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 Washington, Pa., biotech focused on new drugs for hypertension and metabolic disorders, raised $15 million in a fourth funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Boehringer Ingelheim, which struck a major… Continue Reading
Arete raises $35M for cardiovascular treatments
Arete Therapeutics, a Hayward, Calif., developer of biotech cardiovascular treatments, raised a $35 million extension to its first round of funding. Founded in 2003, the company is working on “small molecule” drugs that target a metabolism-related chain of biochemical cellular signals that involves arachidonic acid. (If that isn’t enough to make your head hurt, the company has a detailed explanation here.) Drugs that interfere with that pathway could be useful in treating high blood pressure… Continue Reading
CVRx, developer of hypertension-treatment devices, draws in $65M
CVRx, a Minneapolis-based developer of an implantable device for the control of high blood pressure, raised $65 million in a fourth round of funding that will support a “pivotal” clinical trial of the device. The round was led by Johnson & Johnson Development, and also included existing investors New Enterprise Associates, Thomas Weisel Healthcare Venture Partners, InterWest Partners, ABS Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures and SightLine Partners. CVRx has so far raised a total of $125… Continue Reading