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One of the constant but unavoidable challenges in trying to control diabetes is the frequent need to test blood-sugar levels by sticking a needle into a fingertip — a step that tells diabetics when they need a snack (to raise blood glucose) or a shot of insulin (to lower it). “Lancing” fingers several times a day can render the tips so tender that it restricts ordinary activity — playing the piano, for instance — for some diabetics. While that may sound like a minor inconvenience compared to the awful side effects that uncontrolled diabetes can cause, such as gangrene and blindness, it’s often enough to keep some diabetics from testing their blood as frequently as they should.

Over the years, a number of companies have worked to minimize the pain of blood testing. (One of them, the former Therasense, was acquired by Abbott Laboratories for $1 billion in 2004.) Now Pelikan Technologies, a Palo Alto, Calif., company whose lineage traces back to Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, is preparing to launch a new electronically controlled device that it claims will virtually eliminate the pain associated with lancing.

The main advantage Pelikan claims is that its lancing is computer controlled in a way that prevents undue damage to the fingertip and minimizes pain by keeping the lancet from penetrating too deeply. Most lancets, the company alleges, go right past the capillaries that carry blood and into an underlying network of nerves — thus the pain. Pelikan’s lancet is supposed to stop short at the capillary level, although the company doesn’t say exactly how. (From the Web site, it looks as though users are supposed to select the insertion depth from one of 30 different settings, which doesn’t sound terribly convenient to me.) One of the company’s diagrams is at left; for their complete description, see here.

The Pelikan Sun also supposedly creates a straighter wound that heals more easily, and withdraws the needle more slowly to reduce the amount of damage caused to surrounding tissue. The lancet takes a disk prefilled with 50 needles, which also reduces the time and inconvenience of refilling a lancet pen.

Pelikan plans to launch its lancet, which is already on sale in Australia and Europe, in the U.S. early next year. The company is also at work on a new device that will combine the lancet with an electronic glucometer that measures sugar levels, in an attempt to reduce the number of items diabetics have to carry around with them. Normally a diabetic must first stick a finger with an injector-style pen device that quickly jabs a tiny needle in and out, then dab the blood on an absorbent treated strip that slots into a glucometer. The company hopes to launch the combined device next year as well.

Pelikan just raised $69 million in a sixth funding round, and pulled in another $20 million in venture debt financing. Investors in the equity round include Clarus Ventures, HBM BioVentures, Global Life Science Ventures, Mannheim Holdings and Bio*One Capital. The debt was provided by GE Capital and Oxford Finance.

Featured companies: American Aerogel, Clinicient, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Genome Diagnostics, RadPharm, RainDance Technologies, Vivacta

UPDATED: Expanded items on Vitae, RadPharm, Vivacta and Genome Diagnostics. Intelligent Bio-Systems is now covered in a standalone item here.

Vitae Pharma takes in $15M for blood pressure, diabetes drugs — Vitae Pharmaceuticals, a Fort Washington, Pa., biotech focused on new drugs for hypertension and metabolic disorders, raised $15 million in a fourth funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Boehringer Ingelheim, which struck a major partnership with Vitae in mid-October (PDF link), provided the funding.

That partnership calls for the two companies to co-develop Vitae drug candidates that inhibit a protein called 11beta-HSD1, an enzyme that helps regulate the hormone cortisol. The drugs may be useful in treating diabetes, obesity and hypertension. B-I agreed to pay Vitae $36.5 million in cash, research funding and an at-the-time unspecified equity investment, as well as up to $300 million in potential milestone payments.

Vitae’s other major drug program involves compounds that inhibit the protein renin, which regulates blood pressure and vascular function. Renin inhibitors, which could be useful in treating hypertension, have been a white whale of sorts for the drug industry over the past 30 years (see, for instance, this somewhat technical discussion of the history here).

UK’s Vivacta draws in $12M for medical diagnostics — Vivacta, a U.K. medical-diagnostic company formerly known as PanOpSys, raised $12 million in a second funding round. Investors included AGF Private Equity, HBM BioVentures, Spark Ventures and Viking.

Vivacta is developing a fast, “point of care” diagnostic system intended to deliver laboratory-quality test readings from drawn blood in doctors’ offices or at a hospital bedside. The technology is based on a “piezoelectric” film coated with antibodies to particular blood proteins. Piezoelectric devices produce current when compressed, so theoretically this approach should allow a direct measurement of blood proteins by generating current proportional to the density of antibodies that capture any particular blood protein.

