VentureBeat

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• InfraReDx takes $17M for arterial-plaque detection (VentureWire)
• Cancer-drug developer Serenex sells out to Pfizer for undisclosed sum (release)
• Life-sciences fund Longitude Capital raises $95M (VentureWire)
• Hospital consultant Intercede Health names Gray Miller as CEO (release)

InfraReDx takes $17M for arterial-plaque detection – InfraReDx, a Burlington, Mass., developer of diagnostic systems that detect arterial plaque, raised $17 million in a third funding round, VentureWire reports. Sanderling Ventures led the round, joined by new and previous individual investors.

InfraReDx previously planned to raise up to $40 million in order to support expected commercialization of its near-infrared device, which can identify buildups of arterial plaque that can rupture and lead to heart attacks (see our coverage). The test, however, requires a minimally invasive procedure in which the device is threaded into a patient’s circulatory system, making the InfraReDx device primarily useful for preventing second heart attacks in patients who are being treated for their first.

The company submitted its device for FDA approval in October, and is planning on a limited rollout if the device is cleared this quarter, as InfraReDx expects.

Cancer-drug developer Serenex sells out to Pfizer for undisclosed sum – Durham, N.C.-based Serenex, a biotech working on drugs that could be useful in cancer and other conditions, agreed to be acquired by Pfizer. The release is here. The companies didn’t disclose terms of the deal.

Serenex claimed to have a technology for developing drugs against a wide variety of cellular proteins, but in practice Pfizer appears to have been most interested in drugs that inhibit heat-shock protein 90, or Hsp90, a molecule that regulates other proteins crucial to cellular growth and survival. The startup’s lead compound, SNX-5422, is in early-stage, phase I testing against a variety of tumors.

Pfizer, of course, will also walk away with Serenex’s drug-discovery technology and a library of other drug candidates. Notably, however, Pfizer did not buy the startup’s leading experimental drug, SNX-1012, which is being tested against oral mucositis, a common side effect of chemotherapy. That, of course, leaves open the possibility that Serenex management — or someone else — will try to form a new company around that drug. This sort of strategy is increasingly popular; for my take on it, see here.

Life-sciences fund Longitude Capital raises $95M – Menlo Park, Calif.-based Longitude Partners, a spinout of Pequot Ventures, raised $95 million of an anticipated $325 million first fund, VentureWire reports. The fund will invest in biotech, medical-device and drug-development startups.

Featured companies: Bravo Health, InfraReDx, MedAssets, Prestwick Pharmaceuticals

Prestwick Pharma raises $20M for neuro drugs — Specialty pharma Prestwick Pharmaceuticals, a Washington, D.C., firm that acquires cast-off drug candidates to treat neurological conditions, raised $20 million from existing investors, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Among those participating in the funding were Atlas Venture, Sofinnova Ventures, Vivo Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Warburg Pincus and Pequot Ventures.

Prestwick said it raised the funds to acquire additional drug candidates. The company filed to go public in 2005, but pulled its filing in December of that year.

InfraReDx aims for $40M to detect artery plaque — Burlington, Mass.-based InfraReDx aims to raise $40 million in a “mezzanine” financing to launch its artery-plaque diagnostic system, VentureWire reports. The company is talking to existing and potential new investors, including VC firms and hedge funds.

InfraReDx is developing a near-infrared spectroscopy system for the detection of arterial plaque, which can rupture and create blood clots that could lead to a heart attack. The company expects to complete a clinical trial in October that could lead to approval of the device.

Bravo Health raises undisclosed sum for acquisition — Bravo Health, a venture-backed provider in the Medicare prescription-drug coverage plan formerly known as Elder Health, raised an undisclosed sum in an eighth funding round, VentureWire reports. The funding covers the company’s recent acquisition of a Philadelphia Medicare provider called Senior Health.

Investors included all backers from the company’s previous funding round, a group that includes New Enterprise Associates, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, CCP Equity Partners, Salix Ventures, Alpha Partners, Coleman Swenson Hoffman Booth, Franklin Venture Capital, Frontenac Co., GE Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Riggs Capital Partners, Sprout Group, Wasatch Venture Fund and Woodbrook.

MedAssets, healthcare IT provider, aims for $230M IPO — MedAssets, an Alpharetta, Ga., provider of healthcare IT and consulting services, filed to raise up to $230 million in an initial offering. The company aims to help community hospitals increase “revenue capture” and “cash collections” and to manage “non-labor expense categories.”

Oddly, MedAsset doesn’t appear to have yet maximized its own revenue capture, as it posted a net loss of $23.8 million last year on revenues of $177.9 million.