Life-science briefing: Tuesday, April 1, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Oxford NanoLabs takes in £10M for sequencing tech (PDF release)
Alure Medical raises $4.5M for plastic-surgery implants (release)
Bone-disease biotech Therosteon spins out of research institute, raises funds (PDF release)
Genome-analysis toolmaker BioTrove files for $75M IPO (Edgar)
RNAi developer Tekmira acquires Protiva, ends litigation (release)
Oxford NanoLabs takes in £10M for sequencing tech – U.K. based Oxford NanoLabs, yet another startup developing high-speed genome-sequencing technology, raised £10 million in a new funding round. The company said only that its… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Compact ultrasound maker Zonare Medical raises $30M (VentureWire)
TherOx raises $30M for hypersaturated-oxygen devices (peHUB)
Accumetrics, antiplatelet-drug diagnostic maker, raises $29M (release)
Population Genetics takes in £3.8M for massively parallel genome studies (GenomeWeb)
“Brain fitness” trainer Dakim raises $11M (release)
BioIQ, home-diagnostics maker, takes in $2.5M (release)
Hospital med-tracker Sabal Medical raises funds (release)
Seattle’s PharmaIN gets $400K NIH grant for nanoparticle staph drug (PDF release)
SensiGen, molecular-diagnostics developer, receives Michigan state loan (release)
Arcus Ventures aims for $50M fund, targets cancer (VentureWire)
Compact… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Metabolic-disease biotech NGM Biopharma raises $25M (peHUB)
Heart, HIV drug maker Numerate acquires assets of Pharmix (release)
Next-gen sequencer VisiGen promises $1,000 genome by late 2009 (Genome Technology)
CalciMedica raises $5.5M for autoimmune drugs (VentureWire)
Cancer-drug e-marketplace OneOncology raises funds (release)
U.K. biotech Hunter-Fleming acquired by Newron for €8M (release)
Intertek acquires Ireland’s Bioclin Labs, a contract research organization (release)
Metabolic-disease biotech NGM Biopharma raises $25M – South San Francisco-based NGM Biopharmaceuticals (Web site under construction), a biotech developing new drugs for… Continue Reading
Pacific Bio, yet another contender for the $1,000 genome
More than a half-dozen startups and established companies are in hot pursuit of the “$1,000 genome,” a Holy Grail for those who believe fast, cheap genome sequencing will revolutionize medicine. The latest is Pacific Biosciences, a formerly secretive Menlo Park, Calif., company that just spilled its guts to the NYT over the weekend. We take a look at the company, its technology and the competitive landscape in this piece over at VentureBeat Life Sciences.
Pacific Bio lifts the veil on its high-speed genome-sequencing effort
Competition to analyze human genomes faster and cheaper — a subject I’ve discussed at length here and here — keeps heating up. The latest shot came yesterday, when Menlo Park, Calif.-based Pacific Biosciences granted the NYT an exclusive look at technology it says should eventually make it possible to sequence a genome in just a few minutes for under $1,000.
Although the “$1,000 genome” is a purely arbitrary goal, it’s become a Holy Grail of sorts… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Jan. 21, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Joint-implant maker Ascension Orthopedics raises $21M (release)
High-speed sequencer Genome Corp. draws another $250K (GenomeWeb News)
Bausch & Lomb acquires implantable lens maker Eyeonics (release)
Bederra buys up Houston’s Diagnos and its PET-scan diagnostics (release)
High-speed sequencer Genome Corp. draws another $250K — Genome Corp., a Providence, R.I., tool-maker focused on a new type of high-speed genome sequencing, raised another $250,000, GenomeWeb News reports. The Slater Technology Fund, a venture-capital entity backed by the Rhode Island state government,… Continue Reading
Intelligent Bio-Systems stakes out new ground in the gene race — a $5,000 genome by late next year
The cost of sequencing human genomes is dropping steadily, from several hundred million dollars a decade ago to $100,000 or so today, thanks to a bevy of entrepreneurial companies that have attacked the problem of making the process faster and cheaper with gusto. We’ve looked at several of the newer upstarts in the field, most recently Complete Genomics and Bionanomatrix, Genome Corp. (seventh item), and Genomic Diagnostics (fourth item).
Now another startup is preparing to establish… Continue Reading
Complete Genomics and BioNanomatrix rev up the fast, cheap and out-of-control genome race
Things are starting to get crowded in the race to sequence entire human genomes quickly and relatively cheaply — usually meaning somewhere in the territory of $1,000 per genome, compared to the $100,000+ it costs with current technology. At least four startups have taken on the $1,000 genome challenge, two of which have already been acquired by larger companies. (See details at the end of the first item here.)
Last week, two relatively new venture-backed startups… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Sept. 21, 2007
Featured companies: CG Therapeutics, Complete Genomics, ConforMIS, Flexible Medical Systems, LeMaitre Vascular, MAP Pharmaceuticals, ParaPro, Vascular Architects, Zars Pharma
(UPDATED on 10/1/07: See below.)
[NOTE: Posting has been slow recently for personal reasons. I'll be doing my best to catch up today.]
Complete Genomics raises funding for high-speed sequencing — Complete Genomics, a Mountain View, Calif., developer of high-speed genome sequencing technology, said it raised an undisclosed sum in a second funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The company said… 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
Helicos BioSciences lowers IPO price, raises $48.6M, then sags further
Helicos BioSciences, a Cambridge, Mass., maker of high-speed genome-sequencing equipment, raised $48.6 million in an IPO, well under the $81 million it had hoped to raise. My earlier item on the Helicos IPO is here.
Helicos is the latest biotechnology company to find itself at the mercy of unforgiving IPO investors. The company cut its estimated per-share offering range to $10 to $11 from its earlier estimate of $13 to $15, then found itself forced to… Continue Reading