RadPharm gets $10M for medical-image reviews — RadPharm, a Princeton, N.J., provider of medical-image review services, raised $10 million in a second funding round. Investors include Siemens Venture Capital, Ampersand Ventures, Adams Street Partners and Tang Capital Management.

RadPharm essentially provides outsourced analysis of medical images ranging from CAT scans to X-rays for clinical trials, whose outcomes can hinge on the way those images are read and analyzed. Trials of cancer drugs, for instance, frequently look at whether tumors shrink, stabilize or grow, and determining that requires someone to look at actual patient X-rays or other images and decide what they actually show. RadPharm’s service provides “centralized, independent, blinded interpretation” of such scans.

Genome Diagnostics, cancer-test maker, aims for $1.6M — Genome Diagnostics, a Pasadena, Calif., developer of cancer diagnostic tests, has raised several hundred thousand dollars toward an anticipated $1.6 million first funding round, VentureWire reports. B.C. Capital of Israel and several individual investors provided the funds.

According to VentureWire, the company aims to produce a diagnostic test for prostate cancer based upon gene variations detected by sequencing a patient’s entire genome. That sounds unlikely on several levels, the first of which is that “whole-genome sequencing” — VentureWire’s description of what the company is doing — is still incredibly expensive, with an estimated cost of $100,000 or more.

It seems far more likely that the company will do a rough-and-ready genome scan that samples only several hundred thousand of the genome’s three billion DNA “letters” that are known to vary between individuals — at least, that is, unless Genome Diagnostics is betting that the cost of whole-genome sequencing will drop to the fabled $1,000 or so by the time it gets its product to market. And maybe that’s exactly what the company is doing, although that would mean that its initial testing costs are going to be extraordinarily high.

It’s also far from clear exactly what sort of prognostic information the company hopes to obtain from a genome scan of either type, since most genetic-association studies can only show increases or decreases in the probability of disease, and with such a margin of error that it’s difficult to see how that information could possibly serve a diagnostic purpose. I’ll try to circle back to the company in order to get a better idea of what they’re up to for a future post.

OTHER HEADLINES OF NOTE:

• Clinicient receives $5M for healthcare revenue-management software (release)
• Genome sequencer Intelligent Bio-Systems raises funding (VW)
• American Aerogel raises $3.2M for biopharma gels (VW)
• Frazier Healthcare Ventures raises $600M life-sciences fund (Seattle P-I)
• RainDance Technologies appoints Christopher McNary as CEO (release)

Featured companies: BioVex, FullTurn Media, Humanetics, N Spine, Novitas Capital, Reliant Technologies, Symbios, Vaxart, Virtual Radiologic, Winston Laboratories, Zosano Pharma

EXPANDING ITEMS: Stay tuned.

Vaxart receives $3.3M for oral vaccines — San Francisco’s Vaxart, a biotech developing novel adenovirus-based vaccines, raised $2.7 million in a first funding round. Vaxart also received a $600,000 small-business innovation grant from the NIH to assist in developing the company’s vaccine platform.

Vaxart’s vaccine technology involves a non-replicating adenovirus engineered to produce a particular bacterial or viral protein, or antigen, which stimulates an immune response. The vaccine, which consists of the adenovirus and an “adjuvant” designed to enhance the immune response, is packaged in a capsule that can be taken by mouth.

Vaccines that depend on viral “vectors” like adenovirus are promising because they can produce immunity without the need to rely on attenuated or killed disease virus. When injected, however, such vaccines frequently stimulate an immune reaction to the adenovirus itself, which can negate the effect of the vaccine or subsequent booster shots. Vaxart believes that oral delivery can sidestep that problem.

The company’s early candidates include vaccines against avian flu, seasonal flu, and biowarfare agents. Investors in the round included Quantum Technology Partners, Life Science Angels, Bay Partners and Sand Hill Angels.

Reliant Tech postpones IPO — Reliant Technologies, the Mountain View, Calif., maker of laser skin treatments, postponed its IPO indefinitely, PE Hub reports. The medical-device maker had previously filed to raise up to $86.5 million in an offer of 5.4 million shares.

Reliant Tech’s postponement comes just a day after EnteroMedics, a maker of obesity-control devices, almost halved its IPO pricing. Until recently, device makers had lived a charmed life where IPOs were concerned, but it’s beginning to look as though market turmoil may be taking its toll on this sector as well. Our previous coverage of the company is here and here.

