iScience sees $20.5M for eye surgery instruments
iScience Interventional, maker of surgical tools for eye operations, has closed a prolonged sixth round of funding at $20.5 million after facing a bit more of a challenge due to the economic climate. The money will be used to commercialize its line of micro-catheters used to remove fluid from or deliver medication to the back region of people’s eyes. It hopes to have them on the market by the end of 2010 at the latest,… Continue Reading
Cancer drug maker BiPar sells to Sanofi-aventis for $500M
BiPar Sciences, maker of tumor-targeting cancer treatments, will be acquired by public global pharmaceutical company Sanofi-aventis. The two companies have signed a binding agreement that could deliver more than $500 million to BiPar, divided into varying milestone payments.
Based in Brisbane, Calif., BiPar creates therapies, primarily for breast and ovarian cancer patients, that use inhibitors to kill cancer cells by preventing them from repairing their own DNA. Its lead compound in this area, BSI-201, is currently… Continue Reading
BiPar snags $20M for inhibitor-based cancer therapies
Pharmaceutical firm BiPar Sciences just brought in $20 million in private equity and venture debt to advance its lead therapy, targeting breast cancer, to phase-three clinical trials. The investment will double the Brisbane, Calif.-based company’s cash on hand, a huge vote of confidence for its treatment methods based on inhibitors that kill cancer cells by preventing them from repairing their own DNA, BiPar says.
Its lead compound, currently in phase-two tests, could also be used to… Continue Reading
Loomia raises $5M to make recommendations
Loomia, which tells users what web content is popular among their friends, has raised $5 million in a first round of funding.
The San Francisco-based startup launched in June 2005 (our coverage of its early features), but it only released its SeenThis? application in January of this year (our coverage). The application allows you to see what content interests your friends on Facebook and other social networks. Loomia managed to enlist some high-profile partner sites: The… Continue Reading
Novocell: With diabetes study pending, investors pony up another $25M
Novocell, a San Diego embryonic stem-cell company, raised $25 million in a third round of funding. That’s presumably a bit of a letdown for the company, which had previously hoped to pull in as much as $35 million in the round. I wrote earlier about Novocell’s fundraising here.
The round was led by Johnson & Johnson Development, the venture arm of J&J itself, joined by Sanderling Ventures, Asset Management Company and Pacific Horizon Ventures.
In my… Continue Reading
Koronis: Mutating HIV into extinction
(UPDATED: See below.)
Seattle’s Koronis Pharmaceuticals, a biotech focused on antiviral drugs that cleverly attempt to to drive viruses into extinction, got some serious validation yesterday when it raised $20 million to fund a mid-stage “proof of principle” trial for its leading AIDS drug.
Koronis, which was founded in 1998 to commercialize the pioneering viral research of Larry Loeb, Jim Mullins and John Essigmann, is pursuing a novel and unusual path to defeating viral disease. Most antiviral drugs… Continue Reading
Coapt Systems, maker of aesthetic surgery implants, raises $22.6M more
Coapt Systems, a Palo Alto, Ca. maker of bioabsorbable implants for use in aesthetic surgery, has raised $22.6 million in a fifth funding.
The round, led by Global Life Science Ventures and Easton Capital, included existing investors Alta Partners, Asset Management Company, Canaan Partners, Boston Millennia Partners, and Foundation Medical Partners.
Coapt Systems, founded in 2000, has developed implantable soft tissue fixation devices for use in facial plastic surgery. The company’s pipeline also includes a hand… Continue Reading
BiPar Sciences raises $35M for cancer therapies
BiPar Sciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing cancer therapies, said it has raised $35 million in a second round of financing.
The round was led by Domain Associates. Existing investors participated, including Vulcan Capital, Canaan Partners, PolyTechnos Venture-Partners, Asset Management Company and Quantum Technology Partners.
BiPar said Jesse Treu, a partner at Domain Associates, and Wende Hutton, a venture partner at Canaan Partners, have joined the board of directors.
From the statement:
BiPar is developing multiple compounds designed… Continue Reading