Life sciences briefing: Monday, Jan. 14, 2008

Life sciences briefing: Monday, Jan. 14, 2008

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

Autonomic Technologies raises $3M for neurostimulators (PE Hub)
Canopy Financial raises $15M for outsourced healthcare management (release)
Cancer-drug developer AmpliMed draws $5M (PE Hub)
Caprotec Bioanalytics receives €6M for protein-analysis tech (release)
ProtAffin draws additional €1.4M for anti-inflammatory drugs (release)
Toxicology-services firm Bridge Labs takes in $18M (release)
Dental-compound maker… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008

Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

CyberHeart pumps in $9M for cardiac-arrhythmia treatment (release)
Incubator ForSight launches third device company with $6M funding (release)
Primera Biosystems raises $21M for molecular diagnostics (release)
Biogen Idec, PDL BioPharma take stakes in Ophthotech (release)
Technitrol acquires medical-device component maker Sonion for $385M (release)
DLJ Merchant Banking takes control… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

India’s Perfint, medical-device co., raises $3.5M (release)
Source MDx strikes Pfizer partnership to ID cancer, inflammation “fingerprints” (release)
Columbia River Resources acquires pharma RFID maker Traxxec (release)

India’s Perfint, medical-device co., raises $3.5M – Perfint, a Chennai, India-based producer of medical equipment, raised $3.5 million in a new… Continue Reading

Cantimer, a nanosensor startup, names new CEO

Cantimer, a nanosensor startup, names new CEO

Menlo Park, Calif.-based Cantimer, a stealthy developer of sensor technology with biomedical, biodefense and consumer applications, named Robin Stracey as its new CEO. The company’s release is here.

Cantimer’s Web site is still a stub, although it describes the company as “focusing on assessment of human… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Monday, Dec. 10, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Monday, Dec. 10, 2007

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

Fundamental Applied Biology pulls in $21M for proteins without cells (release)
Diagnostics maker Asuragen receives $19M (release)
Stroke-device maker Neurovasx raises $8.5M (release)
Cancer-vaccine maker ImmunoVaccine Tech buys Immunotope, seeks $15M (release)
Vascular imager CardioSpectra sells itself to Volcano for $25M (release)
Spinal-implant maker Altiva sells to Exactech for… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007

(UPDATED: Expanded items on LineaGen, BG Medicine. Pelikan Tech is described in a standalone item here.)

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

Pelikan Tech raises $69M for diabetes glucose tests (release)
Utah’s LineaGen draws $6M for genetic diagnostics (VentureWire, sub req’d)
Beijing’s IKang Healthcare gets $25M for medical-service centers (VW)
BG Medicine drops IPO price… Continue Reading

Gene Security Network aims to bolster IVF genetic tests

Gene Security Network aims to bolster IVF genetic tests

(UPDATED: See below.)

Many infertile couples undergoing in-vitro fertilization rely on genetic screening of their fertilized embryos to improve their chances of delivering a healthy baby. But that technique, known as preimplantation genetic screening, has recently taken some hits on the scientific level, with one recent study… Continue Reading

Precision Thera drops IPO, goes public via reverse merger

Precision Thera drops IPO, goes public via reverse merger

(UPDATE: The merger is dead.)

Pittsburgh’s Precision Therapeutics, a biotech working on diagnostics designed to identify the best chemotherapy for cancer patients, appears to have dropped its planned IPO and instead went public via a reverse merger with Oracle Healthcare Acquisition — a “blank check” acquisition firm… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007

Featured companies: American Aerogel, Clinicient, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Genome Diagnostics, RadPharm, RainDance Technologies, Vivacta

UPDATED: Expanded items on Vitae, RadPharm, Vivacta and Genome Diagnostics. Intelligent Bio-Systems is now covered in a standalone item here.

Vitae Pharma takes in $15M for blood pressure, diabetes drugs — Vitae Pharmaceuticals, a Fort… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Monday, Oct. 29, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Monday, Oct. 29, 2007

Featured companies: Azaya Therapeutics, Global Care Solutions, Oxford Immunotec, RealSelf.com, Sequoia Pharmaceuticals, Tactile Systems Technology, WellGen, Zeltiq Aesthetics

UPDATED: Expanded items on Oxford Immunotec, Zeltiq, Tactile Systems, RealSelf.com and Global Care.

