VentureBeat

Featured companies: AngioScore, Forsight Labs, Genoptix, Metastatix, Optherion, QLT

UPDATED: See below.

Artery opener AngioScore pulls in $30M — AngioScore, a Fremont, Calif., maker of balloon catheters used to open up clogged arteries, raised $30 million in a fifth funding round. Investors included Telegraph Hill Partners, Psilos Group Management, QuestMark Partners, L.P., UV Partners, California Technology Ventures and Innomed Ventures.

AngioScore’s balloon catheters, which inflate inside blocked blood vessels to restore blood flow, are designed to overcome problems that sometimes occur during traditional angioplasty procedures. Conventional angioplasty can lead to tears and splits in the plaque that lines blocked arteries and can damage arterial walls as well. AngioScore claims its new catheter overcomes this problem by making precise cuts, or “scores,” in the plaque, thereby reducing the chance that it will crack and split unpredictably.

Optherion raises $37M for macular degeneration — New Haven, Conn.-based Optherion, a biotech focused on new treatments for forms of the eye condition macular degeneration, raised $37 million in a first funding round. Investors included Quaker BioVentures, Domain Associates, Johnson & Johnson Development, Purdue Pharmaceutical Products, Pappas Ventures, Biogen Idec New Ventures and GE Healthcare Financial Services.

Optherion is developing drugs that affect the “alternative complement pathway,” an arm of the immune system that may be implicated in two forms of macular degeneration, an eye condition that can lead to partial blindness, and possibly other autoimmune disorders as well. The company was founded in 2005 following discoveries that linked the alternative-complement system to macular degeneration.

Metastatix draws $35M for low-side-effect drugs — Atlanta’s Metastatix, a biotech working on drugs for AIDS, cancer and inflammatory disease, raised $35 million in a second financing round. Investors included Frazier Healthcare, H.I.G. Ventures, the Aurora Funds, CM Capital, SR One, MedImmune Ventures, Georgia Venture Partners, Centrosome Ventures and the State of Georgia.

Metastatix is developing drugs that block a cellular receptor called CXCR4, which is best known as one of the two ways HIV can enter and infect cells. CXCR4 may also be involved in cancer and inflammation. Metastatix says it is particularly focused on drug candidates with the “fewest possible side effects.”

Optical-device incubator Forsight Labs sells unnamed “newco” to QLT for $42M+ — Forsight Labs, an incubator for optical-device companies backed by Morgenthaler Ventures, Split Rock Partners and Versant Ventures, agreed to sell its second, unnamed startup to QLT for $42 million plus milestone payments that could be worth $25 million or more. The startup, known only as ForSight NewCo II, has developed a new type of ocular drug-delivery system that could potentially be used to treat a variety of conditions including glaucoma. The release describing the deal is here.

Diagnostic-services company Genoptix sets IPO terms, aims for $92M — The Carlsbad, Calif., provider of cancer and blood-disease diagnostic services, said it plans to sell up to 5.75 million shares at a price of $14 to $16 apiece, for a maximum possible take of $92 million. The company’s SEC filing is here. We covered the company in some detail at the time of its IPO filing here.

UPDATE: Added items on Metastatix and Optherion.

(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 C and other viral infections. None of its drugs have entered human tests yet.

EndoGastric Solutions pulls in $30M for “transoral” surgeries — Redmond, Wash.-based EndoGastric Solutions, a medical-device maker developing products for incision-free gastrointestinal surgery, raised $30 million in a fourth funding round. Investors included DeNovo Ventures, Chicago Growth Partners, MPM Capital, Advanced Technology Ventures, Foundation Medical Partners, and Oakwood Medical Investors.

In March, EndoGastric received FDA clearance for a device it calls the StomaphyX, a disposable surgical instrument that can be passed into the stomach or the intestines via a patient’s mouth. Although EndoGastric isn’t too clear on exactly what the StomaphyX is for — the company says it’s for use in “endoluminal transoral tissue approximation and ligation” — the device appears to be a sort of staple gun that can fasten together parts of the stomach or intestines. EndoGastric says the device can be used to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease, and its Web site appears to suggest that it can also perform bariatric surgery from inside the stomach as a treatment for obesity.

