Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

InSound Medical raises $11M for “invisible” hearing aids (VBLS exclusive)
Corventis takes in $20M for heart-failure therapy (VBLS exclusive)
Molecular diagnostics user AssureRx raises $1M (Cincinnati Enquirer)
Arresto Biosciences, cancer-drug developer, raises funds (VentureWire)
San Diego’s Obalon raises $4.7M for drug discovery (peHUB)

InSound Medical raises $11M for “invisible” hearing aids – This item is a standalone post here.

Corventis takes in $20M for heart-failure therapy – San Jose, Calif.-based Corventis, a startup working on ways to monitor the vital signs of… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Friday, Dec. 21, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Friday, Dec. 21, 2007

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

Cogentus Pharma raises $63M for blood thinners (release)
Corthera draws $23M for heart-failure drug (release)
Nanolymf seeks $2M for drug-delivery tech (release)
LineaGen pulls in $5.6M for molecular diagnostics (release)

Cogentus Pharma raises $63M for blood thinners — Menlo Park, Calif.-based Cogentus Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharma developing combined formulations of existing drugs, raised $62.5 million in a third funding round. Investors included Keffi Group, Prospect Venture Partners, Ridgeback Capital, Apothecary Capital and Pinnacle Ventures.

Cogentus aims to combine existing… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

Acorn Cardio raises $22M for heart-failure device (bizjournals.com)
Agile Therapeutics raises $5.6M for women’s health (release)
Polyheal draws $1M for wound healing (Globes)
MatrixBio receives seed funding for cancer diagnostics (release)
Pacira Pharma names David Stack as CEO (release)
VivoMetrics appoints Howard Baker as CEO (release)

Acorn Cardio raises $22M for heart-failure device – St. Paul, Minn.-based Acorn Cardiovascular, a device maker investigating a device that would restrain the expansion of failing hearts, raised $22 million in a new funding round…. Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

Gene-silencing developer Santaris raises €20M (PDF release)
Consumer-driven healthcare manager RedBrick Health prescribed $15M (release)
Cardiac Dimensions takes in $36M for heart-valve device (release)
TcLand Expressions gets €8.2M for biomarkers (PDF release)
TheraQuest Bio gets $3M for pain drugs (release)
Brain-software maker NeuroTrax visualizes $1.5M (VentureWire)
ActivBiotics selling off assets after clot-busting drug failure (release)
Nanostart buys stake in Singapore’s Curiox, a drug-discovery tech firm (release)
Respiratory biotech Altair Thera gets additional funding (VentureWire)
Specialty pharma Prometheus Labs files for $100M IPO (Edgar)
Sirtris… 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 spinal-fusion devices, artificial disks and other spine-related devices in more than 30 countries, and plans to use the funds for further expansion.

Aldagen adds $9M for adult stem-cell work — Aldagen,… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Monday, Sept. 10, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Monday, Sept. 10, 2007

Featured companies: BioVascular, Carefx, ClinResearch, Healthcare Management Directions, NanoCor, OxyPlus, Revitus, Spotlight Surgical, United BioSource

UPDATED: See below.

Healthcare IT provider Carefx pulls in $17.9M — Carefx, a Scottsdale, Ariz., provider of hardware and software that “aggregates” patient records, has raised $17.85 million in a third funding round, Private Equity Hub reports, citing a regulatory filing. Investors included Carlyle Venture Partners and UV Partners.

Carefx’s pitch is basically the same as that from any system integrator — a term guaranteed… Continue Reading

Paracor raises $44M for heart-failure device that restrains the heart

Paracor raises $44M for heart-failure device that restrains the heart

(UPDATED: See below.) Paracor Medical, a Sunnyvale, Calif., startup developing a mesh restraint designed to support failing hearts, raised $44.35 million in a fourth round of funding. The company is vying with another device startup, Acorn Cardiovascular, to prove that this sort of device works and to bring it to market.

The idea behind Paracor’s device, which it calls HeartNet, is simple. In heart failure, a general term for a variety of similar conditions with different causes, the… Continue Reading