VentureBeat

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• Q Thera takes in $15M for neural stem-cell treatments (release)
• Stroke clotbuster Concentric Medical withdraws IPO (IPOhome)
• Avera recaps with $9M to relaunch human tests of GI drug (VentureWire)
• Tissue repairer Nerites raises $5.7M (release)
• Semafore Pharma aims for $7.5M to launch new cancer-drug trials (VentureWire)
• Triage Wireless gets $6.7M for “cuffless” blood-pressure monitors (peHUB)
• MAKO Surgicals prices IPO, falls in first day of trading (WSJ)
• ImmunoCellular acquires assets of Molecular Antibody Technology (release)

Q Thera takes in $15M for neural stem-cell treatments – Q Therapeutics, a Salt Lake City biotech working on neural stem-cell treatments for neurological conditions, has received the first portion of a $15 million second funding round. Investors in the round included vSpring Capital, Invitrogen, Epic Ventures, Toucan Capital, University of Utah Research Foundation, Salt Lake Life Science Angels and Q management.

Q is taking aim at diseases such as multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy that result when the protective myelin sheath that protects nerve fibers and the spinal cord deteriorates, often for little-understood reasons. The company is developing neural stem cells that can produce new glial cells, which in theory should be able to regenerate the damaged myelin. (Irritatingly enough, the company insists on calling its product “Q cells.”) The company aims to begin clinical trials in transeverse myelitis, a paralyzing form of MS, next year.

Stroke clotbuster Concentric Medical withdraws IPO – Concentric Medical, a Mountain View, Calif., developer of medical devices for removing stroke-causing blood clots, withdrew its proposed IPO. The company becomes the eighth life-science startup to abandon an IPO this year.

Concentric, of course, cited “unfavorable market conditions” as the reason for its withdrawal. The device maker, which is still unprofitable, reported working capital and cash and short-term investments of $20.3 million at the end of June and has been burning cash at a rate of about $7 million a year, so it’s not necessarily in dire straits. Concentric, in fact, today announced it had arranged a $15 million line of credit with Horizon Technology Finance, giving it an additional cushion.

The company makes and sells a catheter-based device that can be snaked through a patient’s blood vessels to the brain in order to physically “grab” and remove stroke-causing blood clots. Although Concentric won approval for the device in 2004, sales have grown more modestly — in part, perhaps, because Concentric hasn’t undertaken the clinical studies necessary to demonstrate the usefulness of its technique compared to other treatments, and has no plans to do so. (The company listed this point as a risk factor in its SEC filings.) What’s more, the Concentric device can sometimes damage blood vessels in the brain; in one of two studies, almost ten percent of patients suffered a cranial hemorrhage.

Our previous coverage of the company is here.

Avera recaps with $9M to relaunch human tests of GI drug – Avera Pharmaceuticals, a San Diego specialty pharma developing drugs against a variety of conditions, recapitalized with a $9 million “first” funding round, VentureWire reports. Such a recap usually amounts to a restart for a company, which in this case was prompted by a halted clinical trial of a drug for irritable bowel syndrome and overactive bladder.

Investors in the recap included all participants in the company’s previous funding round: Aisling Capital, SV Life Sciences, Aberdare Ventures, BioAsia Investments, H.I.G. Ventures, Montreux Equity Partners, Bay City Capital, BTG PLC, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, InterWest Partners, St. Paul Venture Capital and Windamere Venture Partners. The company declined to provide a valuation to VentureWire, but it’s almost certainly suffered a “down round,” or it wouldn’t be recapitalizing.

Avera shut down mid-stage trials of its drug, known as AV608, last year after animal testing turned up potential toxicity issues. The company has since redesigned the drug to eliminate a compound it called a “non-active metabolite,” and hopes to resume studies later this year. Avera had raised more than $72 million prior to the recap.

