VentureBeat

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• AerovectRx takes $1.2M, looks for $5M more for inhaled drugs (VentureWire)
• Pointe Conception, endoscopic camera maker, raises $800K (VentureWire)
• Orion Healthcare aims for $250 million life-science fund (VentureWire)
• Pennsylvania secures half of $10M Radius Venture fund for life sciences (release)
• HBM BioVentures to hold Swiss IPO without capital increase, share placement (Thomson)

AerovectRx takes $1.2M, looks for $5M more for inhaled drugs – AerovectRx, a Norcross, Ga., developer of inhaled-drug delivery systems, is closing a $1.2 million seed round, VentureWire reports. Investors include Georgia Venture Partners, Emergent Growth Fund, Advanced Technology Development Center Seed Fund, and angels.

The startup is one of the latest companies to enter the perilous inhaled-drug territory, which recently claimed two high-profile inhaled-insulin products — Exubera, which Pfizer pulled from the market after dropping a huge sum on marketing, and Novo Nordisk’s AERx inhaler, which the company dropped in mid-development after Pfizer’s move. (This Bloomberg story has details.) Eli Lilly and MannKind continue to pursue inhaled insulin, and Lilly’s device is in the final stages of human testing.

AerovectRx is developing a device with a vibrating mesh intended to turn a drug preparation into an aerosol for inhalation. The company hasn’t said which drugs it aims to use with the device, although an official told VentureWire that the decision will partly depend on which corporate partners it can strike deals with. AerovectRx also plans to develop its own drugs for use with the device, and is looking into a half-dozen possibilities ranging from treatments for steroid-resistant asthma to lung cancer.

Pointe Conception, endoscopic camera maker, raises $800K – Pointe Conception, a Santa Barbara, Calif., developer of medical-camera products, has raised $800,000 of an anticipated $2 million second funding round, VentureWire reports. Individual investors, including surgeons, provided the financing. Pointe Conception makes endoscopic cameras for minimally invasive surgical procedures.

Orion Healthcare aims for $250 million life-science fund – Orion Healthcare Equity Partners, a new VC firm formed by former investors with Oxford Bioscience Partners and Atlas Venture, is looking to raise $250 million for a new life-sciences fund, VentureWire reports. The fund will be used to back European and U.S. biotechs and medical-device makers. The In Vivo blog had a detailed piece on Orion Healthcare back in mid-January; read it here.

Featured companies: AngioScore, Forsight Labs, Genoptix, Metastatix, Optherion, QLT

UPDATED: See below.

Artery opener AngioScore pulls in $30M — AngioScore, a Fremont, Calif., maker of balloon catheters used to open up clogged arteries, raised $30 million in a fifth funding round. Investors included Telegraph Hill Partners, Psilos Group Management, QuestMark Partners, L.P., UV Partners, California Technology Ventures and Innomed Ventures.

AngioScore’s balloon catheters, which inflate inside blocked blood vessels to restore blood flow, are designed to overcome problems that sometimes occur during traditional angioplasty procedures. Conventional angioplasty can lead to tears and splits in the plaque that lines blocked arteries and can damage arterial walls as well. AngioScore claims its new catheter overcomes this problem by making precise cuts, or “scores,” in the plaque, thereby reducing the chance that it will crack and split unpredictably.

Optherion raises $37M for macular degeneration — New Haven, Conn.-based Optherion, a biotech focused on new treatments for forms of the eye condition macular degeneration, raised $37 million in a first funding round. Investors included Quaker BioVentures, Domain Associates, Johnson & Johnson Development, Purdue Pharmaceutical Products, Pappas Ventures, Biogen Idec New Ventures and GE Healthcare Financial Services.

Optherion is developing drugs that affect the “alternative complement pathway,” an arm of the immune system that may be implicated in two forms of macular degeneration, an eye condition that can lead to partial blindness, and possibly other autoimmune disorders as well. The company was founded in 2005 following discoveries that linked the alternative-complement system to macular degeneration.

Metastatix draws $35M for low-side-effect drugs — Atlanta’s Metastatix, a biotech working on drugs for AIDS, cancer and inflammatory disease, raised $35 million in a second financing round. Investors included Frazier Healthcare, H.I.G. Ventures, the Aurora Funds, CM Capital, SR One, MedImmune Ventures, Georgia Venture Partners, Centrosome Ventures and the State of Georgia.

Metastatix is developing drugs that block a cellular receptor called CXCR4, which is best known as one of the two ways HIV can enter and infect cells. CXCR4 may also be involved in cancer and inflammation. Metastatix says it is particularly focused on drug candidates with the “fewest possible side effects.”

Optical-device incubator Forsight Labs sells unnamed “newco” to QLT for $42M+ — Forsight Labs, an incubator for optical-device companies backed by Morgenthaler Ventures, Split Rock Partners and Versant Ventures, agreed to sell its second, unnamed startup to QLT for $42 million plus milestone payments that could be worth $25 million or more. The startup, known only as ForSight NewCo II, has developed a new type of ocular drug-delivery system that could potentially be used to treat a variety of conditions including glaucoma. The release describing the deal is here.

Diagnostic-services company Genoptix sets IPO terms, aims for $92M — The Carlsbad, Calif., provider of cancer and blood-disease diagnostic services, said it plans to sell up to 5.75 million shares at a price of $14 to $16 apiece, for a maximum possible take of $92 million. The company’s SEC filing is here. We covered the company in some detail at the time of its IPO filing here.

UPDATE: Added items on Metastatix and Optherion.

Abeome, an Athens, Ga., biotech developing new ways to produce monoclonal antibodies, raised an undisclosed amount of venture funding from Georgia Venture Partners and the ATDC Seed Capital Fund.

Atlanta-based Stheno raised $750,000 in a Small Business Innovation Research grant and $300,000 in additional seed funding, VentureWire is reporting (subscription required).

Founded in 2003, Stheno is developing methods for detecting “chiral molecules” — also known as enantiomers — in solution. Chirality refers to the chemical “left-handed” and “right-handed” forms of a particular molecule, which can have very different biological properties when used as drugs. Stheno’s detector is designed to identify solution samples that are “contaminated” with molecules of the wrong handedness.

From VentureWire:

Existing seed investors Healthcare Capital Partners, New England Partners, Georgia Venture Partners and the Advanced Technology Development Center of the Georgia Institute of Technology provided the financing, said Stheno President William Edens.

[...]

The funding will help get the company ready for its full launch in the fourth quarter, Edens said. The company will look to add a larger venture investor for a roughly $2 million Series A in the summer, he said.

With this financing, Stheno has now raised $2 million in seed money and almost $1 million in SBIR grants. The company has five employees.

The company, however, hasn’t made a priority of keeping outsiders informed of its progress, as the “news” section of its Web site hasn’t been updated since July 2004.