On the other hand, at least IPO investors won’t get the company confused with Reliant Pharmaceuticals anymore.

N Spine acquired by Synthes for $30M — N Spine, a San Diego maker of spinal devices, was acquired by Switzerland’s Synthes for $30 million. The release is here. N Spine shareholders also stand to receive an additional $45 million in milestone payments if development of the company’s products proceeds as planned. Our previous coverage of N Spine’s fundraising is here.

Zosano Pharma raises $45M for needle-free drugs — Fremont, Calif.-based Zosano Pharma, a specialty pharma working on needle-free drug delivery, raised $45 million in the second half of its initial venture funding. The company said it has now raised a total of $90 million. Our previous coverage of the company, which used to be called Macroflux, is here (last item).

Investors included New Enterprise Associates, Nomura Phase4 Ventures, HBM BioVentures and ProQuest Investments. Zosano’s lead candidate is a patch for delivering the drug PTH through the skin to treat osteoporosis.

OTHER HEADLINES OF NOTE:

• Virtual Radiologic prices IPO mid-range, raises up to $78M (IPO Home)
• Cancer-drug maker BioVex closes $35M round (release)
• Humanetics gets $3.8M grant for radiation countermeasures (release)
• Symbios raises almost $2M for pain-drug delivery (VentureWire, sub req’d)
• FullTurn Media launches medical-education videos, seeks $5M (VW)
• PA Early Stage Partners changes name to Novitas Capital (release)
• Specialty pharma Winston Pharma goes public via reverse merger (release)

Featured companies: Ganeden Biotech, Glenveigh Medical, Lab21, Lead Therapeutics, Navigenics, Pacific Data Designs, PharMEDium Healthcare, Sloning BioTechnology, VistaGen

UPDATED: Expanded items on Lead Therapeutics, Glenveigh Medical and Sloning BioTech, and moved the Navigenics news to a separate item here.

Lead Therapeutics raises $17M for China-based work in cancer and immunology — San Bruno, Calif.-based Lead Therapeutics, a drug-development startup that plans to do most of its research and development in China, raised $17 million in a first funding round. Investors included Pappas Ventures, ProQuest Investments and Mustang Ventures.

We’ve previously noted a few biotech startups with strong connections to China, although for the most part these have tended to be companies founded by Chinese expatriates who raise much of their funding from Asian sources. (See, for instance, our coverage of AutekBio here and of MicuRx here.) Lead Therapeutics, by contrast, raised much of its money from traditional U.S. venture firms and will be run by a GlaxoSmithKline veteran, Peter Myers, although unsurprisingly enough, several of the company’s other executives appear to have ties to Asia. (See a list here.)

Lead Therapeutics says it has “several” drug-discovery programs going in infectious disease and cancer, but hasn’t disclosed any details to the best of my knowledge.

Glenveigh Medical to pull in $10M for spinning out a device maker — Glenveigh Medical, a Durham, N.C., holding company focused on technologies for obstetrics and fetal care, said it will raise $10 million in a first funding round in order to spin out a new medical-device company, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The spinout company, still unnamed, will develop several medical devices with an eye toward launching two of them by early 2009.

One of the devices, called a pelvic pack, is designed to control heavy bleeding that can result from obstetrical procedures. Another is an implantable plug designed to control fluid loss and prevent infection in cases where the cervix tears prematurely during pregnancy. A third device is a meter designed to measure the onset of labor and related issues via changes in the cervix itself.

Sloning BioTech receives €4.7M for DNA synthesis — Munich-based DNA synthesizer Sloning BioTechnology said it raised €4.7 million ($6.8 million) in a fifth funding round. Investors included LBBW Venture Capital, HBM BioVentures, KfW Bankengruppe and Deutsche Effecten-und Wechsel-Beteiligungsgesellschaft.

Sloning is one of several companies making a business out of generating customized strands of DNA for customers in the nascent field of “synthetic biology,” which involves making artificial genes for industrial purposes. (See also our coverage of DNA2.0 here.) The company claims that its particular method is the only one capable of generating any sequence of DNA “letters,” or nucleotides; for biochemical reasons, other methods are sometimes limited in their ability to produce particular nucleotide sequences.

Navigenics raises $25M, launches personal-genomic pre-orders — See our in-depth story here.

