VentureBeat

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• Compact ultrasound maker Zonare Medical raises $30M (VentureWire)
• TherOx raises $30M for hypersaturated-oxygen devices (peHUB)
• Accumetrics, antiplatelet-drug diagnostic maker, raises $29M (release)
• Population Genetics takes in £3.8M for massively parallel genome studies (GenomeWeb)
• “Brain fitness” trainer Dakim raises $11M (release)
• BioIQ, home-diagnostics maker, takes in $2.5M (release)
• Hospital med-tracker Sabal Medical raises funds (release)
• Seattle’s PharmaIN gets $400K NIH grant for nanoparticle staph drug (PDF release)
• SensiGen, molecular-diagnostics developer, receives Michigan state loan (release)
• Arcus Ventures aims for $50M fund, targets cancer (VentureWire)

Compact ultrasound maker Zonare Medical raises $30M – Zonare Medical Systems, a Mountain View, Calif., maker of ultrasound-imaging systems, raised $30 million in a recent seventh funding round, VentureWire reports. Existing investors provided the funding, a group that includes Frazier Healthcare Ventures, 3i Group, Mosaix Ventures, CB Health Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvestson, Ascension Health Ventures, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Earlybird, Saints Capital, Merrill Lynch Venture Capital and Texas Instruments.

The company said the funding should set it on the road to profitability and eventually to a hope-for IPO. Zonare makes compact ultrasound systems that can be used in sonography and for a variety of other medical diagnostic purposes.

TherOx raises $30M for hypersaturated-oxygen devices – TherOx, an Irvine, Calif., maker of oxygenation devices for treating heart attacks, raised $30 million in a tenth funding round, peHUB reports. Investors included Kleiner Perkins, Integral Capital Partners and New Science Ventures.

The startup makes devices that supersaturate blood with oxygen, then infuse that blood into areas of the heart at risk of damage from oxygen starvation due to a heart attack. TherOx has now raised over $120 million in venture funding.

Accumetrics, antiplatelet-drug diagnostic maker, raises $29M – San Diego’s Accumetrics, a maker of diagnostics that measure patient response to anti-platelet drugs, raised $28.8 million in a fourth round of funding. Investors included Arnerich Massena & Associates, BBT Fund, Essex Woodland Health Ventures, RiverVest, PTV Sciences, KB Partners and Kaiser Permanente Ventures.

The startup makes a system that measures how well individuals are reacting to treatment with anti-platelet drugs, which are used to prevent or help dislodge major blood clots. Since patient response can vary widely, often as a result of genetic factors (see our coverage of this sort of “personalized medicine” here), such monitoring can help doctors avoid dangerous overdoses or to switch unresponsive patients to higher doses or different drugs as necessary.

Population Genetics Technologies takes in £3.8M for massively parallel genome studies – Population Genetics Technologies, a U.K. startup devoted to technologies for studying thousands of genomes at once, raised £3.8 million ($5.9 million) in a first funding round, GenomeWeb reported. Investors included Auriga Partners, Noble Fund Managers, and Compass Genetics Investors.

The company raised £1.1 million in seed funding from the Wellcome Trust back in 2005 to aid in the development of the technology. PGT is working on a technique devised by Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner that purports to analyze genetic variation in DNA samples from thousands of individuals at once.

In this 2005 release, PGT co-founder Sam Eletr described the method as “will allow the mixing of thousands of samples in one test tube and the simultaneous interrogation [analysis] of all of them in one experiment, instead of in as many experiments as there are genomes in a population…. We expect our technology to allow handling much larger numbers of genomes than pooling does and to have the further advantage of protecting the identities of individuals involved in any population study by allocating them a code that may be kept confidential. We expect it also be applicable to any collection of DNA molecules and genomes, whether from plants, animals, micro-organisms or humans.”

PGT also named Mel Kronick, a former R&D manager at both Agilent Technologies and Applied Biosystems, as CEO.

