Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Immune-system specialty pharma Circassia raises £11M (release)
Cancer-biomarker biotech CS-Keys takes in $6.3M (release)
Neuro-robotic device maker Myomo receives $3M (VentureWire)
Micropharma draws C$1.8M for nutraceutical delivery (VentureWire)
Avalon Labs gets $66M for disposable life-support components (release)
Gloucester Pharma names Alan Colowick as CEO (release)
ConforMIS names Philipp Lang as CEO (release)
Pharma-marketing firm TargetRx names Craig Scott as CEO (release)
Immune-system specialty pharma Circassia raises £11M – Circassia, an Oxford, England biotech focused on immune-system disorders, raised £11 million ($21.8 million) in… Continue Reading
Akermin raises $5M for fuel-cell bioenzymes
NOTE: This item also appears in Monday’s daily briefing at VentureBeat Life Sciences.
Akermin, a St. Louis developer of new biocatalytic enzymes, raised $5 million in a second tranche of its first funding round. Investors included Prolog Ventures, OnPoint Technologies, Chrysalix Energy and the St. Louis Arch Angels.
Akermin works with catalytic enzymes — molecules that speed particular chemical reactions — developed with biotechnology that could replace precious-metal catalysts now used in fuel cells. The company is developing… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007
Featured companies: Akermin, Fluxion Biosciences, iCardiacTechnologies, Wellocities
UPDATED: Expanded items on Fluxion, Akermin, and Wellocities.
Fluxion Bio draws in $6.9M for cell-analysis tools — Fluxion Biosciences, a San Francisco developer of cellular-analysis tools, raised $6.9 million in a second funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Investors included Kodiak Venture Partners, Claremont Creek Ventures and Life Science Angels.
Fluxion takes the idea of running chemical reactions against living cells — a key step in screening and analyzing the activity of drug… Continue Reading
LightFull Foods raises $1M more for health beverages
San Francisco-based health beverage company LightFull Foods raised an extra $1 million in addition, adding to the $6.1 million second round of financing it recently raised last year.
Burrill & Co. led the latest investment, which included Prolog Ventures, Palo Alto Investors, Great Spirit Ventures, Unilever NV and angel investors, according to VentureWire (subscription required).
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007
Featured companies: Acceleron Pharma, AdvanDx, Altheus Therapeutics, BiPar Sciences, Coventina Healthcare Enterprises, ForteBio, Ganymed Pharmaceuticals, Mako Surgical, Nile Therapeutics, Novate Medical
[NOTE: This briefing was posted on Friday, 9/21/07; I've edited its timestamp to preserve chronological order among the briefings.]
Nile Therapeutics raises $20M, goes public in reverse merger — Berkeley, Calif.-based Nile Therapeutics, a developer of cardiovascular drugs, raised $20 million from new and existing investors and carried out a reverse merger that takes the company public…. 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
Attune Foods raises $8.3M to expand probiotics natural food venture
Attune Foods, a San Francisco natural foods company, said it has secured $8.3 million in a second round of funding.
New investors include Fonterra, LSP BioVentures and Nestlé, along with original investors Burrill & Company, Great Spirit Ventures, Prolog Ventures and Unilever Ventures, the company said in a statement.
Attune promotes a style of health food called probiotics (see definition). The company launched its retail operations in January, with a line of chocolate and yogurt &… Continue Reading