• IlluminOss Medical gets $11M for bone-fracture devices (peHUB)
• Contract researcher Crown Bioscience takes in funding (release)

IlluminOss Medical gets $11M for bone-fracture devices — East Providence, R.I.-based IlluminOss Medical, a medical-device startup, raised $11 million in a second funding round, peHUB reports. Backers included New Leaf Ventures and Foundation Medical Partners.

The company’s Web site is barely more than a stub that describes IlluminOss as a device company “pioneering new frontiers in orthopedic surgery.” peHUB offers the further tidbit that the company is developing a minimally invasive system for treating bone fractures.

We’ve previously covered Sonoma Orthopedics Products, a California firm with what may be a similar technology for treating fractures with an implant that supposedly speeds healing from inside the bone.

Contract researcher Crown Bioscience takes in funding – Crown Bioscience, a biology-services startup in Santa Clara, Calif., raised an undisclosed sum in a second funding round. Chemizon, a division of Optomagic, provided the cash.

Crown offers a variety of biology-based services, including protein characterization, drug-candidate discovery and assessment of anticancer drugs. In other words, it’s a contract-research organization, although it seems to have a wider range of offerings that many CROs do.

• Drug-screening tool maker IonGate Bio raises €4.6M (release)
• Protein-drug maker Molecular Partners gets $5M up front in Centocor deal (PDF release)
• ProtaGen takes in €1M for protein biochips (PDF release)
• China’s Sundia MediTech, a contract research organization raises second round (release)
• Vital-signs implant maker Transoma Medical sets IPO terms, aims for $78M (Edgar)
• UMD receives $1M grant for Baltimore biotech incubator (TechJournal South)

Drug-screening tool maker IonGate Bio raises €4.6M — IonGate Biosciences, a Frankfurt, Germany, developer of tools for drug screening, raised €4.6 million ($6.7 million) in a third funding round. Investors included Heidelberg Innovation and KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau).

IonGate, whose slogan appears to be “Measure More Membrane,” focuses on the study of proteins embedded in cell membranes, particularly “transport” proteins that move molecules of various sorts in and out of cells. The company’s tools allow drug companies to observe the activity of these proteins, apparently in order to determine whether particular drug candidates activate them in order to make their way into the cell interior.

The company plans to use the funding to expand its international operations, especially in the U.S. The company formed a U.S. subsidiary in December, and plans to build out distribution channels here in order to market its surface-protein analysis technology.

Protein-drug maker Molecular Partners gets $5M up front in Centocor deal — Zurich’s Molecular Partners, a biotech developing drugs based on a new class of binding proteins, struck a partnership with J&J’s Centocor unit (PDF link) that yielded the startup a $5 million upfront payment. The collaboration will focus on Molecular’s work with DARPins — the acronym stands for designed ankyrin repeat proteins, in case you were curious — that the company is currently developing as potential anti-inflammatory drugs.

Molecular will receive additional undisclosed cash for research and licensing fees, as well as royalty payments for any drugs that result from the collaboration. We covered their technology — which is interesting, but may also have serious drawbacks relative to monoclonal antibodies, which is Centocor’s specialty — in more detail here (fifth item).

ProtaGen takes in €1M for protein biochips — ProtaGen, a Dortmund, Germany, provider of protein-analysis tools, raised €1 million ($1.5 million — PDF link) in an interim financing. Investors included MIG, Co KG Beteiligungsfonds 3, S-Venture
Capital Dortmund and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW).

The funding will allow the company to expand its development and sales of protein biochips, which enable relatively quick identification and analysis of proteins from biological samples. Such chips might one day be useful as diagnostic tools, although for now they are mostly used to find and “validate” proteins that might serve as “biomarkers” for the presence or progress of disease. ProtaGen is also working on its own diagnostics for Alzheimer’s disease and various inflammatory conditions.

China’s Sundia MediTech, a contract research organization raises second round — Sundia MediTech, a Shanghai contract-research startup founded by U.S. biopharmaceutical veterans, raised an undisclosed second funding round. Sundia didn’t disclose the identities of its investors beyond noting that first-round participant IDG Ventures was also involved in this funding.

Sundia’s press release makes for some amusing reading, and not just because it seems to have been written by someone with a relatively poor grasp of English. The statement is mostly devoted to extolling Sundia’s “excellent reputation” and “phenomenal growth,” not to mention the difficulty it has had beating investors off with a stick. For instance, there’s this:

One month later, Wuxi Pharmatech from the same city had a very successful IPO at New York Stock Exchange as the first Chinese CRO company to go public. Suddenly, CRO became a hot area for all investors to look for opportunities. ”Wuxi’s IPO definitely brought more investors to us”, the company’s CFO Dr. Beijia Yu recalled, ”We did have a difficult time to handle all requests from VCs, PEs and investment bankers for meetings to discuss investment possibility. The response to our fund raise from the investors was overwhelming.”

Maybe they deserve it — it’s difficult to say from here, and of course, it’s not as if U.S. startups don’t sometimes toot their own horn a bit loudly. Still, it’s an interesting example of the different cultural norms at play in a Chinese company.

Vital-signs implant maker Transoma Medical sets IPO terms, aims for $78M — Transoma Medical, a St. Paul, Minn., medical-device maker, set its IPO terms and now hopes to raise as much as $77.6 million. The company intends to price its shares between $14 and $16.

Transoma makes implantable devices that monitor patient vital signs. We previously covered them here.