TODAY’S HEADLINES

• Sonoma Ortho names Glen Coleman as CEO, preps launch of bone implant (VentureWire)
• TechniScan draws $13M for ultrasound CT scanners (release)
• OrbiMed plans $150M Asian life-science fund (VentureWire)
• Accelerated Tech pulls in $47M, aims for $125M in second med-tech fund (VentureWire)
• Amedisys buys out TLC Health Care for $395M (release)
• Intertek acquires microbe measurer CML Biotech (release)
• Medical-device maker Cianna Medical names Jill Anderson as CEO (release)

Sonoma Ortho names Glen Coleman as CEO, preps launch of bone implant – Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Sonoma Orthopedic Products, until recently a stealthy developer of implants for treating bone fractures, named a new CEO as it prepares for the launch of its first product, VentureWire reports.

The company hired Glen Coleman, former U.S. head of sales and marketing for Wright Medical Technology, as CEO last October in preparation for the anticipated FDA approval of its first bone implant. That product, which Sonoma calls Ensplint, is a flexible implant intended for the hollow space of a broken bone, where it is supposed to speed the healing of fractures.

Ensplint is installed via a minimally invasive procedure, and is intended first for use in wrist fractures, an indication for which the company hopes to soon receive approval. Sonoma will request FDA clearance to use Ensplint in collarbone fractures later this year.

For more details, check out this May 2007 piece from the North Bay Business Journal, which makes clear — as VentureWire didn’t — that the market for bone-fracture treatment is primarily associated with osteoporosis. According to VentureWire, Sonoma has so far raised $13 million in two funding rounds.

TechniScan draws $13M for ultrasound CT scanners – Salt Lake City’s TechniScan Medical Systems, a developer of ultrasound breast-imaging systems for cancer detection in conjunction with mammography, raised $13 million in a fifth funding round. Investors included the Esaote Group and return backers from TechniScan’s board and angel investors.

OrbiMed plans $150M Asian life-science fund – OrbiMed Advisors aims to close a $150 million fund that will target Asian life sciences and healthcare services, VentureWire reports. The fund, Caduceus Asia Partners, will invest in 10 to 15 companies, primarily in China and India.

Accelerated Tech pulls in $47M, aims for $125M in second med-tech fund – Accelerated Technologies Partners, a VC firm and accelerator in Hackensack, N.J., raised $46.5 million toward an expected $125 million second medical-device fund, VentureWire reports. The firm has a primary focus on heart-related applications, and plays an active role in getting startups it funds off the ground.

Point Biomedical, a San Carlos, Calif., developer of new biomedical-imaging products, raised $25 million in a recapitalization, peHub reports. Such recapitalizations often amount to a kind of “reset button” for existing investors and lenders, and usually suggest that a startup has run into some kind of significant — but not insurmountable — obstacle.

Investors in the recap round include new investor Vedanta Opportunities Fund and existing investors William Blair Capital Partners, De Novo Ventures, Institutional Venture Partners, Saints Capital, Sprout Group and CHL Medical Partners. The recapitalization includes an additional $32.3 million that will become available to Point Bio once it attains an unspecified milestone, which it expects to occur in April.

There’s presumably a release about this, but Point Bio’s Web site has been down all morning, so for now I’m relying on peHub and VentureWire reports. I’ll update if the release turns up. According to VentureWire, Point Bio had previously raised over $110 million from a variety of venture-capital and private-equity firms.

Point Bio is developing a medical imaging and drug-delivery technology based on tiny, nested spheres it calls the BiSphere. This technology is currently in late-stage trials as an “imaging agent” that should make it possible to observe the flow of blood through the heart using ultrasound instead of more invasive methods. We previously covered the company when it raised money last July and described its technology in more detail there.

Featured companies: American Aerogel, Clinicient, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Genome Diagnostics, RadPharm, RainDance Technologies, Vivacta

UPDATED: Expanded items on Vitae, RadPharm, Vivacta and Genome Diagnostics. Intelligent Bio-Systems is now covered in a standalone item here.

Vitae Pharma takes in $15M for blood pressure, diabetes drugs — Vitae Pharmaceuticals, a Fort Washington, Pa., biotech focused on new drugs for hypertension and metabolic disorders, raised $15 million in a fourth funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Boehringer Ingelheim, which struck a major partnership with Vitae in mid-October (PDF link), provided the funding.

That partnership calls for the two companies to co-develop Vitae drug candidates that inhibit a protein called 11beta-HSD1, an enzyme that helps regulate the hormone cortisol. The drugs may be useful in treating diabetes, obesity and hypertension. B-I agreed to pay Vitae $36.5 million in cash, research funding and an at-the-time unspecified equity investment, as well as up to $300 million in potential milestone payments.