OTHER HEADLINES OF NOTE:

• Navigenics raises more than $25M, launches personal-genomics business (release)
• PharMEDium Healthcare raises undisclosed sum of private equity(PE Hub)
• U.K.’s Lab21 appoints Graham Mullis as CEO (release)
• Pacific Data Designs draws undisclosed sum in private equity (PE Hub)
• Ganeden Biotech pulls in $12M for probiotic dietary supplements (release)
• VistaGen gets $1.2M grant for CNS drug studies (release)

Featured companies: BioVex, Cavadis, Innovention, Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Phase Bioscience, Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Xencor

UPDATED: Expanded Paratek and Xencor items.

Paratek Pharma raises $40M for new antibiotics — Boston’s Paratek Pharmaceuticals, a biotech working on new antibiotics to treat drug-resistant bacterial infections, raised a first tranche of a $40 million eighth round of funding. The company’s release is here, VentureWire (subscription required) has more details here.

Investors in this funding included Aisling Capital, D.E. Shaw, Boston Life Science Venture Corporation, Nomura Phase4 Ventures, Novartis BioVentures, BioFund Ventures, HBM BioVentures, Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch, BioVeda Fund and Hercules Technology Growth Capital. Paratek’s lead drug candidate, PTK 0796, is being studied against skin-structure infections and community-acquired pneumonia.

Xencor raises additional $15M for cancer, immune-disease drugs — Xencor, a Monrovia, Calif., biotech developing “engineered” protein- and antibody-based drugs, raised an additional $15 million in its fifth funding round, bringing the total to $60 million. Investors included Oxford Bioscience Partners, Merlin Nexus, Novo Nordisk, MedImmune Ventures, HealthCare Ventures and Zen Investments.

Xenocor’s lead candidate is an antibody that could target Hodgkin’s disease and T-cell lymphoma. The company expects to begin early-stage human trials later this year.

HEADLINES OF NOTE:

• Protein purifier Phase Bioscience pulls in an additional $5.4 million (American Venture Magazine)
• Reliant Pharma trims IPO plans, aims for $364M offering (Edgar)
• Cavadis, developer of diagnostics for “vulnerable” coronary plaques, raises seed funding (PDF release)
• Innovention Tech pulls in $115,000 for new surgical probe (release)
• BioVex names Jan van Heek chairman (release)

When news that the brand-new startup Ophthotech had raised a $36 million first round broke on Monday, it was clear that the venture amounted to a kind of do-over for officials of the late, unlamented Eyetech Pharmaceuticals. Eyetech, you might recall, burst onto the scene with a rocket-science aptamer-based blindness drug called Macugen and a flashy $157 million IPO, then proceeded to get its head handed to it by even better rocket science from Genentech, and eventually sold itself ignominiously to OSI Pharmaceuticals for a lower share price than its IPO (a deal that apparently worked out even less well for OSI).

I didn’t write any of this at the time, however, and in the meantime several others have made a number of interesting observations about Ophthotech’s emergence, not to mention noting some eerie historical parallels. Fred Cohen at Pharma’s Cutting Edge offered this acerbic interpretation:

OSI is now divesting its eye business. As part of the divestiture, OSI has licensed its apatemer targeting PDGF (a related angiogenic peptide) to newly formed Ophthotech. Ophthotech has also licensed development and marketing rights to Archemix’s aptamer targeting the C5 component of complement (an inflammation factor). As you’ll read, Ophthotech is staffed largely by former Eyetech execs. It’s a chance for them to do it all over again. Perhaps this time around they will not sell out the early public-market investors by dumping the firm below its IPO price, while reserving a tidy sum for themselves.

But to really head through the looking glass, you have to turn to the In Vivo blog, where Chris Morrison writes:

SV Life Sciences, HBM BioVentures, and Novo AS have just funded an ophthlamology start-up with a $36 million Series A that will pay for the acquisition of two interesting drug candidates. Didn’t that happen last year? It sure did, in May 2006. The company was Lux BioSciences.

OK, how about this: David Guyer, MD, and Samir Patel, MD, have teamed up as founders of an ophthalmology specialist based on in-licensed aptamer drugs and hope to make headway in the tricky macular degeneration space. SV (then Schroder Ventures Life Sciences) was an early investor. No, no, no, that was way back in 2000. Eyetech, right? Absolutely.