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• Teva acquires protein-therapeutic maker CoGenesys for $400M (release)
• ViewRay takes in $25M for MRI radiation-therapy guidance (release)
• NovaMed, Chinese clinical-research outfit, receives $14M (release)
• Progentix Ortho raises first funding round (release)
• Medical imaging co. Point Biomedical recaps with $25M (VentureWire)
• Lumidigm takes in $7M for optical-fingerprint ID systems (VW)
• Medical-software co. Compressus aims to close $14M round (VW)
• Channel Medical Partners aims for $150M med-tech fund (VW)
• Spinal-implant maker Scient’x names Michael Huggins as CEO (release)
• Specialty pharma Cardiokine names Manuel Worcel as CEO (release)
• Respiratory-disease co. Pulmatrix appoints Robert Connelly CEO (release)

Teva acquires protein-therapeutic maker CoGenesys for $400M — CoGenesys, a Rockville, Md., protein-drug biotech spun out of Human Genome Sciences in 2006, has been acquired by Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries for $400 million in cash. The companies’ joint release is here.

CoGenesys, like its former parent HGS, is focused on the development of protein and peptide drugs for a variety of conditions. The company’s two lead drug candidates aim to treat neutropenia, a depletion of white blood cells that puts people at risk of serious infection, and heart failure.

Teva said the acquisition advances its recently revised strategic goal of pursuing biotech drugs (”biopharmaceuticals”) and generic biologics (”biogenerics”). It’s not entirely clear whether Teva is interested in pursuing CoGenesys’ actual drug pipeline or simply putting its manufacturing technology to use in Teva’s existing international biogenerics business. No biogenerics have been approved for use in the U.S.

ViewRay takes in $25M for MRI radiation-therapy guidance — Gainesville, Fla.-based ViewRay, a developer of MRI-based cancer-radiation systems, raised $25 million in a second funding round. Investors included OrbiMed Advisors, Fidelity Biosciences, Aisling Capital and Kearny Venture Partners.

ViewRay claims its system will be the first to offer real-time “volumetric” imaging of tumors concurrent with radiation treatment, which ostensibly allows radiation oncologists to compensate for organ movement. The funding will go for additional staff and the manufacture and validation of advanced prototypes of the system. Our previous coverage of the company is here.

NovaMed, Chinese clinical-research outfit, receives $14M — NovaMed, a Chinese startup that performs outsourced commercial and clinical-trial management for Chinese and international drug companies, raised $13.8 million in a second funding round. Investors included Fidelity Asia Ventures, its US affiliate, Fidelity Biosciences, and Atlas Venture.

Founded in 2005 by a former AstraZeneca executive and a Chinese Internet entrepreneur, NovaMed essentially acts as a middleman for companies with drugs they’d like to sell or test in China. Depending on the client, NovaMed says it will do everything from running clinical trials and shepherding drugs through the Chinese regulatory process to manufacturing, distributing and selling pharmaceuticals.

The company had previously raised roughly $6 million. NovaMed said it will use the new funding to expand its operations and also to in-license new drugs for deveopment or sale in China.

Lumidigm takes in $7M for optical-fingerprint ID systems — Lumidigm, an Albuquerque, N.M., developer of multispectral fingerprint scanners, raised $7 million in a third funding round, VentureWire reports, citing a regulatory filing. Investors included Epic Ventures led the round, joined by new investor Sun Mountain Capital and existing investors Fort Washington Capital Partners, Motorola Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson New England and Intel Capital. Lumidigm’s technology aims to read fingerprint information both from the skin surface and from subsurface layers to improve accuracy and foil attempts to spoof the technology.

Medical-software co. Compressus aims to close $14M round — Compressus, a Washington, D.C., software maker whose products link hospitals and doctors to government agencies for public-health monitoring and emergency response, is looking for an additional $1.3 million to close out a $14.3 million third funding round, VentureWire reports. The company, which was founded by three lobbyists, has so far raised more than $27 million from angel investors.

Channel Medical Partners aims for $150M med-tech fund — Channel Medical Partners, a Skokie, Ill., VC firm focused on medical-device investments, aims to raise a $150 million second fund, VentureWire reports. The new fund would be more than triple the size of its $40 million initial fund, raised in 2001. Channel aims to fund 12 to 15 startups with the new cash, and will concentrate on device firms, although it is open to investing in diagnostics, drug delivery and “specialty supply” companies as well.

