VentureBeat

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• CyberHeart pumps in $9M for cardiac-arrhythmia treatment (release)
• Incubator ForSight launches third device company with $6M funding (release)
• Primera Biosystems raises $21M for molecular diagnostics (release)
• Biogen Idec, PDL BioPharma take stakes in Ophthotech (release)
• Technitrol acquires medical-device component maker Sonion for $385M (release)
• DLJ Merchant Banking takes control of dentristy-product maker Den-Mat (release)
• SV Life Sciences appoints Hamish Cameron as venture partner (release)

CyberHeart pumps in $9M for cardiac-arrhythmia treatment – CyberHeart, a Menlo Park, Calif., startup developing a non-invasive treatment for heart arrhythmias, raised $9 million in a first funding round. Investors included Emergent Medical Ventures, United Investments, Venture Select and Mitsubishi.

Arrythmias, which are irregular heartbeats often caused by a malfunction in the heart’s electrical-signaling system, are often treated via a catheter-based procedure that burns away tissue where the unusual rhythms originate. CyberHeart is working on hardware and software modifications for the CyberKnife system, a robotic radiosurgery device produced by Accuray, in order to extend its use in heart applications. In other words, CyberHeart’s adaptations will, if all goes well, allow doctors to perform the same sort of procedure non-invasively with the CyberKnife, an external radiation device that is supposed to deliver high-energy beams with submillimeter accuracy.

Incubator ForSight launches third device company with $6M funding – ForSight Labs, a medical-device incubator in Menlo Park, Calif., founded its third company, ForSight VISION3 and announced that it had raised $6 million in a first funding round. Investors included Morgenthaler Ventures, Split Rock Partners and Versant Ventures — all of whom, coincidentally, back ForSight as well.

ForSight hasn’t disclosed anything about the technology or approach that the new company will take, and in fact often remains secretive about its incubated companies for quite some time. In fact, the incubator sold its second company to QLT for $42 million plus milestone payments last October — a time the startup was known only as ForSight NewCo II.

Primera Biosystems raises $21M for molecular diagnostics – Mansfield, Mass.-based Primera Biosystems, a biotech developing molecular diagnostics, raised $21 million in a second funding round. Investors included Abingworth, Interwest Partners, Malaysian Technology Development Corporation, MPM Capital, Burrill & Co. and the Invus Group.

Primera’s gene-analysis system, which it calls STAR (short for “scalable transcription analysis routine”), is designed to read the activity of up to 100 genes at once with much greater sensitivity and precision than existing microarray technologies permit. The company plans to use the funding to complete development of its system, design future diagnostic tests in cancer and infectious disease, and produce test kits for clinical research.

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• Fovea Pharma sees €30M for eye drugs (release)
• Ascendis Pharma raises €18M for time-release drugs (PDF release)
• Arcion draws $9M for topical pain drugs (VentureWire, sub req’d)
• Saladax Biomedical raises $8M for chemotherapy diagnostics (VW)
• MedAssets prices IPO at top of range, raises up to $221M (IPO Home)
• Pequot spin-off Longitude seeks $250M for life-science investments (VW)
• Third Rock Ventures adds three new partners (release)
• Ultrasound surgical co. ProRhythm files for bankruptcy protection (release)
• The Hartford Financial Services Group acquires healthcare-benefit administrator TopNoggin (release)
• Healthcare IT provider MedAptus names Doug Percy as new CEO (release)
• VivoMetrics appoints Howard Baker as new CEO (release)

Fovea Pharma sees €30M for eye drugs — Paris-based Fovea Pharmaceuticals, a biotech focused on eye disease, raised €30 million ($44 million) in a second funding round. Investors included Forbion Capital Partners, Sofinnova Partners, Abingworth, GIMV, the Wellcome Trust and CAPE.

Fovea’s lead drug candidates address a variety of ophthalmic conditions, including chronic allergic conjunctivitis and two types of macular edema. The company said the proceeds will allow it to begin mid-stage, phase II human tests of three drugs for these conditions.

Ascendis Pharma raises €18M for time-release drugs — Ascendis Pharma, a Danish specialty pharma with a new trick for making time-release versions of existing drugs, raised €17.6 million ($25.8 million) (PDF) in a first funding round. Investors included Sofinnova Partners, Gilde Healthcare Partners and Zweite TechnoStart Ventures Fonds.

Ascendis also announced the acquisition of Complex Biosystems, a German biotech with technology for enhancing the effectiveness of protein-based drugs. Complex Biosystems will apparently become the research arm of Ascendis, which sort of raises the question of what sort of research the company was conducting prior to the acquisition.

The startup has developed what it calls a novel chemical “linkage” technology that reversibly binds and disables a “carrier” molecule. Apparently that linkage degrades in a predictable fashion, effectively releasing active drug in a time-controlled fashion. Ascendis hasn’t said much about its drug candidates except to note that they address a wide range of disease, including diabetes, neurological disorders and heart disease.

Portola Pharmaceuticals, a South San Francisco, Calif., biotech aiming to develop treatments for blood clots and other heart-related problems, raised $70 million in a third round of financing dominated by late-stage and public-market investors.

Among new investors in the round were Brookside Capital; AllianceBernstein; Teachers’ Private Capital, the private investment arm of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan; Goldman Sachs, T. Rowe Price, IBTM and CIDC. They were joined by existing investors Abingworth, Alta Partners, Advanced Technology Ventures, Frazier
Healthcare Ventures, MPM Capital, Prospect Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures.

Portola plans to use the funding for additional clinical trials of its two leading drug candidates, both experimental blood thinners targeting different blood proteins that promote coagulation. PRT054021, an oral molecule that inhibits Factor Xa, showed promising signs in a recent mid-stage human test, and will advance into further clinical trials. Meanwhile, PRT060128, which prevents blood platelets from aggregating, has completed early trials and should move into mid-stage testing by the second half of 2007. Should they receive regulatory approval, both compounds would compete with blood thinners already on the market.

Portola aims to go public and may do so as early as next year, the company’s chief financial officer, Mardi Dier, told VentureWire (subscription required).