• Follica pulls out $5.5M for hair loss (release)
• WuXi PharmaTech to acquire AppTec Lab for $151 million (release)
• U.S. Venture Partners names Laurence Lasky a venture partner (PDF release)
• Burrill & Co. promotes several life-science VCs (release)
• SV Life Sciences promotes Darren Black to partner (release)

Follica pulls out $5.5M for hair loss – Boston’s Follica, a biotech that aims to reverse hormone-related hair loss, raised $5.5 million in a first funding round. Investors included Interwest Partners and PureTech Ventures.

Follica was founded by a team of researchers from Harvard, UCSF and the University of Pennsylvania to commercialize a research finding reported last May. In that study, scientists found that rats could generate new hair follicles after suffering open skin wounds, a discovery that suggested the regenerative powers of skin cells may be much greater than previously believed when it comes to hair regrowth. (This Scientific American piece summarizes the finding.)

The startup hasn’t said exactly what approach it intends to take — heck, its Web site is still hosted on Puretech Ventures’ site — but presumably its scientists are looking into isolating the growth factors that encourage some skin cells to revert into follicular cells and incorporating them into some sort of topical salve or gel. It’s also not clear whether anyone trying this sort of product might have to abrade or otherwise injury their skin first, a requirement that might dampen enthusiasm for miracle hair regrowth. At the very least, it should give new meaning to the phrase, “It’s painful to be beautiful.”

WuXi PharmaTech to acquire AppTec Lab for $151 million – China’s WuXi PharmaTech, a publicly traded contract-research organization, agreed to acquire AppTec Laboratory Services of St. Paul, Minn., for roughly $163 million. The release is here.

The purchase price includes $151 million in cash plus the assumption of AppTech debt of roughly $11.7 million. AppTec does outsourced research, testing and manufacturing for life-sciences companies around the world.

UPDATE: Expanded TriReme Medical, Ikonisys and TranS1 items.

UPDATE REDUX: Added MicroPhage item.

Stent-maker TriReme Medical sails off with $15.6M — Pleasanton, Calif.-based TriReme Medical, a device maker developing a new type of artery-opening stent for blood-vessel junctions, raised $15.6 million in a third funding round. (The company doesn’t appear to have a Web site.) Investors included Three Arch Partners and Adams Street Partners.

TriReme claims that its new stent is easier to use and can be placed more accurately than similar stents now on the market. The product is still undergoing clinical studies.

Ikonisys draws $30M for cancer and prenatal diagnostics — New Haven, Conn.-based Ikonisys, which now makes and sells a cell-based diagnostic for cancer and prenatal testing, raised $30 million in a fifth funding round. Investors included Goldman, Sachs, Trevi Health Ventures, Palisade Capital, Everfin, Lakeview Capital Management, New Science Ventures, Promark Holdings, Saint Simeon – e Investimentos, and WHI Group.

Ikonisys makes an automated microscope-based test that analyzes cells from blood and other bodily fluids. The system can chunk through up to 175 microscope slides in one go, providing an initial diagnosis for each one based on a computer analysis of stained cell samples. The company has received FDA approval to market the test for detection of bladder cancer and to scan for prenatal chromosomal defects.

TranS1 IPO exceeds estimated range, raises $95M for spinal-fusion devices — The Wilmington, N.C., maker of minimally invasive devices for spinal fusion priced its IPO shares at $15 apiece, above its expected range of $12 to $14, raising as much as $95 million on the sale of up to 6.3 million shares. The offering values the company at $281.6 million. Our previous coverage of the firm is here and here.

In early trading Wednesday, TranS1 shares were up 60 percent to $24. That’s more confirmation — as if we needed it — that life-science investors seem excited about everything except biotech.

Infection-diagnostic co. MicroPhage raises $1.6M — Antibiotic-resistant staphylococcus infections are on the rise, boosting the need for ways to detect the bugs at an early stage so as to prevent their spread and treat patients most effectively. MicroPhage, a Longmont, Colo., biotech at work on a diagnostic test of this sort, raised $1.6 million in a second tranch of its first funding round. Private investors provided the funding.

MicroPhage isn’t alone in this market, of course. We wrote earlier about OpGen and AdvanDX — see our coverage here and here — which hope to speed detection of these “superbugs” (technically known as MRSA, for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) using new genome-based tests. MicroPhage, however, takes an ingenious and decidedly low-tech approach: Its tests are designed to detect MRSA by infecting the staph germs with bacteria-specific viruses called bacteriophage. These viruses multiply so rapidly that they should be detectable by simple antibody tests within one to four hours, a solution the company bills as simple and inexpensive compared to its high-tech counterparts.

OTHER HEADLINES OF NOTE:

• Botaneco takes in $2.4M for dermatology emulsions, split from SemBioSys Genetics (release)
• Marval Bio raises $1M for less toxic contrast dye for CT scans (VentureWire, sub req’d)
• 7 Health Ventures raises $70M for Israeli medical-device startups (VentureWire)
• Zimmer completes acquisition of OrthoSoft for $51.4M (Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette)
• Cubist buys “exclusive option” to acquire anti-infective developer Illumigen (release)
• Medical Specialties Distributors acquires infusion-product distributor Wren Medical (PE Hub)
• Kilmer takes majority stake in contract researcher Algorithme Pharma (PE Hub)
• Healthcare IT firm Healthcare Management raises funds, recapitalizes (release)
• Clotbuster-device co. Bacchus Vascular names Scott Cramer CEO (release)
• Chemokine specialist Metastatix names Carol Gallagher as CEO (release)
• Thomas, McNerney & Partners names Eric Aguiar partner, Jason Brown as associate (release)