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• AcryMed, wound-healing specialist, sells itself to I-Flow for $25M (release)
• Stent maker Devax pulls $85M IPO filing (Edgar)
• Cempra Pharma gets $10M for anti-infective drugs (TechJournal South)
• Genesis Genomics takes in C$312K for DNA-based diagnostics (GenomeWeb)

AcryMed, wound-healing specialist, sells itself to I-Flow for $25M — AcryMed, a Beaverton, Ore., device maker focused on bleeding control and wound healing, agreed to sell itself to I-Flow, a publicly traded maker of drug-delivery systems, for $25 million in cash. The release is here.

AcryMed currently markets several types of wound dressings that use ionic silver — which apparently has antimicrobial properties — to prevent infection and “microlattices” to promote healing. AcryMed has also developed a technique for depositing silver particles on the surface of medical devices to prevent bacterial contamination. I-Flow says it expects the company’s technology to assist in developing new antimicrobial catheters and silver-based transparent wound dressings.

Cempra Pharma gets $10M for anti-infective drugs — Cempra Pharmaceuticals, a Research Triangle Park, N.C., specialty pharma focused on new drugs for overcoming antibiotic resistance, raised $10 million in a second funding round. Investors included Aisling Capital, Intersouth Partners, Optimer Pharmaceuticals and banker I. Wistar Morris.

That round is apparently still open, as PE Hub sourced its report to a regulatory filing. Cempra appears to have licensed its antibiotic candidates and its technology platform from Optimer Pharmaceuticals, with whom it concluded a deal in April 2006.

Featured companies: CoMentis, ForHealth Technologies, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, QuantomiX, Progenitor Cell Therapy, River Diagnostics, Topaz Pharmaceuticals

UPDATED: Expanded items on CoMentis, Topaz and ForHealth.

CoMentis gets $12M for eye, Alzheimer’s treatments — South San Francisco’s CoMentis, a biotech pursuing treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and macular degeneration, raised $12 million in a third funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Wellington Management provided the funding.

The company’s lead drug candidate, ATG003, is an eye drop designed to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness in the elderly. The drug inhibits a particular cell-surface “receptor” protein called nAChR that helps promote the growth of blood vessels. In AMD, abnormal vessels obscure vision by leading blood and fluid into the retina. Existing treatments for AMD — principally Genentech’s Lucentis and Avastin — also inhibit vessel growth, but must both be delivered by injection into the eye. ATG003 is in mid-stage human tests.

CoMentis is also developing an Alzheimer’s drug, CTS-21166, which inhibits beta secretase, a protein thought — but not proven — to play a key role in the development of the cognitive disorder. Beta secretase cuts another protein called amyloid precursor protein into pieces, one of which is commonly known as beta amyloid, a neurotoxic protein that clumps together in “plaques” around neurons in the brains of many Alzheimer’s patients.

Inhibit beta secretase, the theory goes, and you’ll cut off the production of beta amyloid and maybe alter the course of the disease. That drug is still in early-stage human testing.

Topaz Pharma takes in $20M for head-lice treatment — Philadelphia’s Topaz Pharmaceuticals, a company developing a new, naturally derived treatment for head lice in children, raised $20 million in a first funding round. Aisling Capital and Fidelity Biosciences provided the funding.

The head-lice treatment, which Topaz doesn’t seem to have named yet, employs an active ingredient derived from a naturally occurring soil organism that is toxic to head and body lice. The company also says it is working on treatments for acne and infection as well as childhood-disease vaccines.

ForHealth Tech gets $9M for automated pharmacy systems — Daytona Beach, Fla.-based ForHealth Technologies, a developer of automated systems for hospital pharmacies, raised $4 million in equity and an additional $5 million in debt. Equity investors included New Enterprise Associates, National Healthcare Services, Red River Ventures, and Chisholm Private Capital. Square 1 Bank provided the debt.

