Life-science briefing: Thursday, March 27, 2008

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

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007

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: Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

Fovea Pharma sees €30M for eye drugs (release)
Ascendis Pharma raises €18M for time-release drugs (PDF release)
Arcion draws $9M for topical pain drugs (VentureWire, sub req’d)
Saladax Biomedical raises $8M for chemotherapy diagnostics (VW)
MedAssets prices IPO at top of range, raises up to $221M (IPO Home)
Pequot spin-off Longitude seeks $250M for life-science investments (VW)
Third Rock Ventures adds three new partners (release)
Ultrasound surgical co. ProRhythm files for bankruptcy protection (release)
The Hartford Financial Services Group acquires healthcare-benefit administrator… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Friday, Aug. 31, 2007

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: Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007

(UPDATED at 3:10pm PT: See below.)

Featured companies: Agendia, EndoGastric Solutions, FlowCo, Gentris, MedManage Systems, ParagonDx, Presidio Pharmaceuticals, Xoova

Presidio Pharma raises $26M for viral treatments — San Francisco’s Presidio Pharmaceuticals, a biotech developing new antiviral drugs, raised $26 million in a second funding round. Investors included Panorama Capital, Baker Brothers Investments, Bay City Capital, Ventures West Capital, Nexus Medical Partners, Sagamore Bioventures, George Rathmann Fund and Peninsula Overview Partners.

Presidio’s lead drug candidates take aim at HIV, hepatitis… Continue Reading