VentureBeat

Featured companies: Acceleron Pharma, Bledsoe Brace Systems, Eurobiobiz, Genoptix, Harmony Information Systems, ImmuneWorks, Pasteuria Bioscience, Renal CarePartners, Quantum Genomics, Synergy Software, Vitreo Retinal Technology

UPDATED: Expanded items on Genoptix and Acceleron Pharma.

Diagnostics biotech Genoptix prices IPO above range, raises up to $98M — Genoptix became one of the first biotechs in a long time to demonstrate some oomph with an IPO, pricing its shares above its expected range and then soaring nearly 50 percent in its first day of trading. Genoptix priced its shares at $17 apiece, above its expected range of $14 to $16, netting itself as much as $97.8 million in the process. (Actually, existing shareholders sold close to three-quarters of a million shares in the IPO, so the proceeds to Genoptix are more like $85.6 million.)

At the very least, the positive reception appears to support the notion that biotech investors are currently more interested in reliable service businesses such as Genoptix’s diagnostics work than they are in traditional biotech moon shots, since they offer lower risk even at the cost of slower growth. Perhaps there’s hope for Talecris Biotherapeutics after all.

We’ve covered the company here and here. The offering initially valued Genoptix at $265.2 million, although today’s share run-up to $25.35 now values the company at $395.5 million. Genoptix provides diagnostic services to cancer and blood-disease specialists in order to help with diagnosing and selecting appropriate treatments for various cancers.

Acceleron Pharma draws in $31M for tissue-regeneration drugs — Cambridge, Mass.-based Acceleron Pharma, a biotech focused on “regenerative” drugs that target a family of growth and development proteins, raised $31 million in a third funding round. Investors included Bessemer Venture Partners, MPM BioEquities, QVT Financial, Advanced Technology Ventures, Flagship Ventures, OrbiMed Advisors, Polaris Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures and Venrock.

The company’s lead drug candidate, ACE-011, aims to stimulate bone regrowth in cancer patients. That drug should move into mid-stage clinical trials in the first quarter of next year. The company intends to begin early human tests of two other drugs — one designed to increase muscle mass and strength, the other an “anti-angiogenesis” cancer drug — next year.

OTHER HEADLINES OF NOTE:

• Medical-IT co. Harmony Info raises $28M, acquires Synergy Software (release)
• Vitreo Retinal Tech adds $3M to round for eye drugs (PE Hub)
• ImmuneWorks gets $300K for lung-disease drugs (release)
• Bledsoe Brace sells majority stake to Essex Woodlands (PE Hub)
• Quantum Genomics acquires Eurobiobiz (release)
• Renal CarePartners acquires two dialysis providers (VentureWire, sub req’d)
• Pasteuria Bioscience names David Duncan new CEO (release)

Athersys, a Cleveland, Ohio biotech, went public via reverse merger and raised $65 million in a private placement. The company’s release is here.

Founded in 1995, Athersys is active in a bewildering number of areas. Its lead product candidate is an appetite-suppressing drug that acts on a serotonin receptor in the brain called 5HT2c, and in general the company describes itself as focused on metabolic and neurological conditions. But it is also at work on an adult-derived stem-cell treatment for heart disease, stroke and bone-marrow transplant patients. None of these products, however, appear to be in human trials yet, which is sort of intriguing given how long the company has been around.

It turns out that Athersys is also a biotech chameleon. In 2000, it filed to raise $115 million in an IPO. According to its S-1 registration statement, the company was then a “functional genomics” company, which essentially means it surveyed large numbers of genes in an attempt to determine their function. Although popular during the genomics bubble of 1999-2000, this sort of business tended not to pan out for many companies. Athersys withdrew its proposed IPO six months after it was filed.

The Athersys funding was led by Radius Ventures, joined by OrbiMed Advisors, RA Capital Management, Accipiter Capital Management, Hambrecht & Quist Capital Management, MPM BioEquities, and Pappas Ventures.