Oxford Immunotec pulls in $40M for TB tests — Oxford Immunotec, a U.K. biotech focused on new diagnostic… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007

Featured companies: American Oriental Bioengineering, Guangxi Boke, Inspired Technologies, Nanosphere, Patton Medical Devices

UPDATED: Expanded items on Nanosphere and Patton Medical Devices.

Molecular-diagnostics firm Nanosphere sets IPO range, now expects $129M — Northbrook, Ill.-based Nanosphere, a maker of nanotech-derived molecular diagnostics, now expects to raise up to $129 million… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007

Featured companies: Algorithme Pharma, Bacchus Vascular, Botaneco, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Ikonisys, Healthcare Management Systems, Illumigen Biosciences, Kilmer Capital Partners, Medical Specialties Distributors, Metastatix, Microphage, Orthosoft, Thomas McNerney & Partners, TranS1, TriReme Medical, Wren Medical, Zimmer

UPDATE: Expanded TriReme Medical, Ikonisys and TranS1 items.

UPDATE REDUX: Added MicroPhage item.

Stent-maker TriReme… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007

Featured companies: AngioScore, Forsight Labs, Genoptix, Metastatix, Optherion, QLT

UPDATED: See below.

Artery opener AngioScore pulls in $30M — AngioScore, a Fremont, Calif., maker of balloon catheters used to open up clogged arteries, raised $30 million in a fifth funding round. Investors included Telegraph Hill Partners, Psilos Group Management,… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2007

Featured companies: Aveo Pharmaceuticals, Aviir, deltaDot, Origen Therapeutics

Heart-diagnostic maker Aviir raises $11.3M — Palo Alto, Calif.-based Aviir, a biotech developing cardiovascular diagnostics based on Stanford research, raised $11.3 million of an expected $25 million second funding round, PE Hub reports. The news is presumably from one… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2007

Featured companies: Change:healthcare, Gemin X Biotechnologies, Ipsogen, the Practice

Change:healthcare raises $1M for health 2.0 sites — Nashville, Tenn.-based change:healthcare, a provider of Web-based health information, raised $1 million in a first funding round. The investment firm Solidus, also based in Nashville, provided the cash. There’s no… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007

Featured companies: Allergan, Athenahealth, Atria Genetics, Celera, Esprit Pharmaceuticals, Vida Diagnostics

(NOTE: This item was posted on Friday, 9/21/07. I’ve backdated its timestamp to preserve the chronological order of the briefings.)

Celera buys Atria Genetics for $33M — Rockville, Md.-based Celera, the onetime genomics pioneer still working to… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007

Featured companies: Acceleron Pharma, AdvanDx, Altheus Therapeutics, BiPar Sciences, Coventina Healthcare Enterprises, ForteBio, Ganymed Pharmaceuticals, Mako Surgical, Nile Therapeutics, Novate Medical

[NOTE: This briefing was posted on Friday, 9/21/07; I've edited its timestamp to preserve chronological order among the briefings.]

Nile Therapeutics raises $20M, goes public in reverse… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007

Featured companies: Aldagen, LDR, Lyten Endoscopy, MachLabs, Permatox, TeleMedicine Clinic, ThromboVision

Spinal-implant maker LDR raises $25M — Austin, Texas-based LDR, a maker of spinal implants, raised $25 million in a third funding round. Investors included Telegraph Hill Partners, Austin Ventures, Rothschild Private Equity and PTV Sciences.

LDR sells… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2007

Featured companies: Berkeley HeartLab, Celera Group, the Foundry, Molecular Vision, Morgenthaler Ventures

Former genomics pioneer Celera Group buys Berkeley HealthLab for $195M — Rockville, Md.-based Celera Group, a one-time tie finisher in the race to decode the human genome, has agreed to acquire Berkeley HealthLab, a… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Aug. 30, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Aug. 30, 2007

Featured companies: Entelos, Firstsource Solutions, Helixis, Iconix Biosciences, MedAssist Holding, Songbird Hearing

Entelos pays up to $39M for Iconix Biosciences — In a rare all-Bay Area biotech transaction, Foster City, Calif.’s Entelos agreed to acquire Iconix Biosciences for up to $39.1 million in stock. The deal consists… Continue Reading