VentureBeat

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• Surgical-device maker Aragon Surgical receives $25M (release)
• Tacere Therapeutics strikes RNAi deal with Pfizer for up to $145M (release)
• Benvenue Medical raises $15M for spine-repair devices (release)
• Genome-association co. Genizon BioSciences draws C$31M (release)
• Contract research organization Inclinix pulls in $10M (release)
• EPocrates, healthcare IT developer, gets strategic investment from Goldman Sachs (release)
• ZyGem closes first funding round (release)
• Onset Ventures names John Ryan partner (release)
• Retired Scripps immunologist Richard Ulevitch joins 5AM Ventures (release)
• SV Life Sciences promotes Darren Black to partner (release)
• Medical-software maker SafeMed appoints Richard Noffsinger CEO (release)
• Artromick, healthcare IT developer, names Williams Shields CEO (release)
• Stem-cell biotech BioE seeks $3.5M (VentureWire, sub req’d)
• Inovise raises $3.4M for heart diagnostics (VW)
• Fairway Medical pockets $1M for medical devices, aims for $10M (VW)
• Cancer-drug biotech Genspera pulls in $650K, looks for $5M more (VW)
• E-trolZ looks for $400K for electrophysiology devices (VW)

Tacere Therapeutics strikes RNAi deal with Pfizer for up to $145M — San Jose, Calif.-based Tacere Pharmaceuticals, a biotech developing new drugs based on the gene-silencing technique known as RNA interference, struck a partnership deal with Pfizer that could be worth up to $145 million. The company’s release is here.

The deal involves Tacere’s leading drug candidate for hepatitis C. Known as TT-033, the drug consists of short stretches of RNA designed to trigger cellular mechanisms that shut down the activity of specific genes — an exciting but so far still unproven approach. In this case, TT-033 aims to shut down three separate parts of the hepatitis C genome, theoretically not only inactivating the virus, but also preventing the development of resistant viral strains.

Tacere is already co-developing TT-033 with Oncolys BioPharma of Japan, and in fact has deep Japanese roots, as the company also received its founding capital from Hokkaido Venture Capital of Sapporo, Japan. (Our coverage of the Oncolys deal is here.) The Pfizer deal appears to be complementary to Tacere’s previous agreement, as the Big Pharma will receive worldwide rights to TT-033 excluding Asian nations. Pfizer will fund all future development of the drug, and will make milestone payments to Tacere as development proceeds. TT-033 has not yet entered human testing.

Surgical-device maker Aragon Surgical receives $25M — Aragon Surgical, a Palo Alto, Calif., developer of surgical instruments, raised $25 million in a second funding round. Investors included Bay City Capital, Integral Capital Partners, Delphi Ventures and Onset Ventures.

Founded in 2005, Aragon develops tools and instruments intended to speed surgical procedures and to improve their safety. The company is working on two major classes of devices — “electrosurgical” instruments, which use electric current to stop bleeding, remove growths and cut tissue, and tools that improve the speed and safety of minimally invasive surgeries known as laparoscopies. Last September, Aragon launched its first product, the LapCap, which guides a needle used to inflate a patient’s abdomen with gas in order to reduce the risk of inaccurate placement and injury.

Benvenue Medical raises $15M for spine-repair devices — Mountain View, Calif.-based Benvenue Medical, a developer of minimally invasive devices for spine surgery, raised $15 million in a second funding round. Investors included Three Arch Partners, Versant Ventures and De Novo Ventures.

Benvenue is developing spinal implants designed for the treatment of spinal compression fractures and degenerative disk disease via spinal fusion. The company’s Web site is a stub, and it doesn’t seem to have described its technology in much detail yet.

Stem-cell biotech BioE seeks $3.5M — St. Paul, Minn.-based BioE, a provider of stem-cell products for the drug and biotech industries, hopes to raise $3.5 million in a first funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The company has so far raised $30 million from angel investors, and disclosed its plans in a regulatory filing. The funds will allow the company to commercialize lines of “multi-lineage” progenitor stem cells and a system for processing and freezing of umbilical-cord blood stem cells.

Inovise raises $3.4M for heart diagnostics — Inovise Medical, a Portland, Ore., developer of cardiac diagnostics, raised $3.4 million in convertible notes, VentureWire reports, citing a regulatory filing. The company is in the midst of fundraising for a sixth financing round. Inovise makes a non-invasive cardiac monitoring system called Audicor that records and analyzes sounds emitted by a beating heart.

Fairway Medical pockets $1M for medical devices, aims for $10M — Fairway Medical Technologies, a Houston incubator that develops a variety of medical devices, raised $1 million from angel investors and is looking to draw another $5 million to $10 million in a first institutional round later this year, VentureWire reports. Founded in 1992, Fairway Medical in-licenses medical devices and ushers them through the development process.

Cancer-drug biotech Genspera pulls in $650K, looks for $5M more — Santa Monica, Calif.-based Genspera, a biotech focused on cancer drugs, raised $650,000 in a seed round and aims to close another $5 million in funding later this quarter, VentureWire reports. The company plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq over-the-counter bulletin board following the financing. Genspera is working on cancer drugs using technology licensed from Johns Hopkins University.

E-trolZ looks for $400K for electrophysiology devices — North Andover, Mass.-based E-trolZ, a developer of electrophysiology measurement devices, raised $400,000 in a follow-on to its first $1.2 million funding round, VentureWire reports. The company is developing components that measure various physiological signals and which can be integrated into other medical devices.

