Life-science briefing: Wednesday, April 9, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Stemline Therapeutics, cancer stem-cell startup, gets $13M (release)
Eye-disease biotech Potentia Pharma raises $12M (release)
Sample-prep toolmaker Arcxis aims for $8M to $10M (VentureWire)
Synvascular names Drew Hoffman as CEO (VentureWire)
ArtusLabs gets $2.6M for life-science software and services (release)
Cancer-drug maker Inotek loses CEO, Genentech partnership (release)
GTESS, health-plan IT startup, names James Bradley CEO (release)
Antibiotic developer Tetraphase Pharma names Guy MacDonald CEO (release)
Stemline Therapeutics, cancer stem-cell startup, gets $13M – New York-based Stemline Therapeutics, a biotech focused on new… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Dec. 3, 2007
Featured companies: CoMentis, ForHealth Technologies, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, QuantomiX, Progenitor Cell Therapy, River Diagnostics, Topaz Pharmaceuticals
UPDATED: Expanded items on CoMentis, Topaz and ForHealth.
CoMentis gets $12M for eye, Alzheimer’s treatments — South San Francisco’s CoMentis, a biotech pursuing treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and macular degeneration, raised $12 million in a third funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Wellington Management provided the funding.
The company’s lead drug candidate, ATG003, is an eye drop designed to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007
Featured companies: AstraZeneca, Atlantis Components, Cara Therapeutics, CardioMems, Corium International, New Ortho Polymers, Osprey Pharmaceuticals, Othera Pharmaceuticals, StrataGent Life Sciences
Corium acquires Stratagent, raises $25.1M for “transdermal” drugs — Corium International, a Menlo Park, Calif., biotech focused on drugs that can be delivered through the skin, said it will acquire StrataGent Life Sciences of San Jose, Calif., for an undisclosed sum. At the same time, Corium raised $25.1 million in a third funding round, and said it… Continue Reading
VisionCare’s implantable microtelescope — a bionic eye for AMD-related blindness
An implantable and odd-looking microtelescope from a Saratoga, Calif., device maker could be one of the next big things in treating a common form of blindness — assuming that patients are willing to endure arduous surgery in order to obtain their new bionic eyes.
Age-related macular degeneration — a progressive loss of sight related to physical changes in the central retina, also called the macula — is the leading cause of blindness among elderly Americans, now… 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 with a rocket-science aptamer-based blindness drug called Macugen and a flashy $157 million IPO, then proceeded to get its head handed to it by even better rocket science from Genentech,… 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 next five years from an affiliate of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to further its work against the genetic lung disease. The money will be paid as FoldRx meets various developmental… Continue Reading