Aptus takes $30M to repair aneurysms

Aptus Endosystems, a biotech firm working on a device to fix abdominal aneurysms, just brought in $30 million in third-round funding to finish off clinical trials of its Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair System, reports VentureWire. Heron Capital led the round, which also included Longitude Capital, Oakwood Medical Investors, Baird Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, Prism VentureWorks and US Venture Partners.

The Sunnyvale, Calif. company says the round should be enough to cover the U.S. launch of the… 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

Cytyc to buy women’s contraception company, Adiana, for up to $215M

Cytyc Corporation, a publicly traded company targeting women’s health and cancer diagnostics, said it has agreed to acquire Adiana, a venture-backed Redwood City company that has developed a “non-incisional alternative to tubal ligation” for permanent contraception for women.

Cytyc, based in Marlborough, Mass., will make an initial upfront $60 million cash payment, and depending on milestones, such as whether Adiana’s product meets FDA approval, and sales growth over the next few years, total payments could reach… Continue Reading