Onyx Pharma set to buy Proteolix for up to $851M
Onyx Pharmaceuticals, developer of treatments for liver and late-stage kidney cancer, has moved to acquire Proteolix, provider of a technology that can accelerate the death of cancer cells, for as much as $851 million. Emeryville, Calif.-based Onyx says it wants to incorporate this component, which has proved less toxic and more effective in patients, into its current offerings.
When the deal closes, South San Francisco-based Proteolix will receive $276 million in cash, with the option of… Continue Reading
Barosense bags $27M for obesity treatment
Barosense, maker of a device to treat obesity without invasive surgery, has brought in $27 million of a targeted $30 million fourth round of funding that it plans to use to commercialize its product, reports PE Hub. It kicked off the round in March, and said it had commitments from its existing investors.
This turned out to be true, with the Redwood City, Calif. company tapping previous backers Delphi Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Invesco Private Capital,… Continue Reading
Barosense looks to raise $30M to market obesity device
Barosense, creator of a minimally-invasive device that can treat obesity, has announced its intent to raise $30 million in a fourth round of funding to commercialize its product. Already many of its existing investors have pledged to provide half that amount, including Delphi Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Invesco Private Capital, RWI Ventures, Synergy Life Science Partners and Wharton Ventures.
Based in Menlo Park, Calif., Barosense says it expects to close this round by the end of… Continue Reading
Heart drug co. Relypsa gets $10M more to complete trials
Pharmaceutical company Relypsa announced that its investors extended its first round of funding by $10 million to a total $43 million to help it finish phase-two clinical trials on its lead drug candidate, a treatment that could alleviate symptoms of heart failure and chronic kidney disease.
Based in Santa Clara, Calif., Relypsa predicts the phase to close by the end of 2009 and already plans to raise new funds in 2010. The drug being tested treats… Continue Reading
Primaeva Medical raises $6M for aging skin
Primaeva Medical, a company developing a radio-frequency device to treat aging skin, has raised $6 million in a third round of funding, according to VentureWire. The company said it has completed crucial tests and will probably raise a fourth round for sales and marketing at the end of the year.
Affinity Capital Management led the round, with participation from existing investors Delphi Ventures and Frazier Healthcare Ventures. The Pleasanton, Calif. company has raised more than $14… Continue Reading
Med device maker Acclarent’s IPO flatlines — but could be revived
Acclarent, maker of medical devices to treat ear, nose and throat conditions, has become the latest biotech firm to withdraw its IPO due to poor market conditions. It originally filed in June, hoping to bring in $86.3 million to expand marketing and sales activities.
The Menlo Park, Calif. company’s chief financial officer, George Harter, told VentureWire that it will be keeping its eye on the situation, but said he didn’t expect the IPO market to thaw… Continue Reading
Phenomix cancels IPO, finds new lab partner
Biopharmaceuticals company Phenomix withdrew its filing to go public yesterday and right away announced a $340-million collaboration deal with Forest Laboratories. The IPO, intended to raise $86.3 million, had been pending since January.
Forest will aid the San Diego-based firm in the development of its diabetes treatment, dutogliptin, which is currently in its third phase of clinical trials. The deal represented $75 million for the company up front, with potentially more to come as the drug… Continue Reading
Migraine sufferers look elsewhere as Cierra buckles
The headache is over for medical device maker Cierra. Actually it’s all over. The Redwood City, Calif.-based company is out of business after failing to draft enough participants into a clinical trial of a catheter-based technology purported to reduce migraines, VentureWire reported. It takes $29 million in venture capital down with it from investors Delphi Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Morgenthaler Ventures and Split Rock Partners.
Believing that migraines could be made less frequent by sealing a… Continue Reading
Medical device company ArKal Medical raises $17.5M
ArKal Medical, a Fremont, Calif. company that makes a continuous glucose monitoring system, has raised $17.5 million in a second round of funding. Thomas McNerney & Partners led the round with previous investors MedVentures Associates and Delphi Ventures participating.
Proteolix raises $79M for cancer treatment
Proteolix, which is developing drugs to treat cancer by disrupting key cell functions, has raised $79 million in a third round of funding, according to VentureWire. That’s the third largest biotech funding this year.
Nomura Phase4 Ventures, a new investor, led the round, with participation from new backer Westfield Capital Management and existing investors Advanced Technology Ventures, Delphi Ventures, Latterell Venture Partners, U.S. Venture Partners and Vertical Group.
The new funding should allow South San Francisco-based Proteolix… Continue Reading
EBR Systems gets $35 million for new style pacemaker
EBR Systems, which develops cardiac pacing devices, has raised a $35 million third round of financing. This money will help it take its product to clinical trials, according to VentureWire.
Delphi Ventures led this round, with existing investors De Novo Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Split Rock Partners and SV Life Sciences joining in.
The Sunnyvale, Calif-based EBR has raised $27 million in its previous two rounds.
