Osprey picks up $3.8M more for immune disease treatments
Osprey Pharmaceuticals, a drug maker focusing on inflammatory and immune disease medications, added $3.8 million to its first round of funding, bringing its total to $14.8 million, according to VentureWire. The San Francisco company says the new money was needed to see its lead drug candidate through clinical trials. It did not disclose its recent investors.
Osprey has focused its resources on a drug that could treat inflammatory kidney disease. Results from its clinical trials are… Continue Reading
Aerovance inhales $38M for asthma drugs
Aerovance, developer of asthma medications, just brought in $38 million in a post-recapitalized third round of funding to push its lead drug candidate through a second phase of clinical trials. The company has already received $20 million, with the option of claiming the remaining $18 million as necessary.
Based in Berkeley, Calif., the company has already seen its drug, Aerovant, through the first part of second-phase trials. The company will use the new money to complete… Continue Reading
diaDexus lands $9.2M for cardiovascular diagnostics
South San Francisco, Calif. biotech firm diaDexus just raised $9.2 million in sixth-round funding from Scale Venture Partners, GlaxoSithKline and Baker Brothers Advisors, according to peHUB. The company’s first and only product, the PLAC Test, is used to detect early indicators of risk for heart attack and stroke. If such conditions can be determined at an early stage, aggressive treatment can prevent possibly-fatal events from ever occurring, diaDexus claims.
Founded in 2000, the company had… Continue Reading
Arete nabs $16.7M more to treat metabolic disorders
Biotech company Arete Therapeutics brought in $16.7 million in the final tranche of a first round of funding that now totals $51 million. The Hayward, Calif.-based company will use the money to push its lead treatment for metabolic syndrome through a second phase of clinical trials. It also develops drugs for inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases, focusing on an enzyme that breaks down arachidonic acid (a critical component of those ailments).
The financing round has… Continue Reading
Ferrokin brings in $8.4M for anemia treatment
Ferrokin Biosciences, a San Carlos Calif. company that makes compounds to treat iron overload in patients with anemia, received $8.4 million of what it hopes will be a $15 million first-round of funding from Clarus Ventures, Burrill & Co. and Celegene Inc.
Iron overload is a common side effect of repeated transfusions used to treat certain types of anemia. The company doesn’t have a website, and very little information on it is available.
Nora Pharma reels in $25M for women’s health
Nora Pharmaceuticals, developer of women’s reproductive health drugs and devices, brought in $25 million in first round financing from Burrill & Co., Prospect Venture Partners and Vivo Ventures. The San Francisco-based company is still pretty stealthy (it doesn’t even have a website). It did release that it has some products, but did not specify further.
There is a lot of investor interest in this area of healthcare right now, reports VentureWire. Swiss startup Lumavita, for example,… Continue Reading
Gevo raises another $17M for synthetic biofuels
Gevo, the Pasadena, Calif., based developer of synthetic biofuels just wrapped up a $17 million third round of funding. New investors Burrill & Co. and Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund joined cleantech regulars Khosla Ventures and Virgin Green Fund; the biofuel start-up has already raised over $30 million since the beginning of last year.
Like competitors LS9, OPX Biotechnologies and Amyris (see our prior coverage here, here and here), Gevo is trying to change the face… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Feb. 29, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Arriva Pharma recaps with $6M for respiratory anti-inflammatory drugs (release)
Genetic tester Sciona gets another $5.2M, distribution deal (VentureWire)
Joint resurfacer Arthrosurface takes in $4M (release)
Automated medication dispenser MDG Medical receives $14M in debt, equity (release)
California Stem Cell raises funds for heart, neurodegenerative treatments (release)
Arriva Pharma recaps with $6M for respiratory anti-inflammatory drugs – Arriva Pharmaceuticals, an Alameda, Calif., drug developer focused on inflammatory respiratory disease, raised $6 million in a convertible-stock funding that recapitalized the company…. Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008
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… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2007
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… Continue Reading
Funding roundup: Announcements that got away
Although I try to stay on top of events in the life sciences, announcements do sometimes manage to slip through the cracks. Some days, in fact, I end up triaging. Because the roots of this site — not to mention many of its readers — are in Silicon Valley, Bay Area events are a priority. Then come announcements from the rest of the U.S., then Asia, then Europe. Also, smaller or partial fundings tend to… Continue Reading
IPO still on hold, Light Sciences beams up $30M
Snoqualmie, Wash.-based Light Sciences Oncology, a developer of light-activated cancer drugs, raised $30 million in a second funding round, even though it still has an IPO registration on file with the SEC. The latest funding closes out the company’s second round, which includes a $15 million investment by Fidelity Investments I wrote about here.
The company didn’t name its latest investors in its press release, but according to VentureWire they include Lehman Brothers, the hedge fund… Continue Reading
Logical Therapeutics raises $30M, relocates to Boston area
Pittsburgh-based Logical Therapeutics, a developer of drugs for inflammation and metabolic disease, raised $30 million in a second funding round and announced it is moving its headquarters to a location “near Boston.” (What are the odds that the new location might be Cambridge, the hub of biotech and pharma activity in the region?)
Logical has acquired all of its drug candidates from other companies or institutions, including the University of Pittsburgh, which isn’t particularly surprising given… 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
Neosil raises $10M in debt for hair-growth product
Neosil, an Emeryville, Calif., company focused on dermatology products, raised a $10 million in venture debt from Hercules Technology Growth Capital. The debt funding follows the company’s $32 million first-round venture financing in 2004, which involved MPM Capital and Burrill & Co.
Neosil is developing a peptide-based hair-growth product for male pattern baldness and a topical antimicrobial treatment. It describes the debt financing here.
Aerovance, asthma treatment company, finishes raising $60M
Aerovance, a Berkeley, Calif biopharmaceutical company looking to find a partner for its asthma treatement, Aerovant, reached back to year-old news and announced it has finished raising $60 million in a third round of financing.
There is “substantial very, very strong interest” by pharmaceutical and biotech companies in the asthma treatment, the company told VentureWire (sub required), though no specifics were given.
Here is the company’s announcement of the funding last year.
The company’s drugs target severe… Continue Reading
DiaDexus, which tests for cancer and cardiovascular disease, raises $40M
DiaDexus, a South San Francisco company that makes tests to detect cancer and cardiovascular disease, said it has raised $40 million in a fifth round of funding, according to VentureWire (sub required).
The company says the funding will take it to profitability next year. Baker Brothers Advisors and Scale Venture Partners led the investment. Other investors included Burrill & Co., and existing investors GlaxoSmithKline, Rho Ventures, Bain Capital’s Brookside Fund and Mosaix Ventures, the report said…. Continue Reading
XDx looking to raise $25 million more for personalized medicine
XDx, a Brisbane, Calif. company that monitors the immune system with personalized medicine based on insights from the Human Genome Project, said it is raising up to $25 million more in cash.
The news, reported this morning by VentureWire (sub required) would be the company’s fifth round of venture capital. The company has already raised a total of $100.5 million since being founded in 2000. The fact that such a mature company, with well-known backers, is… Continue Reading
Burrill has raised $250M for life science investing
Burrill & Co, a San Francisco venture firm focused on the life sciences, has raised $240 million, and is targeting a total of $300 million by the end of the year, according to VentureWire (sub required).
The firm also says it continues to expand its staff in China.