-based F-star, a developer of “modular” synthetic antibodies for use as drugs, raised €6 million ($8.3 million) in a first funding round. Aescap Venture and Atlas Venture provided the funding.

All told, F-star has raised €10 million to date. The company uses a vast library of antibody features to engineer the large molecules in new ways, potentially yielding smaller antibody fragments that retain the functionality of their larger counterparts or adding additional features to existing antibodies. There’s more here, if you’re into antibody-structure engineering.

N Spine raises $1M for device commercialization — San Diego’s N Spine, a maker of spinal fusion and stabilization devices, raised $1 million in bridge funding, VentureWire reports. Individual investors provided the funding.

From the VentureWire story:

The new funding comes as N Spine has been building a market presence for the NFix II dynamic pedicle screw and rod system, which received 510(k) clearance from the Food and Drug Administration in February. “Our product has been used clinically for a year,” [chief technology officer Jude Paganelli] said. “And in the U.S., we have been selling since March.”