Fast, cheap gene-scanner BioNanomatrix gets $5M
BioNanomatrix, a Philadelphia developer of genome-analysis systems, raised $5.1 million in a first funding round. Investors included Battelle Ventures, Innovation Valley Partners, KT Venture Group, Ben Franklin Technology Partners and21Ventures.
BioNanomatrix is developing a single-molecule imaging and analysis system that the startup says is ideal for reading DNA sequences. The startup still isn’t divulging many details about its system, although the Philadelphia Inquirer suggested that the company’s “nanofluidics” technology could potentially read all three billion bases from a single DNA molecule without chopping it… Continue Reading
A VC’s take on the Genomic Age
Mohr Davidow Ventures partner Bill Ericson, who helped fund high-speed genome-sequencer Pacific Biosciences, is a big believer in the emerging Age of Genomics and its potential to transform medicine, health insurance and our understanding of ourselves.
Check out my recent Q&A with the venture capitalist over at VentureBeat Life Sciences for a conversation that also features digressions on the likelihood that we’ll end up living in a Gattaca-style dystopia and why most people taking cholesterol-lowering… Continue Reading
Q&A with MDV’s Bill Ericson: On PacBio’s origin, why Gattaca isn’t our future, and throwing out your statins
Bill Ericson doesn’t see much cause for pessimism about the dawning Genomic Age. The Mohr Davidow Ventures partner, who’s helped resuscitate the firm’s life-science practice since he came aboard in 2000, believes the widespread dissemination of genetic information will be a virtually unalloyed good, opening up a wealth of opportunities for more effective medicine, lower healthcare costs and individual empowerment — not to mention investment opportunities for those prescient enough to seize them. (See here… Continue Reading
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 range, seeks up to $52M (Edgar)
Sepragen completes acquisition of Cyto Biologic Tech (release)
Utah’s LineaGen draws $6M for genetic diagnostics — LineaGen (no Web site), a Salt Lake City biotech focused… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007
Featured companies: Mawell, OpGen, Vital Therapeutics
Optical genome-mapper OpGen raises $23.6M in a restart — OpGen, a Madison, Wisc., biotech developing a genomic test for identifying disease-causing microbes, raised $23.6 million in what the company is billing as a first funding round. In fact, however, the funding is more of a restart for the company, which was founded in 2001 and previously provided genomic services to researchers.
OpGen is now focused on developing speedy genome-based tests that can… Continue Reading
Biotech chameleons: Quark Pharma aims for $81M IPO
(UPDATED: See below.)
For some reason, biotechnology is rife with chameleons — companies that suddenly and radically alter their scientific strategy, disease focus or business model, sometimes to recover from a major failure, and sometimes just to be whatever faddish investors want them to be.
Today, for instance, Quark Pharmaceuticals — now a Fremont, Calif., developer of drugs that work via a new mechanism known as “RNA interference” — said in an SEC filing that it now… Continue Reading