Guyer is now chairman of Ophthotech and Patel is CEO. Morrison goes on to note that Ophthotech has licensed an aptamer against platelet-derived growth factor from none other than OSI, which, of course, originally acquired it from… Eyetech. A second deal brought in more aptamers from Archemix (see our coverage), which bought Gilead Sciences’ aptamer technology in 2001, gaining control of everything but… the aptamer that Gilead licensed to Eyetech, which became Macugen.

Morrison rightly wonders why all the technology and money now flowing into Ophthotech didn’t go to Lux BioSciences instead. The answer, he suggests, may simply be that Big Pharma’s hunger for biotech — and its tendency to pay top dollar — has convinced VCs that they’re better off spreading their eggs among as many baskets as possible.

Or, as Morrison puts it:

Oddly enough, only a few years ago, it would have been a sure thing to keep all these assets under one corporate roof, because the VCs would have been hoping for an IPO exit, and investors like to see multiple clinical projects at IPO hopefuls. Now that M&A is the preferred exit, the assets are siloed. For now.

(UPDATED: See below.)

Featured companies: FoldRx Pharmaceuticals, Ophthotech, Pevion Biotech, Restoration Robotics, Glide Pharma, Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Nanosphere, SurModics, BioFX Laboratories

FoldRx Pharma to receive $22M against cystic fibrosis — Cambridge, Mass.-based FoldRx Pharmaceuticals, a biotech focused on diseases that result from misfolded proteins, will get $22 million over the next five years from an affiliate of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to further its work against the genetic lung disease. The money will be paid as FoldRx meets various developmental milestones, including pushing two experimental drugs into early-stage human trials. The company’s current drug candidates, however, don’t target cystic fibrosis, and instead aim to take on a particular class of diseases known as amyloidosis and Parkinson’s disease.

The Boston Globe and the WSJ Health Blog have more.

Newly formed Ophthotech raises $36M against eye disease — Ophthotech, a newly formed Princeton, N.J., biotech with a focus on eye disease, raised a whopping $36 million in a first funding round. The company, founded by a bevy of former Eyetech Pharmaceuticals officials, is going to follow directly in the former company’s footsteps by taking aim at age-related macular degeneration with aptamers licensed from Archemix (which we wrote about here).

Investors in the round included SV Life Sciences, HBM BioVentures and Novo A/S. (See update below.)

Pevion Biotech gets $29M for vaccines — Pevion Biotech, a Bern, Switzerland-based vaccine developer, raised $29 million (CHF35 million) in a first funding round. Investors included BZ Bank Aktiengesellschaft, BB Biotech Ventures II, CC Private Equity Partners and Bachem Holding. The company is conducting clinical trials of vaccines against malaria, breast cancer and hepatitis C.

Hair-transplant automator Restoration Robotics raises $25M — Restoration Robotics, a Mountain View, Calif., developer of robotic surgery systems for hair transplants, raised $25 million in a second round of funding, PE Hub reports. The company’s Web site is a stub and the linked article doesn’t contain much information, but an April VentureWire store republished at Alta Partners’ site gets to the root of the matter:

Sutter Hill Ventures and Alloy Ventures, for example, have invested in the first and second rounds raised in 2005 and 2006, respectively, by Restoration Robotics Inc., which is testing a robotic device that performs hair transplants. Transplant-surgery outcomes vary according to the surgeon’s skill. Restoration’s robot — which is surgeon-controlled — produces uniform results in half the time, says CEO Jim McCollum. Investors hope this pushes hair transplants into the mainstream. Today, “people think of late-night commercials when they think of hair restoration,” says Sutter Hill Managing Director Jeffrey W. Bird.

Investors in the round include InterWest Partners, Alloy Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures.

Glide Pharma raises $4.6M for needle-free drugs — U.K. specialty pharma Glide Pharma raised $4.6 million (£2.3 million). Investors included Oxford Technology 4 VCT and Oxford Capital Partners. The company is developing drugs that can be delivered via its own needle-free injection system. We’ve written about other startups pursuing similar technology, including StrataGent Life Sciences and Macroflux.

Reliant Pharma refiles for a $400M IPO — Reliant Pharmaceuticals, a Liberty Corner, N.J., specialty pharma that withdrew a planned $300 million IPO in 2005, is going to try again, only with more at stake. The company filed to raise as much as $400 million in an offering, despite the fact that it is on track to lose more than $100 million this year, which would be the third time in four years it has done so.

In the first six months of this year, Reliant reported a net loss to common shareholders of $56.4 million on revenue of $230 million. That net loss would have been only $21.8 million but for preferred-share dividends of $34.6 million in the half. Reliant sells a variety of unrelated second-hand drugs for cardiovascular problems.

