Complete Genomics seals $45M for cheaper gene sequencing
Complete Genomics, provider of supposedly cheaper and faster DNA sequencing services, has raised $45 million in a fourth round of funding — a huge amount for a biotech company in today’s economic environment. Based in Mountain View, Calif., the company says it will be able to sequence people’s genes in only a few days, and for the bargain price of $5,000.
Apparently, genetic companies are where it’s at in the life science market right now. Earlier… Continue Reading
Medical device maker Emphasys on the auction block
Emphasys Medical, maker of a valve that diverts air to only the healthy parts of lungs in emphysema patients, has put itself up for sale after the Food and Drug Administration rejected its lead product in December. This is the second relatively recent defeat for the Redwood City, Calif.-based company, which had to withdraw its IPO filing last May. Since then, all but five of its 50 employees have been laid off.
Founded in 2000, Emphasys… Continue Reading
Singulex lands $19M for diagnostic systems
Singulex, an Alameda, Calif.-based biotech firm, just raised $19 million in fifth-round funding to commercialize technology that uses protein biomarkers to diagnose cardiovascular and other disorders. Already in clinical trials, its system gauges changes in biomarker levels in the bloodstream to give doctors information on the progression and potential management of disease. Singulex has already forged partnerships with several pharmaceutical companies using the system to measure the effects of various drugs during clinical trials.
The recent… Continue Reading
Cancer drug developer ChemoCentryx cancels IPO
Mountain View, Calif.-based biotech firm ChemoCentryx announced that it withdrew its filing to go public, citing (as per usual) unfavorable market conditions. The company, which develops drugs to treat cancer and autoimmune ailments like Crohn’s disease, raked in $50 million from its partner GlaxoSmithKline just last month, but the downturn-prompted freeze on IPOs has yet to thaw.
While only four health care companies have been able to go public this year, the company says that the… Continue Reading
ForteBio raises $25M for life science analytical instruments
ForteBio is a Menlo Park, Calif. company that makes instruments for biomolecular analysis in the life sciences. Its instruments can measure proteins, DNA, RNA and other small molecules without the use of labels.
Label-free measurement dispenses with the chemical markers that most techniques use, allowing for faster and cheaper analysis.
The company took $25 million from OrbiMed Advisors, MPM Capital, Alloy Ventures, Latterell Venture Partners, Versant Ventures and Vertical Group. This was ForteBio’s third funding; in its… Continue Reading
InterKrin raises $18.5M for continued work on diabetes drug
Palo Alto, Calif.-based InterKrin is developing an anti-diabetes drug. It has raised an $18.5 million in a not-yet-closed third round of funding, according to VentureWire. The round was led by Amgen and Skyline Ventures and joined by existing backers Sofinnova Ventures, OrbiMed Advisors, Asset Management, Sears Capital Management and Vivo Ventures.
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: Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Teva acquires protein-therapeutic maker CoGenesys for $400M (release)
ViewRay takes in $25M for MRI radiation-therapy guidance (release)
NovaMed, Chinese clinical-research outfit, receives $14M (release)
Progentix Ortho raises first funding round (release)
Medical imaging co. Point Biomedical recaps with $25M (VentureWire)
Lumidigm takes in $7M for optical-fingerprint ID systems (VW)
Medical-software co. Compressus aims to close $14M round (VW)
Channel Medical Partners aims for $150M med-tech fund (VW)
Spinal-implant maker Scient’x names Michael Huggins as CEO (release)
Specialty pharma Cardiokine names Manuel Worcel as… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007
Featured companies: Advanced Bio-Surfaces, Ambit Biosciences, EnteroMedics, Molecular Vision, Skyline Ventures
UPDATED: Expanded items on Skyline Ventures, Ambit, and Molecular Vision, and moved EnteroMedics to a new item here.
Skyline Ventures raises $350M life-sciences fund — Skyline Ventures, a Palo Alto, Calif., VC firm, closed a $350 million fund for healthcare and life-sciences investments. The fund is Skyline’s fifth.
Skyline is unquestionably coming off a hot streak. As it notes in its release, three of its portfolio companies were acquired… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2007
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… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Oct. 8, 2007
Featured companies: AirInSpace, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Apollo Endosurgery, Ascension Health Partners, BG Medicine, CeraPedics, GlaxoSmithKline, Simplex Diabetic Supply, Zars Pharma
UPDATED: Last entry added at 2am PT on 10/8/07.
