Life-science briefing: Friday, April 11, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Stent maker IDev Tech raises $25M (VentureWire)
Xytis gets $15M for brain-injury drugs (VentureWire)
Diagnostic maker Iris Biotech plans to go public, launch breast-cancer test (Edgar)
RiverVest Venture Partners raises $75M life-science fund (release)
Concentric Medical names Maria Sainz CEO (release)
[Note: I’m a little sad to announce that this will be my last life-science briefing at VentureBeat, although with luck, it won’t be the end of my time here. Starting Monday, I’ll be blogging regularly on the drug industry and… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Luminous Medical raises $24M for automated glucose monitoring (release)
Alimera Sciences gets $30M for eye-disease drug (release)
Vaccine maker LigoCyte draws $28M (release)
Heartbeat tracker CardioNet trims IPO, aims for listing today (IPOhome)
Axial Biotech takes in $6M for spinal diagnostics (release)
Insulin bioengineer enGene receives $6.4M (release)
GlucoLight raises funding for, well, glucose monitoring (release)
Germany’s InflaRx gets seed funding for sepsis work (release)
Cell imager Amnis pulls in $3.5M (VentureWire)
Korea Bone Bank gets funding for bone transplants (release)
Luminous Medical raises… Continue Reading
New biotech startup Excaliard Pharma raises $16M for a fresh stab at antisense drugs
(UPDATED: See below.)
“Antisense” drugs that aim to shut down disease-related genes have long been out of favor, and these days live in the shadow of a hotter and newer technology — RNA interference — that does much the same thing. But that hasn’t stopped Encinitas, Calif.-based Excaliard Pharmaceuticals, a newly formed biotech focused on scarring and “fibrotic” conditions, from taking a fresh stab at the field.
The startup just licensed a slew of antisense technology from Isis… Continue Reading
TissueLink raises $20M for blood-loss products
TissueLink Medical, a Dover, N.H., developer of systems that limit blood loss during surgery, raised $20 million from insiders in a fifth funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required).
From the VentureWire report:
Existing investors RiverVest Venture Partners and TLM Investors LLC, a group headed by Anthony Arnerich, chief executive of consultancy Arnerich Massena & Associates Inc. led the round, said John Landry, controller of TissueLink.
TissueLink’s coagulators and sealers use electric energy conducted through a saline solution to… Continue Reading
Xoft raises $33.2M for breast cancer treatment
Xoft, a Fremont Ca. developer of a treatment to reduce the recurrence of breast cancer, said it has raised $33.2 million in a fourth round of financing, and plans to treat its first patients.
See statement here.
The company says its Axxent Electronic Brachytherapy System “uses a miniaturized X-ray source that can deliver localized and targeted radiation treatment,” and can be used in pretty much any environment, including unshielded environments.
The company has now raised a total of… Continue Reading