Juvaris gets infusion for infectious disease vaccines
Juvaris BioTherapeutics, a Burlingame, Calif.-based developer of vaccines to treat infectious diseases, announced that it raised financing toward its targeted $25 million second round of funding from SV Life Sciences and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The company wouldn’t put a finer point on the… Continue Reading
LensX Lasers nabs $22M for eye surgery lasers
LensX Lasers, a maker of surgical lasers used to repair cataracts, has brought in $22.36 million in a second round of funding from Versant Ventures, InterWest Partners and SV Life Sciences. Based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., the company was founded by the same team as… Continue Reading
Neovista sees $18M to treat eye disorders
Neovista, a Fremont, Calif.-based biotech company specializing in eye diseases, says it raised $18 million in a fourth round of funding to commercialize its new device. The money came from Accuitive Medical Ventures, Carlyle Group, Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, MPM Capital, SV Life Sciences and… Continue Reading
ReShape beefs up with $20M to bust fat
ReShape Medical, maker of a non-surgical device said to treat obesity, just reeled in $20 million in second-round funding to launch a trial of its lead product. Based in San Clemente, Calif., the company’s actual technology remains fairly stealthy.
The investment came from US Venture Partners,… Continue Reading
Concentric Medical closes $15M to ease stroke symptoms
Concentric Medical, developer of minimally invasive devices used to remove blood clots in ischemic stroke patients, took $15 million in new venture backing to expand its product portfolio and run more clinical trials. The Mountain View, Calif. company says it ended 2008 on a strong… Continue Reading
EBR Systems gets $35 million for new style pacemaker
EBR Systems, which develops cardiac pacing devices, has raised a $35 million third round of financing. This money will help it take its product to clinical trials, according to VentureWire.
Delphi Ventures led this round, with existing investors De Novo Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Split Rock… Continue Reading
Itero Biopharmaceuticals raises $21M for proteins and antibodies
Itero Biopharmaceuticals, a San Mateo, Calif. startup working with follow-on and therapeutic proteins and antibodies, raised a $21 million first round of financing and announced a partnership with Biological E., an Indian manufacturing firm.
Alongside its partner, Itero will begin development of differentiated follow-on proteins and… Continue Reading
Sinexus gets $20M, Entellus takes $15M for sinus products
Feeling stuffy? Two sinus-focused companies, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sinexus and Maple Grove, Minn.-based Entellus, want to help out, with fresh rounds of funding for product development.
Venture funding for ear, nose & throat (ENT) companies hasn’t been terribly common in the past, but seems to be… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Tuesday, March 25, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Antibody-discovery startup Adimab raises new funding (release)
Lung-device maker Spiration gets $19M (release)
Sample-prep startup Protein Discovery pulls in $10M (release)
Inogen takes in $13M for portable oxygen device (VentureWire)
Healthcare IT concern Medaptus raises $11M for expansion (VentureWire)
Contract lab Synexis raises $14M (peHUB)
Medical-device VC firm BioStar Ventures takes… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Thursday, March 20, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Vantia Thera spins out of Ferring, raises £19M (PDF release)
Third Eye gets $150K for intracranial-pressure monitor (release)
Diabetes tester Oculir closes doors, returns capital (VentureWire)
Catalyst Health Ventures raising $60M fund (VentureWire)
Vantia Thera spins out of Ferring, raises £19M – Vantia Therapeutics, a U.K. spinout of Ferring… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Affinergy gets $3M in grants for biological “linkers” (release)
Specialty pharma EUSA raises $50M, spends $23M for public biotech Cytogen (release)
Calderome takes in $12M for cancer diagnostics (peHUB)
Pulse Health raises $2M for handheld free-radical device (release)
LifeMasters takes in $15M for wellness, disease-management programs (release)
Dubai Techno… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Friday, March 7, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Allegro pulls in $4M for lung-cancer molecular diagnostics (release)
Ocular bandage developer I-Therapeutix raises $6M (Mass High Tech)
NanoBio gets last of $30M for skin-infection drugs (release)
Cayenne Medical raises $15M for sports medicine (release)
Aridis Pharma seeks $10M for oral-form drugs and vaccines (VentureWire)
Neurosurgical device maker Nfocus… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Feb. 15, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Q Thera takes in $15M for neural stem-cell treatments (release)
Stroke clotbuster Concentric Medical withdraws IPO (IPOhome)
Avera recaps with $9M to relaunch human tests of GI drug (VentureWire)
Tissue repairer Nerites raises $5.7M (release)
Semafore Pharma aims for $7.5M to launch new cancer-drug trials (VentureWire)
Triage Wireless gets… Continue Reading
The fundamental biology of making biotech proteins without cells, courtesy of Fundamental Applied Biology
Biotechnology owes its birth as an industry to the discovery of recombinant DNA, which allowed researchers to make particular proteins by tinkering with cellular genomes. Inserting the gene for human insulin into a bacterial cell, for instance, turns it into an insulin factory. The same… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007
Featured companies: Atritech, Avalon Partners, Ensemble Discovery, Hyperion Therapeutics, LifeBond, ReShape Medical, SafeStitch, Trophos, UltraShape
Hyperion Therapeutics raises $40M against GI and kidney disease — Hyperion Therapeutics, a South San Francisco, Calif., specialty pharmaceutical company, raised $40 million in a second funding round. Investors included Sofinnova Ventures,… Continue Reading
Double vision: Ophthotech, Eyetech and Lux BioSciences
When news that the brand-new startup Ophthotech had raised a $36 million first round broke on Monday, it was clear that the venture amounted to a kind of do-over for officials of the late, unlamented Eyetech Pharmaceuticals. Eyetech, you might recall, burst onto the scene… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Aug. 13, 2007
(UPDATED: See below.)
Featured companies: FoldRx Pharmaceuticals, Ophthotech, Pevion Biotech, Restoration Robotics, Glide Pharma, Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Nanosphere, SurModics, BioFX Laboratories
FoldRx Pharma to receive $22M against cystic fibrosis — Cambridge, Mass.-based FoldRx Pharmaceuticals, a biotech focused on diseases that result from misfolded proteins, will get $22 million over the… Continue Reading
Funding roundup: Announcements that got away
Although I try to stay on top of events in the life sciences, announcements do sometimes manage to slip through the cracks. Some days, in fact, I end up triaging. Because the roots of this site — not to mention many of its readers —… Continue Reading
Adimab: A potential one-stop shop for antibodies
Adimab, a Lebanon, N.H., biotech startup developing a “platform” for the discovery and commercialization of yeast-derived antibodies, raised $6 million in a first funding round (hat tips to the In Vivo Blog and VentureWire). The company was founded by Darthmouth’s Tillman Gerngross — who co-founded… Continue Reading
Accelecare: Outsourcing difficult wound treatments
Accelecare Wound Centers (no link), a Seattle provider of specialized medical care for difficult-to-treat wounds such as diabetic ulcers, raised $10 million of an anticipated $35 million first funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). SV Life Sciences and Bain Capital each contributed $5 million, and… Continue Reading