Agendia gets $34M for gene-based diagnostics — Amsterdam-based Agendia, a developer of gene-based diagnostic tests for cancer, raised $34 million (€25 million) in a fourth funding round. Investors included ING, Van Herk Biotech, Gilde Healthcare Partners and Global Life Science Ventures.

Agendia, founded in 2003, sells diagnostic tests that assess the “activity level” of various genes in tumor tissue, a technique that allows it to predict whether, for instance, a woman has a high or a low risk of seeing her breast cancer return. That test, sold under the brand name MammaPrint, was approved in the U.S. in February. Agendia has developed similar tests for identifying unknown cancers and for assessing the prognosis of colon cancer.

MedManage Systems, a drug-sampling service provider, receives $5M — MedManage Systems, a Bothell, Wash., company that helps drug manufacturers push free samples into the hands of doctors in order to “build brands,” raised $5 million of a planned $10 million financing, PE Hub reports, citing a regulatory filing. Investors include Lilly Ventures, Prism VentureWorks, QuestMark Partners and Versant Ventures.

At heart, MedManage’s business seems to be a consulting service that uses a mix of technology, data analysis and old-fashioned legwork make it easy for physicians to hand out free drug samples, which the MedManage site calls “a proven marketing strategy” for “influenc[ing] physician prescribing behavior.”

The company’s Web site is larded up with all manner of marketing buzzwords, but it’s actually fascinating to read through. That’s because most folks in the pharmaceutical industry would never admit that drug samples are part of a sophisticated marketing program aimed at getting doctors used to particular brands and patients to request them by name. (Large drug companies would prefer you to believe that they give away free drugs out of the kindness of their heart and sympathy for the people who can’t afford their products.) MedManage, however, makes no bones about using samples to push particular drugs. So for a peek behind the curtain, check out MedManage’s description of what it calls its “OmniSample Solution” — it’s very illuminating.

Xoova raises $2.5M for medical social-networking — Santa Monica, Calif.-based Xoova, a social network for doctors and patients, has raised $2.5 million in a first funding round last year, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Spark Capital Partners provided the funding.

Xoova allows physicians to post profiles of themselves online, much the way Facebook and similar services do for the general population. Xoova CEO Tommy McGloin estimates that 20,000 doctors have already done so, a number he hopes will grow to 100,000 by the time he begins raising an expected $5 million round next year.

Consumers can search the doctor profiles and, in some cases, can make appointments online if the doctor has signed up for a free Xoova service. McGloin said the company intends to roll out new features in coming months, although the one cited by VentureWire — allowing patients to both book and cancel appointments online — sounds awfully mundane.

Cardiac-device maker FlowCo raises $250K — FlowCo, an Indianapolis medical-device developer, raised $250,000 in a seed financing. BioCrossroads provided the funding. FlowCo, which doesn’t have a Web site, is working on a new catheter for deploying arterial stents, the wire-mesh devices that prop open clogged arteries, more accurately.

ParagonDx acquires Gentris unit for early diagnostics — ParagonDx, apparently a newly formed Morrisville, N.C., biotech firm focused on molecular diagnostics, said it acquired the Gentris Diagnostics unit of Gentris, a pharmacogenomics firm also based in Morrisville. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

It’s not immediately clear exactly what this transaction means — I’m assuming ParagonDx was essentially spun out of Gentris, but the release isn’t terribly clear on that point. There are also some other oddities, such as the fact that as of this moment, the ParagonDx URL redirects to the Gentris site. It’s entirely possible that they’re just working out merger-day glitches, but it’s also possible something else weird is going on.

UPDATE (3:10pm PT): Added items on MedManage Systems, Xoova, FlowCo and ParagonDx/Gentris.

Naviscan PET Systems, a San Diego maker of high-resolution positron-emission tomography (PET) scanners, raised $15 million in a third round of funding led by QuestMark Partners.

Returning investors included Sanderling Ventures, Mayo Medical Ventures and Walker Ventures. The company plans to use the new funding to continue clinical validation and commercialization of its PEM Flex Solo II PET scanner, which it claims can image tumors less than two millimeters in diameter.

Naviscan, previously based in Rockville, Md., last raised $6.5 million in Nov. 2005. See the company’s release on its latest funding here.