OTHER HEADLINES OF NOTE:

• Progenitor Cell Therapy faces possible acquisition by StemCells (release)
• River Diagnostics raises €1.5M for microorganism tests (release)
• Microscope maker QuantomiX acquired by El-Mul(release)
• Merrimack Pharma pulls in $35M for cancer, autoimmune therapies (VW)
• Frontier Scientific acquires Echelon Bioscences (release)

(UPDATED at 5:55pm PT: See below.)

Featured companies: Sierra Surgical Technologies, HerbalScience Nutraceuticals, Topigen Pharmaceuticals, EKR Therapeutics, Molecular Partners, Celsense, Glucose Sensing Technologies, Falcon Genomics, Waters, Calorimetry Sciences, Parion Sciences, Gilead Sciences, Isto Technologies, Fluidnet, NABsys

Sierra Surgical raises $7.1M — Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sierra Surgical Technologies, a developer of female sterilization technology, raised $7.1 million in a first funding round, PE Hub reports, citing a regulatory filing. Alta Partners and De Novo Ventures provided the funding.

Singapore’s HerbalScience raises $28M for natural extracts — HerbalScience Nutraceuticals, a Singapore-based natural-extracts company with offices in Naples, Fla., raised $28 million from the private-equity firms Aisling Capital and Weston Presidio, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The investment purchased a 25 percent stake in HerbalSciences, which makes purified extracts from various natural substances, valuing the company at $112 million.

Topigen Pharma pulls in $25M against lung disease — Montreal’s Topigen Pharmaceuticals, a biotech developing inhalable drugs to treat asthma and other lung diseases, raised $25 million (C$26 million) in a third funding round. Investors included NovaQuest, MMV Financial, BDC Venture Capital, Desjardins Venture Capital, Caisse de Dépot et Placement du Québec (Caisse), T2C2/BIO 2000 and Lothian Partners 27 (sarl) SICAR.

The funding will “accelerate” mid-stage human trials for Topigen’s leading drug candidates, a small-molecule treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and an RNA inhibitor for asthma.

EKR receives over $13M, licenses opiod drug — EKR Therapeutics, a Cedar Knolls, N.J., specialty pharmaceutical company, raised more than $13 million in a private placement. Investors included Quaker BioVentures, NewSpring Capital, and ESP Equity Partners. EKR also acquired rights to DepoDur, an extended-release opioid, from Pacira Pharmaceuticals.

Switzerland’s Molecular Partners gets $15.6M for novel binding proteins — Zurich-based Molecular Partners, a biotech developing drugs based on a new class of binding proteins, raised $15.6 million (CHF18.5 million) in a first funding round. Investors included Index Ventures, BB Biotech Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Development Corp. and Endeavour.

Molecular Partners is focused on developing therapeutics proteins it calls “DARPins,” which the company says offer the same ability to stick selectively to other molecules as monoclonal antibodies, but with greater stability and ease of manufacturing. DARPins are based on the notion of “repeat proteins,” which as the name suggests are modular proteins that contain repeated elements — something like posts spaced at regular intervals along a barbed-wire fence. (See the image at left.) The protein itself ends up looking something like a string that’s been knotted at regular intervals, only much more complicated.

Repeat proteins are found in almost all species, and in nature serve to bind other proteins in order to facilitate protein-protein reactions. By shuffling the modular elements in these proteins, they can be engineered to stick to specific molecules such as cell-surface proteins, potentially making them useful as drugs. The company has a more detailed description here.

Although Molecular Partners likes to play up the advantages of DARPins (the acronym stands for “designed ankyrin repeat proteins”) over antibodies — here, for instance — there are a few disadvantages the company doesn’t mention. As large molecules, DARPins most likely won’t get inside cells, limiting their potential as drugs to interactions with free-floating and cell-surface proteins. (Monoclonal antibodies have the same limitation.) Potentially more important, however, is the fact that the effectiveness of many antibody-based drugs results from their ability to stimulate a particular immune response, not just to stick to the appropriate target. DARPins, which aren’t immune-system molecules the way antibodies are, seem unlikely to do the same.