Interestingly enough, Reliant made its last charge at the public markets with the famed Ernest Mario at the helm. Mario jumped from Reliant just last week, and is now CEO of the little-known Capnia (see our coverage here).

Nanosphere aims for outsized $100M IPO — Nanosphere, a Northbrook, Ill., developer of nucleic-acid and protein detection and diagnostic systems, filed to raise as much as $100 million in an IPO. As of March 31, the company had an accumulated deficit of $112.6 million. Earlier this year, it submitted its Verigene molecular-diagnostic system to the FDA for approval; Nanosphere intends to market the device to hospital laboratories that currently aren’t equipped to perform such tests in-house.

SurModics snaps up diagnostic-supply company BioFX for up to $22.7M — SurModics, an Eden Prairie, Minn., developer of drug formulations and other biological supplies, agreed to acquire BioFX Laboratories of Owings Mills, Md., for $11.3 million in cash and milestone payments worth up to $11.4 million. The release is here. The acquisition is the second for SurModics this month; it bought out Brookwood Laboraties on Aug. 2 (our coverage is here).

UPDATE (2:37pm PT): Added items on Glide Pharma, Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Nanosphere, and SurModics/BioFX Laboratories.

UPDATE REDUX: Over at Pharma’s Cutting Edge, Fred Cohen notes what I didn’t have time to, which is that Ophthotech essentially amounts to a do-over for the architects of Eyetech’s failure. Check it out.

(UPDATED at 6:40pm PT: See below.)

Featured companies: Nereus Phramaceuticals, KFx Medical, NeuroMed Pharmaceuticals, Adnexus Therapeutics, Masimo, Biofisica, Aegera Therapeutics, LymphoSign, InfuScience, Palmetto Infusion Services

Nereus Pharma raises $45M for ocean-derived cancer drugs — San Diego’s Nereus Pharmaceuticals, a biotech that searches for cancer drugs in marine microbes, raised $45 million in a follow-on to its fourth funding round.

The company features an all-star lineup of investors, which includes BankInvest, Roche Venture Fund, Astellas Venture Management, Boston Life Science Venture Corporation, Taiwan Global Biofund, Eminent Venture Capital, HBM BioVentures, Alta Partners, Forward Ventures, Advent International, GIMV, InterWest Partners and Pacific Venture Group.

From the press release:

The proceeds from the financing will be drawn down in two tranches and used to complete Phase I and begin Phase II clinical trials for Nereus’ two drug candidates. The first compound, NPI-2358, is being evaluated for the treatment of solid tumors and lymphomas in Phase I clinical trials. It is a potent, selective tumor vascular disrupting agent (VDA), a class of compounds that represents a novel approach to disrupting the intrinsic tumor blood flow, which leads to tumor cell death. NPI-2358 has favorable preclinical characteristics, such as a longer duration of action on tumor blood flow, activity against multi-drug resistant tumor cell lines and a favorable preclinical toxicology profile. The compound is one of 200 analogues that were produced after finding activity and novel chemistry from a marine fungal extract.

Nereus’ proteasome inhibitor NPI-0052 is in Phase I trials for solid tumors, lymphomas and multiple myeloma. Preclinical studies indicate that this next generation compound may be superior to Velcade(R), with broader target inhibition, faster onset of action, higher potency, oral and intravenous availability, and activity against myeloma cells resistant to Velcade(R) (bortezomib, Millennium), Thalomid(R) (thalidomide, Celgene Corporation), Revlimid(R) (lenalidomide, Celgene Corporation) and steroid therapy. NPI-0052 was derived from a marine-obligate gram-positive actinomycete (Salinispora tropica).

Rotator-cuff specialist KFx Medical raises $10M — San Diego’s KFx Medical, a Carlsbad, Calif., developer of minimally invasive repair systems for rotator-cuff injuries, raised $10 million in a second funding round. Investors included Alloy Ventures, Charter Life Sciences, Arboretum Ventures, Montreux Equity Partners, and MB Venture Partners.

It’s pretty difficult for a non-surgeon to figure out exactly how KFx’s system works better than current medical practice, but if you’re interested in a look, check it out here.

NeuroMed Pharma drops Merck work on pain drug, raises $36M — Vancouver-based NeuroMed Pharmaceuticals, a biotech focused on new pain meds, discontinued Merck-funded work on an experimental pain drug called MK-6721. The Merck collaboration, valued at as much as $475 million, will continue.

