Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

Gelesis draws in $16M for obesity treatments (release)
Tempo Pharma raises $8B for nanoparticle drugs (release)
Calistoga Pharma receives additional $5M for cancer and inflammation drugs (release)
Montreux Equity Partners closes $250M life-sciences fund (release)
MTS Health Partners names Andrew Weisenfeld, Mark Epstein managing directors (release)
T2 Biosystems names John McDonough as CEO (release)

Gelesis draws in $16M for obesity treatments — Gelesis, a stealthy Boston company working on “novel” obesity treatments, raised $16 million in a first funding round…. Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

Topical Botox maker Revance gets $43M, option to be acquired by Medicis (release)
Reva Medical draws $42M for resorbable stents (release)
AccentCare raises $8M for senior home-care services (VentureWire, sub req’d)
Light Dimensions aims for $6M for light-based skin treatment (VW)
Carigent pulls in $2M for nanoparticle drugs (release)
Celtic Pharma shoots for $1.5B in two drug-investment funds (VW)

Topical Botox developer Revance gets $43M, option to be acquired by Medicis — Mountain View, Calif.-based Revance Therapeutics, a developer of… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007

Featured companies: Ablynx, Cardiosolutions, Carigent Thereapeutics, Elusys, Genome Corp., GlobeImmune, Novazone, Targanta Therapeutics, Waterfront Media

UPDATED at 5:45am on 9/27/07

GlobeImmune raises $41M for immune-system therapies — GlobeImmune, a Louisville, Colo., biotech focused on new forms of immunotherapy to treat viral infections and cancer, raised $41.2 million in a third funding round. Investors included Wexford Capital, Celgene, the Mellon Family Investment Company, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, Eminent Venture Capital, Boston Life Science Venture, WRF Capital, HealthCare Ventures,… Continue Reading

Nanopharmaceutical maker Tempo Pharma picks up $12M

Tempo Pharmaceuticals, a Cambridge, Mass., developer of new-drug formulations, raised $12.1 million in a first funding round. The company, which touts itself as a “nanopharmaceutical” maker, aims to improve the safety and effectiveness of existing drugs using engineered nanoparticles designed to home in on particular organs or tissues, then release two or more drugs in sequence. Tempo initially plans to focus on cancer.

Venrock and Polaris Venture Partners led the round, joined by Lux Capital and… Continue Reading