Vitae’s other major drug program involves compounds that inhibit the protein renin, which regulates blood pressure and vascular function. Renin inhibitors, which could be useful in treating hypertension, have been a white whale of sorts for the drug industry over the past 30 years (see, for instance, this somewhat technical discussion of the history here).

UK’s Vivacta draws in $12M for medical diagnostics — Vivacta, a U.K. medical-diagnostic company formerly known as PanOpSys, raised $12 million in a second funding round. Investors included AGF Private Equity, HBM BioVentures, Spark Ventures and Viking.

Vivacta is developing a fast, “point of care” diagnostic system intended to deliver laboratory-quality test readings from drawn blood in doctors’ offices or at a hospital bedside. The technology is based on a “piezoelectric” film coated with antibodies to particular blood proteins. Piezoelectric devices produce current when compressed, so theoretically this approach should allow a direct measurement of blood proteins by generating current proportional to the density of antibodies that capture any particular blood protein.

RadPharm gets $10M for medical-image reviews — RadPharm, a Princeton, N.J., provider of medical-image review services, raised $10 million in a second funding round. Investors include Siemens Venture Capital, Ampersand Ventures, Adams Street Partners and Tang Capital Management.

RadPharm essentially provides outsourced analysis of medical images ranging from CAT scans to X-rays for clinical trials, whose outcomes can hinge on the way those images are read and analyzed. Trials of cancer drugs, for instance, frequently look at whether tumors shrink, stabilize or grow, and determining that requires someone to look at actual patient X-rays or other images and decide what they actually show. RadPharm’s service provides “centralized, independent, blinded interpretation” of such scans.

Genome Diagnostics, cancer-test maker, aims for $1.6M — Genome Diagnostics, a Pasadena, Calif., developer of cancer diagnostic tests, has raised several hundred thousand dollars toward an anticipated $1.6 million first funding round, VentureWire reports. B.C. Capital of Israel and several individual investors provided the funds.

According to VentureWire, the company aims to produce a diagnostic test for prostate cancer based upon gene variations detected by sequencing a patient’s entire genome. That sounds unlikely on several levels, the first of which is that “whole-genome sequencing” — VentureWire’s description of what the company is doing — is still incredibly expensive, with an estimated cost of $100,000 or more.

It seems far more likely that the company will do a rough-and-ready genome scan that samples only several hundred thousand of the genome’s three billion DNA “letters” that are known to vary between individuals — at least, that is, unless Genome Diagnostics is betting that the cost of whole-genome sequencing will drop to the fabled $1,000 or so by the time it gets its product to market. And maybe that’s exactly what the company is doing, although that would mean that its initial testing costs are going to be extraordinarily high.

It’s also far from clear exactly what sort of prognostic information the company hopes to obtain from a genome scan of either type, since most genetic-association studies can only show increases or decreases in the probability of disease, and with such a margin of error that it’s difficult to see how that information could possibly serve a diagnostic purpose. I’ll try to circle back to the company in order to get a better idea of what they’re up to for a future post.

OTHER HEADLINES OF NOTE:

• Clinicient receives $5M for healthcare revenue-management software (release)
• Genome sequencer Intelligent Bio-Systems raises funding (VW)
• American Aerogel raises $3.2M for biopharma gels (VW)
• Frazier Healthcare Ventures raises $600M life-sciences fund (Seattle P-I)
• RainDance Technologies appoints Christopher McNary as CEO (release)

Featured companies: ActiViews, ChemShop, Freedom-2

ActiViews raises $5M for medical-imaging systems — Israel’s ActiViews, a developer of technology for enhancing MRI and PET scans, raised $5 million in a first funding round. Investors included Ofer Hi Tech and Evergreen Venture Partners.

ActiView’s system provides real-time analysis of medical images used to guide invasive surgical procedures. Current practice often requires multiple scans, which are expensive and involve radiation exposure that can cause further harm. ActiView’s technology is designed to reduce the number of scans required to locate tumors for biopsy or removal.

Cambridge Major Laboratories acquires ChemShop — Cambridge Major Laboratories, a Germantown, Wisc., provider of outsourced chemistry services to the pharmaceutical industry, acquired ChemShop of the Netherlands. The release is here.

