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
NanoBioDesign pulls in $1M for protein chips
NanoBioDesign, a London developer of systems that screen experimental drugs against key liver enzymes, raised $1 million (£500,000) to support manufacturing of its protein-chip devices. The funding was provided by the Imperial Innovations Group and the Capital Fund.
NanoBioDesign is focused on a class of liver enzymes known as cytochrome P450, which play an important role in metabolism. Various forms of these enzymes can greatly impact the effectiveness of drugs, depending on how quickly they break… 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