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
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
Public biotech firms Cadence, Affymax draw $128M from bargain-hunting VCs
Much has been written about how the IPO market froze out biotech companies in 2008, but it looks like times are also tough for those who went public before the economy soured. Cadence Pharmaceuticals has seen a dip in stock price from $9 to $7.53 and drug-maker Affymax has dropped from $25 to $14.12 a share since their IPOs in 2006. But VCs hunting for bargains just agreed to infuse the two companies with $86.6… Continue Reading
Intradigm closes $21.4M for cancer therapeutics
Biotech firm Intradigm has tacked an additional $2.9 million onto its second round of funding, bringing its total to $21.4 million. The new money will be used to advance its RNA interference-based line of therapeutics used to treat cancer.
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company says it distinguishes itself from others pursuing RNA interference strategies by also offering technology to deliver treatment to very specific locations within the body.
Astellas Venture Management led this most recent tranche, which… 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
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
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.
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Compact ultrasound maker Zonare Medical raises $30M (VentureWire)
TherOx raises $30M for hypersaturated-oxygen devices (peHUB)
Accumetrics, antiplatelet-drug diagnostic maker, raises $29M (release)
Population Genetics takes in £3.8M for massively parallel genome studies (GenomeWeb)
“Brain fitness” trainer Dakim raises $11M (release)
BioIQ, home-diagnostics maker, takes in $2.5M (release)
Hospital med-tracker Sabal Medical raises funds (release)
Seattle’s PharmaIN gets $400K NIH grant for nanoparticle staph drug (PDF release)
SensiGen, molecular-diagnostics developer, receives Michigan state loan (release)
Arcus Ventures aims for $50M fund, targets cancer (VentureWire)
Compact… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Feb. 15, 2008
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… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Jan. 21, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Joint-implant maker Ascension Orthopedics raises $21M (release)
High-speed sequencer Genome Corp. draws another $250K (GenomeWeb News)
Bausch & Lomb acquires implantable lens maker Eyeonics (release)
Bederra buys up Houston’s Diagnos and its PET-scan diagnostics (release)
High-speed sequencer Genome Corp. draws another $250K — Genome Corp., a Providence, R.I., tool-maker focused on a new type of high-speed genome sequencing, raised another $250,000, GenomeWeb News reports. The Slater Technology Fund, a venture-capital entity backed by the Rhode Island state government,… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Dec. 31, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
PowerVision pulls in $20M for intraocular lenses (VentureWire)
Heart device maker Mitralign raises $24M (release)
LifeOnKey, electronic medical-record IT firm, draws $5M of $10M round (Globes)
Merrion Pharma withdraws IPO filing (Edgar)
Hi-Tech Pharmacal acquires Midlothian Labs for $5M (release)
Anti-infective developer Calixa receives $15M (VW)
PowerVision pulls in $20M for intraocular lenses — Belmont, Calif.-based PowerVision, a device company developing implantable intraocular lenses, raised $20 million in a second funding round, VentureWire reports. Investors included Advanced Technology Ventures, Frazier… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Gene-silencing developer Santaris raises €20M (PDF release)
Consumer-driven healthcare manager RedBrick Health prescribed $15M (release)
Cardiac Dimensions takes in $36M for heart-valve device (release)
TcLand Expressions gets €8.2M for biomarkers (PDF release)
TheraQuest Bio gets $3M for pain drugs (release)
Brain-software maker NeuroTrax visualizes $1.5M (VentureWire)
ActivBiotics selling off assets after clot-busting drug failure (release)
Nanostart buys stake in Singapore’s Curiox, a drug-discovery tech firm (release)
Respiratory biotech Altair Thera gets additional funding (VentureWire)
Specialty pharma Prometheus Labs files for $100M IPO (Edgar)
Sirtris… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Nov. 12, 2007
(UPDATED: See below.)
Featured companies: Anaptys Biosciences, Arterial Remodeling Technologies, Cambria Biosciences, CaseNet, ChemoCentryx, Ensemble Discovery, MediQuest, Piedmont Pharmaceuticals, Raven Biotechnologies, Sensys Medical, Verus Pharmaceuticals, Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals
UPDATED: Expanded items on Anaptys, Arterial Remodeling, Raven Biotech, Sensys and MediQuest. Moved ChemoCentryx and Xanodyne to a separate item.
Antibody-drug maker Raven Biotech merges with VaxGen — Raven Biotechnologies, a South San Francisco biotech developing antibody drugs, is merging with the troubled, publicly held vaccine maker VaxGen. The confusingly worded release is here.
Although… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Oct. 29, 2007
Featured companies: Azaya Therapeutics, Global Care Solutions, Oxford Immunotec, RealSelf.com, Sequoia Pharmaceuticals, Tactile Systems Technology, WellGen, Zeltiq Aesthetics
UPDATED: Expanded items on Oxford Immunotec, Zeltiq, Tactile Systems, RealSelf.com and Global Care.
Oxford Immunotec pulls in $40M for TB tests — Oxford Immunotec, a U.K. biotech focused on new diagnostic tests for infectious disease, raised $40 million in a third financing round. The company’s release is here (PDF). Investors included Clarus Ventures, Wellington Partners, Kuwait-based National Technology Enterprises Company, the… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Aug. 31, 2007
Featured companies: Aryx Therapeutics, FlowCardia, Graftcath
FlowCardia raises $30M for artery roto-rooters — Sunnyvale, Calif.-based FlowCardia, a medical-device maker building catheter systems that bore holes in blood clots, raised $30 million in a third funding round. Investors included Gilde Healthcare Partners, Life Sciences Partners, Hambrecht & Quist Capital Management, New Science Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, JP Morgan Partners, Pappas Ventures, Rockport Venture Partners and Gold Hill Capital. The funding is intended to speed commercialization of the company’s… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Aug. 27, 2007
Featured companies: Bravo Health, InfraReDx, MedAssets, Prestwick Pharmaceuticals
Prestwick Pharma raises $20M for neuro drugs — Specialty pharma Prestwick Pharmaceuticals, a Washington, D.C., firm that acquires cast-off drug candidates to treat neurological conditions, raised $20 million from existing investors, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Among those participating in the funding were Atlas Venture, Sofinnova Ventures, Vivo Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Warburg Pincus and Pequot Ventures.
Prestwick said it raised the funds to acquire additional drug candidates. The company filed… Continue Reading
Sweden’s Meda acquires specialty pharma MedPointe for $820M
Meda, a Swedish specialty-pharmaceutical company, agreed to acquire MedPointe, another specialty pharma in Somerset, N.J., for roughly $820 million in cash and stock. Meda’s release — and be careful, as it’s a little difficult to slog through even though it’s (ostensibly) written in English — is here (PDF). (One hint for the baffled: “MUSD” stands for “millions of U.S. dollars.”)
MedPointe was backed by several private-equity firms — the Carlyle Group, the Cypress Group and Ferrer… Continue Reading
Marcadia Biotech pulls in $15M for hypoglycemia drug
Marcadia Biotech, an Indianapolis biotech focused on diabetes and obesity, raised $15 million in a first round of funding led by Frazier Healthcare Ventures and founding investor 5AM Ventures. Founding investor Twilight Venture Partners also joined the round. The company’s announcement is here.
Marcadia, founded by former execs from Eli Lilly and Guidant, is developing a stable form of glucagon that could be administered to diabetics when their blood sugar drops precipitously, a state called hypoglycemic… Continue Reading