The companies didn’t disclose terms of the deal. The combined company will have 140 employees at three sites in the U.S. and Europe.

Freedom-2 raises $5.4M for removable-tattoo inks — Freedom-2, a Cherry Hill, N.J., developer of permanent but easily removable tattoo inks, pulled in $5.4 million in a second round of funding raised by its holding company, Freedom-2 Holdings. Independent investors provided the funding.

The company’s Infinitek ink system uses bioabsorbable pigments that are encapsulated in microscopic polymer beads. Tattoos inked with the system are permanent, but easily removable by laser treatment htat breaks the beads, allowing the body to reabsorb the pigment.

Featured companies: Imalux, Sagent Pharmaceuticals, Sequel Pharmaceuticals, Sinexus, TranS1, U.S. Spinal Technologies

Sagent Pharmaceuticals draws in $53M for injectable generics — Sagent Pharmaceuticals, proving that there’s still life in the apparently lucrative but boring specialty-pharmaceuticals business, raised $53 million in a first funding round. Vivo Ventures led the round for the Schaumburg, Ill., company.

Like other specialty pharmas, Sagent essentially picks up abandoned or cast-off drugs from other companies and tries to make them work in new ways. The company plans to take its first product to market in the fourth quarter, VentureWire reports (subscription required).

From VentureWire:

Schaumburg, Ill.-based Sagent focuses on the development of injectable treatments. The company’s core strength is generic pharmaceuticals, Yu said, and it has a broad-based focus on injectable treatments for a variety of indications. Sagent currently has more than 200 products in development, and plans to launch its first injectable treatment, which has already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, in the fourth quarter. For the commercialization, Sagent plans to draw on the 20 business partnerships the company has worked to establish, Pauli said.

NovaCardia spinoff Sequel Pharma draws on $20M for heart drug — Fresh from the sale of NovaCardia to Merck (see our coverage here), officials of that heart-drug company founded a second startup, San Diego’s aptly named Sequel Pharmaceuticals, and raised $20 million in a first funding round. Investors included Domain Associates, Forward Ventures, InterWest Partners, Montreux Equity Partners, and Skyline Ventures.

Sequel owns the rights to one of NovaCardia’s former drugs, which it intends to develop as a treatment for atrial fibrillation, a problem characterized by uncoordinated pumping and electrical activity in the heart’s upper chambers that can put people at risk of blood clots and strokes. The company also plans to develop novel drugs for its pipeline.

U.S. Spinal Tech to seek $20 million — Boca Raton, Fla.-based U.S. Spinal Technologies said it plans to solicit $20 million in third-round funding, VentureWire reports. The company has begun speaking to investors but hasn’t yet received any money.

So far, the company has raised $9 million, 40 percent of that from angels and the remainder from other individuals. U.S. Spine makes several spinal implants that are already on the market, but a flagship device designed to replace the “pedicle screws” that serve as anchor points for rods in spinal fusion is stilll under development.

Sinexus raises $3.5M for sinusitis devices — Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sinexus raised $3.5 million in a first funding round, PE Hub reports, citing a regulatory filing. Investors included Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Buyers and U.S. Venture Partners. The medical-device company is focused on treating chronic inflammation of the nasal passages.

As it turns out, Sinexus also received seed funding in 2003 from Durect, a company that makes drug-delivery technologies. According to this 10-K filed with the SEC, Durect and an unnamed venture-capital firm each loaned Sinexus $150,000; Durect repurchased the obligation from Sinexus in February 2006.

Medical imager Imalux pulls in $5.1M — Cleveland’s Imalux, a developer of optical-tomography imaging systems, raised $5.1 million in a third funding round. The proceeds include the conversion of $2.5 million in bridge financing. Early Stage Partners, ElectroSonics Medical, Reservoir Venture Partners, Symark, and more than twenty other prior and new investors participated in the round.

Spinal-device maker TranS1 sets IPO range, aims to raise up to $88.6M — Wilmington, N.C.-based TranS1, a developer of minimally invasive spinal-fusion devices, said it plans to price its IPO shares between $12 and $14 apiece, yielding a maximum possible take of $88.6 million. See our earlier coverage of TranS1’s IPO here.