Novasys Medical takes $49.5M for women’s medical device
Novasys Medical is a Newark, Calif. medical company that makes a device for a specific condition affecting some women, called female stress urinary incontinence.
The device Novasys makes is the only real alternative to surgery for women with the problem, according to an interview with the CEO in VentureWire, which also reported the funding.
The $49.5 million was led by Versant Ventures, with participation from Skyline Ventures, Three Arch Partners, Affinity Capital Management, Alloy Ventures, Delphi Ventures,… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Monday, March 31, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Boston Scientific spinout TriVascular2 takes in $65M (release)
Inhaled-drug startup Transave raises $35M (release)
Triage Wireless gets $20M for vital-signs monitors (release)
Tryton Medical receives $14M for “bifurcation” stents (release)
Synthetic bio startup Codon Devices adds $11M (release)
Tracon Pharma takes in $4.5M against cancer and eye disease (VentureWire)
Antibody maker f-star swaps in equity stake by TVM (PDF release)
Drug packager MonoSol Rx withdraws IPO (IPOhome)
GE Healthcare acquires portable-ventilator maker VersaMed (release)
Boston Scientific spinout TriVascular2 takes in $65M – In 2005, Boston… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Thursday, March 27, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Breathe Tech raises $15M for respiratory disease (release)
Protein-drug maker Pieris takes in €25M (release)
Apthera takes in $2.1M toward cancer vaccine (VentureWire)
Breathe Tech raises $15M for respiratory disease – Breathe Technologies, a Fremont, Calif., medical device maker, raised $15 million in a second round of funding. Investors included Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Synergy Partners International, Delphi Ventures and Life Science Angels.
Breathe is developing “compact” and “lightweight” respiratory systems for the hospital and home markets, and… Continue Reading
Defibrillator maker Cameron Health takes in $14M
Cameron Health, a San Clemente, Calif., medical-device maker, has raised $14.1 million of a planned $50 million fifth funding round, I’ve learned. The company is working on a new type of implantable defibrillator that’s designed to be easier to implant and program than existing models.
Implantable defibrillators administer shocks to the hearts of people who are at risk of cardiac arrest — a critical condition in which the heart simply stops beating. When the device senses… Continue Reading
Arbor draws another $5.5M for heart-valve replacements
(UPDATED: See below.)
Irvine, Calif.-based Arbor Surgical Technologies, a developer of minimally invasive heart-valve replacement devices, raised another $5.5 million in its third funding round, VentureBeat Life Sciences has learned. The cash came courtesy of the Laguna Fund, a new investor, and Delphi Ventures and Alloy Ventures, which have participated in previous funding rounds.
Arbor said it raised $20 million in the round in late January, so the extension brings that round to a total of $25.5 million…. Continue Reading
Alder Bio and its yeast-produced antibodies take in $40M
Alder Biopharmaceuticals, a Bothell, Wash., developer of antibody drugs, raised $40 million in a third funding round. Investors included Delphi Ventures, TPG Biotech, Sevin Rosen Funds, Ventures West, H.I.G. Ventures, and WRF Capital.
Alder develops antibody-based drugs for inflammation and autoimmune disease. The company’s lead candidate, ALD518, is currently in clinical trials as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and cancer, although neither Alder’s Web site nor its statement disclose when the drug began human tests.
Alder’s work… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Jan. 7, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Surgical-device maker Aragon Surgical receives $25M (release)
Tacere Therapeutics strikes RNAi deal with Pfizer for up to $145M (release)
Benvenue Medical raises $15M for spine-repair devices (release)
Genome-association co. Genizon BioSciences draws C$31M (release)
Contract research organization Inclinix pulls in $10M (release)
EPocrates, healthcare IT developer, gets strategic investment from Goldman Sachs (release)
ZyGem closes first funding round (release)
Onset Ventures names John Ryan partner (release)
Retired Scripps immunologist Richard Ulevitch joins 5AM Ventures (release)
SV Life Sciences promotes Darren Black to partner… Continue Reading
Evalve pulls in $60M, heating up heart-valve implant race
Evalve, a Menlo Park, Calif., developer of minimally invasive heart-valve repair implants, raised $60 million in a fourth funding round.
Evalve’s device is designed to replace risky open-heart surgery for patients whose mitral valve, which regulates blood flow between the left two chambers of the heart, fails to close properly. The device allows interventional cardiologists to thread an implant clip through the femoral artery of the leg to the heart, where it can pin together… Continue Reading
Amgen, Relypsa and the art of the biotech-spinout-startup-restart
(UPDATED: See below.)
A common dilemma in biotech acquisitions is how to keep a startup’s entrepreneurial management happy and productive when they’ve just been assimilated by the Borg. The answer, often enough, is not to bother, and to let them spin out a new company with scientific “leftovers” that weren’t the point of the acquisition in the first place.
That’s more or less what Amgen has just done in launching Relypsa, a new Santa Clara, Calif., biotech just… Continue Reading