Xoft raises $25M for targeted cancer treatment

Xoft, a Sunnyvale, Calif. company with an X-ray radiation treatment used for breast cancer and endometrial cancer, has raised a fifth round totaling $25 million, according to VentureWire.

The treatment uses targeting technology and tools to pinpoint the area being irradiated, limiting the damage done to the patient and allowing technicians to remain in the room.

New investor Chicago Growth Partners provided a majority of the funding, and was joined by previous investors including Easton Capital, Cutlass… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Monday, Feb. 4, 2008

Life sciences briefing: Monday, Feb. 4, 2008

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

PEAK Surgical takes in $21M for electrosurgical tools (release)
CellGate acquired by Australian cancer biotech ProGen for $2.5M (release)
Traversa raises $2M for RNAi-delivery technologies (release)
RemitDATA, Web-based healthcare-service co., takes in $5.5M (bizjournals.com)
Spinal-implant maker Archus Orthopedics gets $10M venture loan (release)
Promedior pulls down another $5.5M for fibrotic disease (release)
Acrongenomics takes 11 percent stake in Molecular Vision (release)
Hepatitis drug-developer Biolex withdraws IPO (IPO Home)
Employee drug screener eScreen gets Carlyle investment (release)
NovaMin raises $2.5M for dental-care products (VentureWire)
Cardious… Continue Reading

IGA raises $25 million to capture future in-game ad market

IGA raises $25 million to capture future in-game ad market

IGA Worldwide, a New York-based provider of advertising that appears within video games, has raised $25 million from a collection of venture capital, private equity and large media firms.

The potential market for in-game advertising is big, even as some analysts trying to measure it are prone to hype. It made only $55 million last year, but is expected to pass $800 million in 2012 with total video game ad spending reaching $2 billion that year,… Continue Reading

Gentis raises $10M for spine-injected implants

Gentis, a Philadelphia developer of an injectable spinal implant, raised $10 million in a first round of funding. Pappas Ventures and Easton Capital led the round, joined by Ivy Capital Partners and Matignon Technologies.

The company is at work on an implant designed to restore function to a degenerated spinal disk by bolstering or replacing the gel-like tissue at its center. The implant, called DiscCell, can be injected into the disk, where it hardens in… Continue Reading

Biolex Therapeutics raises $30M for multiple-sclerosis treatment

Biolex Therapeutics, a Pittsboro, N.C., developer of technology for improving the properties of monoclonal antibodies, raised $30 million in a third funding round.

Biolex specializes in producing proteins that are difficult to make with existing bioengineering processes and in optimizing the biological properties of monoclonal antibodies. It is also pursuing its own experimental drug candidates, and said the proceeds of this round will serve primarily to advance Locteron, an experimental time-release form of interferon alfa, into… Continue Reading

Xoft raises $33.2M for breast cancer treatment

Xoft, a Fremont Ca. developer of a treatment to reduce the recurrence of breast cancer, said it has raised $33.2 million in a fourth round of financing, and plans to treat its first patients.

See statement here.

The company says its Axxent Electronic Brachytherapy System “uses a miniaturized X-ray source that can deliver localized and targeted radiation treatment,” and can be used in pretty much any environment, including unshielded environments.

The company has now raised a total of… 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