Featured companies: American TeleCare, Gliknik, Juvaris BioTherapeutics, Medsphere Systems, Primera Biosystems

UPDATED: Expanded items on Juvaris, Medsphere, Primera, American TeleCare and Gliknik. Moved Broncus Tech and Aegerion Pharma items to an IPO roundup here.

Vaccine maker Juvaris Bio raises $12M, aims for $30M more — According to VentureWire (subscription required), this Pleasanton, Calif., vaccine maker raised $12 million in its first funding round. That appears to contradict an earlier item from PE Hub that said Juvaris BioTherapeutics had raised $16 million, according to a regulatory filing. The VentureWire story, however, is based on an interview with the Juvaris CEO, so we’ll run with that for now.

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers provided the funding. Juvaris is developing vaccines against cancer and infectious disease using “adjuvants” — composed of DNA complexes and fatty molecules known as lipids — that stimulate immune responses. For additional coverage of the company, see here.

Juvaris also aims to raise another $30 million early next year to launch four clinical trials. Those trials will involve vaccines for influenza, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and acute myeloid leukemia.

Health-IT developer Medsphere raises $9M — Medsphere Systems, an Aliso Viejo, Calif., developer of open-source healthcare-IT systems, raised $9 million toward a third funding round, VentureWire reports. The company previously said it will target a $15 million round.

Existing investors Thomas Weisel Venture Partners, Azure Capital and Wasatch Venture Fund provided the funding, although Medsphere plans to bring new investors into the round as well. Medsphere has so far raised $16 million in equity and bridge loans, according to VentureWire.

The new fundraising is a sign that the once-troubled company may be turning itself around. Medsphere, which is developing a version of the VA’s electronic medical-record system VistA, recently settled a lawsuit the company had filed against its co-founding brothers that stemmed from a dispute over open-source software. Our previous coverage is here and here.

Gene analyzer Primera Biosystems pulls in $2.5M — Primera Biosystems, a Mansfield, Mass., developer of gene-activity analysis systems, raised $2.5 million in a second tranche of its first funding round, VentureWire reports, citing a regulatory filing. Investors included Malaysian Technology Development Corp., Burrill & Co. and MPM Capital.

Primera’s system combines two technologies — real-time PCR and microarray analysis — for use in basic research and clinical applications such as measuring viral load and drug resistance. The company last raised $11 million in 2005.

Remote healthcare-device maker American TeleCare raises $1.6M — American TeleCare, an Eden Prairie, Minn., maker of communication devices and technology for remote healthcare monitoring, raised $1.6 million from angel investors, VentureWire reports. The company has previously raised $16 million from angels.

From VentureWire: “American TeleCare provides technology and devices to help monitor patients with chronic conditions. The company’s products include audio, video and monitoring technology, including a telephonic stethoscope, with the aim of improving communication of patient information across the healthcare industry.”

Stealthy drug developer Gliknik raises $1.2M — Gliknik, a stealthy drug developer in Ruxton, Md., raised $1.2 million in seed funding, VentureWire reports. The company has drug candidates for cancer and autoimmune disease, although none are in human tests yet.

Tacere Therapeutics, a San Jose, Calif., biotech developing new RNA-based drugs, struck a partnership with Tokyo’s Oncolys BioPharma to co-develop a treatment for hepatitis C. The companies didn’t disclose financial terms of the deal.

In exchange for an undisclosed equity investment in Tacere, Oncolys will hold an option to acquire Asian rights to Tacere’s drug TT-033, which Tacere hopes to move into clinical trials late next year.

TT-033 is a drug based on a new and so far unproven technology called RNA interference, or RNAi, which uses short snippets of RNA to “silence” particular genes. In this case, TT-033 contains three separate RNAi molecules designed to shut down replication of all strains of the hepatitis C virus. The drug is to be delivered via what the company calls “an AAV protein coat,” which seems to refers to the envelope proteins of an adeno-associated virus. Tacere claims that this strategy delivers the drug’s RNAi strands directly to liver cells, where the hepatitis C virus replicates.

Biolex Therapeutics, a Pittsboro, N.C., developer of technology for improving the properties of monoclonal antibodies, raised $30 million in a third funding round.

Biolex specializes in producing proteins that are difficult to make with existing bioengineering processes and in optimizing the biological properties of monoclonal antibodies. It is also pursuing its own experimental drug candidates, and said the proceeds of this round will serve primarily to advance Locteron, an experimental time-release form of interferon alfa, into late-stage human tests against hepatitis C.

Investor Growth Capital led the round, joined by two other new investors, JP Morgan Securities and Easton Capital. Existing shareholders including Quaker BioVentures, Polaris Venture Partners, Intersouth Partners, Mitsui & Co. Venture Partners, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation and Dow Venture Capital also participated. The company’s release is here (PDF).

Prosetta, a San Francisco developer of new antiviral therapies, raised $2 million in early financing, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The company termed the funding a “series AAA” round that has the same terms as its earlier $1 million “series A” and $5 million “series AA” financings, but different valuations. Individual investors provided the entire funding, which values the company at over $20 million.

Prosetta, founded by Vishwanath Lingappa, Jaisri Lingappa and other UCSF academics, is working on small-molecule drugs — that is, compounds that can be taken orally — to disrupt the protein coats, or capsids, that viruses form to protect their genes. The company’s first candidate will target hepatitis C.