Anacor Pharma pulls in $22M from Glaxo, with hundreds of millions more on the line –Palo Alto, Calif.-based Anacor Pharmaceuticals, a biotech developing new anti-infective and anti-inflammatory drugs using boron chemistry, struck a wide-ranging partnership with GlaxoSmithKline worth up to $605 million. Anacor will receive a $12 million cash payment and… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007
Featured companies: Enobia, F-star, N Spine, Omni Life Science
Enobia splints together $38M for bone disorders — Montreal’s Enobia, a biotech focused on aiming drugs specifically at bone diseases, raised C$40.1 million ($38 million) in a second funding round. Investors included OrbiMed Advisors, CTI Life Sciences Fund, the Fonds de solidarite FTQ, Desjardins Venture Capital, Lothian Partners and T2C2/Bio 2000.
Enobia intends to deliver bone-related drugs directly to bone tissue in order to reduce both dosages and possible… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Aug. 20, 2007
(UPDATED at 7:10pm PT: See below.)
Featured companies: NeurAxon, VytronUS, Avila Therapeutics, CardioNet, Ventana Medical Systems, CytoLogix, PlaCor
NeurAxon raises $32M for pain drugs — You have to hand it to Waltham, Mass.-based NeurAxon — the company certainly knows how to keep itself in the news. Today, it announced it has raised $32 million in a second funding round, a week after it reported a positive early-stage trial result for its experimental migraine treatment.
Investors included Delphi Ventures, OrbiMed Advisors,… Continue Reading
Cleveland biotech Athersys raises $65M with reverse-merger
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… Continue Reading
Biomarker-diagnostics developer Singulex validates $19M
Hayward, Calif.-based Singulex, a developer of sensitive molecular-detection systems, raised $19 million in a fourth funding round. The company’s release is here.
The company is developing an analysis system, called Erenna, plus related “assays,” or specially designed biochemical tests, that are designed to detect individual protein molecules in biological samples such as blood. Such tests could be useful for detecting or diagnosing disease, monitoring the effect of drug treatment, and other research and diagnostic purposes. For… Continue Reading
Sientra, device maker for plastic surgery, raises $85M
Sientra, a Santa Barbara medical device company focused on plastic surgery and aesthetics medicine, said it raised a $85 million second round of financing — one of the largest private funding rounds in the medical device sector.
Sientra also announced that it has acquired the assets of Silimed Inc., a leading developer of plastic surgery implants for both cosmetic and reconstructive surgery.
The round was co-led by OrbiMed Advisors and Clarus Ventures, and included Goldman Sachs and… Continue Reading
ChemoCentryx, autoimmune disease drug co., raises $29.84M
ChemoCentryx, a Mountain View, Calif. developer of oral drugs for autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases and oncology, has raised $29.84 million in forth round of funding, according to a regulatory filing cited by PE Week. Glaxo Group Ltd. was joined by existing investors, including Alta Partners, GIMV, HBM BioVentures and OrbiMed Advisors.
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
InteKrin, a co. that fights diabetes and obesity, raises $23M
InteKrin Therapeutics, Inc., a Palo Alto company developing products to counter diabetes, metabolism and obesity, said it has raised $23 million in venture financing.
The financing was led by Sofinnova Ventures and included Orbimed Advisors and Vivo Ventures, as well as earlier investors Asset Management and Sears Capital Management. The round will fund the clinical development of InteKrin’s lead drug candidate, INT131, targeting type II diabetes, the company said.
(This story first posted 1/12)
Forest Labs aquires pharma company, Cerexa, for up to $580M
Forest Laboratories said it has acquired Cerexa, a venture-backed biopharmaceutical company in Alameda, Calif., for $480 million. It will pay $100 million more if certain milestones are met.
That’s a quick buy for Cerexa, which was spun out of another company, Peninsula Pharmaceuticals in August 2005.
It is not clear how much money investors made. A group of investors gave $50 million to Cerexa after the spin-out, but presumably Cerexa already carried some worth, and so investors… Continue Reading