Pittsburgh-area biotechs, device makers get $350K — The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, a public-private life-sciences investment partnership, invested $350,000 in three Pittsburgh-area life-science startups. Falcon Genomics, a developer of chip-based cancer-detection diagnostics, received $150,000. Another $100,000 went to Celsense, which uses an MRI tracing agent to image transplanted cells. The final $100,000 was invested in Glucose Sensing Technologies, which is developing a catheter-based glucose sensor for continuous blood-sugar monitoring in intensive-care units.

Waters acquires Calorimetry Sciences — Milford, Mass.-based Waters, a laboratory-instrument maker, acquired Calorimetry Sciences of Linden, Utah. Terms of the deal weren’t announced. Calorimetry Sciences, which makes high-performance devices intended to measure the heat produced or absorbed by chemical reactions, will be merged into Waters’ TA Instruments division.

Fedora Commons wins $4.9M grant for open collaboration software — Fedora Commons, a non-profit organization devoted to open-source technologies for creating and sharing digital content, received a $4.9 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. From the release:

With this funding, Fedora Commons will foster an open community to support the development and deployment of open source software, which facilitates open collaboration and open access to scholarly, scientific, cultural, and educational materials in digital form. The software platform developed by Fedora Commons with Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation funding will support a networked model of intellectual activity, whereby scientists, scholars, teachers, and students will use the Internet to collaboratively create new ideas, and build on, annotate, and refine the ideas of their colleagues worldwide. With its roots in the Fedora open-source repository system, developed since 2001 with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the new software will continue to focus on the integrity and longevity of the intellectual products that underlie this new form of knowledge work. The result will be an open source software platform that both enables collaborative models of information creation and sharing, and provides sustainable repositories to secure the digital materials that constitute our intellectual, scientific, and cultural history.

Parion licenses lung-disease drug to Gilead for up to $146M — Parion Sciences, a Durham, N.C., biotech focused on diseases of the mucous membranes, struck a licensing and co-development deal with Gilead Sciences for its drug P-680 worth up to $146 million. The drug, an epithelial sodium-channel inhibitor, could potentially be useful in a variety of lung diseases, including cystic fibrosis. The companies will also work to identify other similar drug candidates.

Isto Tech raises $8.8M, prepares to launch synthetic bone grafts — St. Louis’ Isto Technologies, a developer of cell-based cartilage and bone regeneration technology, raised $8.8 million in a fifth funding round as it prepares for its first product launch, VentureWire reports. Investors included Ascension Health Ventures, Alafi Capital, Life Sciences Partners, Mid-America Transplant Services and private individuals. Isto’s leading product, InQu, is a synthetic biomaterial intended to help tissues heal and bones to regenerate; Isto expects FDA approval later this year.

Fluidnet rises from ashes, raises $6.4M for IV pumps — Portsmouth, N.H.-based Fluidnet, a “reincarnation” of its bankrupt predecessor FluidSense, raised $6.4 million in a first funding round to launch a new intravenous-infusion pump next year, VentureWire reports. Cardinal Partners and Rockport Venture Partners provided the funding.

NABsys raises $750K for high-speed genome sequencing — NABsys, a Providence, R.I., startup focused on high-speed gene-sequencing technologies, raised $750,000 in seed funding, VentureWire reports. Slater Technology Fund and individual investors provided the funding, which closely follows a $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

UPDATE (10:55am PT): Added items on Molecular Partners and the Pittsburgh Life-Sciences Greenhouse investments.

UPDATE REDUX (5:55 pm PT): Added items on Waters/Calorimetry Sciences, Fedora Commons, Isto Technologies, Fluidnet, NABsys.

BioRelix, a New Haven, Conn., developer of new antibiotics, raised $25.75 million in a first funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The round included New Leaf Venture Partners, Aisling Capital, CHL Medical Partners, Novartis Venture Fund, Elm Street Ventures and Alexandria Real Estate Equities.

BioRelix is developing antibiotics that target what the company says are common stretches of bacterial RNA that control many functions essential for bacterial survival. The funding should allow the company to push a drug candidate into human tests by late 2009 or early 2010, its interim CEO told VentureWire.