Separately, NeuroMed has raised $36 million toward a fifth funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). That round isn’t yet complete, and the investors haven’t been disclosed. The funding is designed to pay for completing late-stage human trials of a separate pain drug the company recently licensed from a J&J subsidiary.

Adnexus raises $15.5M against cancer — Adnexus Therapeutics, a Waltham, Mass., biotech developing a new class of drugs against cancer and other diseases, raised $15.5 million in a third funding round. Investors included HBM BioVentures (Cayman), Atlas Venture, Flagship Ventures, Polaris Venture Partners and Venrock. The company intends to use the proceeds to further clinical development of its lead candidate, Angiocept, which is currently in early-stage trials in cancer.

Masimo IPO raises $233 million, jumps 23% on first day — Irvine, Calif.-based Masimo, a major developer of non-invasive patient monitors, priced its IPO in the middle of its predicted range of $16 to $18 per share, raising as much as $232.9 million — just shy of the quarter-million-dollar mark we discussed here. Since the offering involved a hefty chunk of shares sold by existing shareholders, however, the company can only pocket up to $55.9 million of the proceeds. Investors received the offering warmly, pushing the stock up to $20.90 yesterday, a rise of 23 percent.

Biofisica raises $2M in venture debt for wound healing — Atlanta’s Biofisica, a medical-device maker focused on wound healing, raised $2 million in debt financing from Leader Ventures. The company makes an electrical-stimulation device designed to speed the healing of wounds, and currently sells it in the United Kingdom.

Aegera acquires LymphoSign, uniting two Canadian oncology biotechs — Aegera Therapeutics, a Montreal biotech focused on cancer, acquired Toronto’s LymphoSign, another cancer-specialized biotech, for undisclosed terms. Several shareholders also made additional investments in Aegera’s previously announced third funding round.

InfuScience acquires Palmetto Infusion Services — InfuScience, a Chicago provider of drug-infusion therapy, acquired Palmetto Infusion Services of Beaufort, S.C., for an undisclosed sum.

UPDATE (6:40pm PT): Added KFx Medical item.

Santa Monica, Calif.-based Agensys, a biotech focused on new cancer drugs, raised $41 million in a fourth funding round. Duquesne Capital Management and JAFCO led the round, joined by Innovis Investments, Nextech Venture, Bear Stearns Health Innoventures, Alta Partners, HBM BioVentures, Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie, H&Q Life Sciences Investments, and Orbimed Associates.

Agensys develops monoclonal antibodies designed to target surface proteins or other molecules that specifically identify tumor cells. Its first drug candidate, AGS-PSCA, targets a protein known as prostate stem-cell antigen, which the company claims is found in a majority of patients with prostate, pancreatic and bladder cancer. In conjunction with Merck, Agensys launched an early stage phase I trial of AGS-PSCA in 2005 that apparently demonstrated the drug’s safety, although the company hasn’t had much to say about the drug since.

In January, the company also struck an agreement with Seattle Genetics to co-develop “antibody-drug conjugates,” which combine a toxic chemotherapy drug with an antibody designed to help it hone in on a targeted tumor.

Agensys was founded in 1997 as UroGenesys, but updated its name in 2001. It had previously raised $62.1 million in three rounds.

Irvine, Calif.-based Interventional Spine raised $24 million in a third round of funding that the company says will support the launch of several new products. The company makes implants and surgical instruments for “percutaneous” spinal operations that feature narrow incisions and, theoretically, less trauma for patients. Here is the company’s release.

Ascension Health Ventures led the round, joined by Wexford Capital, HBM BioVentures, Rock Creek Capital, the MedFocus Fund and a group of current investors.

BaroFold, a Boulder, Colo., biotech raised $12 million in a first round of funding. The company is developing PreEMT, a technology that uses high levels of fluid pressure to “unclump” biotech-drug proteins that have stuck together and to force proteins that have folded up incorrectly to unfold and refold into a proper configuration. The technology may be useful in boosting production yields of recombinant, or genetically engineered, proteins, which form the basis of many biotech drugs.

The financing was led by HBM BioVentures (Cayman)and Boulder Ventures, joined by the Peierls Foundation and other seed round investors. The round’s proceeds will fund the development of the company’s drug pipeline, including an experimental treatment for multiple sclerosis.

The company’s release is here (PDF).