Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007

Featured companies: Formac Pharmaceuticals, Pradama, Protein Sciences, SantoSolve, Scandius BioMedical

UPDATED: Expanded items on Protein Sciences, SantoSolve, Scandius and Pradama.

Vaccine maker Protein Sciences gets $1M — Protein Sciences, a Meriden, Conn., biotech working on a faster way to make flu vaccines, raised $1 million in a convertible-debt offering. Diamyd Medical, a Stockholm-based biotech focused on diabetes, provided the funding.

The funding boosts Diamyd’s total investment in Protein Sciences to $4 million. Conversion of its earlier investment made the Swedish… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007

Featured companies: AerovectRx, Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Harmony Information Systems, Intelligent Hospital Systems, Merrion Pharmaceuticals, Syntaxin, SymBio Pharmaceuticals

UPDATED: Expanded items on Harmony Info, SymBio Pharma and Merrion Pharma, added Dicerna item.
UPDATE REDUX: Added Syntaxin item.

U.K. biotech Syntaxin raises £16M for pain and nervous-system drugs — Syntaxin, a U.K. biotech focused on drugs that affect cell secretion, raised £16 million ($33.2 million) in a second funding round. The company’s release is here.

Investors in the round included SR One, the venture capital… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007

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

Life sciences briefing: Monday, Aug. 20, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Monday, Aug. 20, 2007

(UPDATED at 7:10pm PT: See below.)

Featured companies: NeurAxon, VytronUS, Avila Therapeutics, CardioNet, Ventana Medical Systems, CytoLogix, PlaCor

NeurAxon raises $32M for pain drugs — You have to hand it to Waltham, Mass.-based NeurAxon — the company certainly knows how to keep itself in the news. Today, it announced it has raised $32 million in a second funding round, a week after it reported a positive early-stage trial result for its experimental migraine treatment.

Investors included Delphi Ventures, OrbiMed Advisors,… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Aug. 9, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Aug. 9, 2007

(UPDATED at 6:40pm PT: See below.)

Featured companies: Nereus Phramaceuticals, KFx Medical, NeuroMed Pharmaceuticals, Adnexus Therapeutics, Masimo, Biofisica, Aegera Therapeutics, LymphoSign, InfuScience, Palmetto Infusion Services

Nereus Pharma raises $45M for ocean-derived cancer drugs — San Diego’s Nereus Pharmaceuticals, a biotech that searches for cancer drugs in marine microbes, raised $45 million in a follow-on to its fourth funding round.

The company features an all-star lineup of investors, which includes BankInvest, Roche Venture Fund, Astellas Venture Management, Boston Life Science Venture… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007

Featured companies: NeurAxon, TechniScan Medical Systems, ViewRay, Advion BioSystems, NanoTek, Cerionx, Ionscope, EncorePath

NeurAxon to raise $25M for pain treatment – Waltham, Mass.-based NeurAxon, which just named Lawrence Bloch as its new CEO last week, now plans to raise $25 million in a second funding round this quarter, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The round is slated to wrap up when — and if — the company’s lead drug, a migraine treatment that targets an enzyme called neuronal nitric… Continue Reading

Xanodyne raises $25M for narcotics and vitamins

Argolyn draws on $16M for neurological drugs

Argolyn Bioscience, a Charleston, S.C.-based developer of drugs for neurological problems, raised $15.8 million in a first financing round. The funding was led by Intersouth Partners and Quaker BioVentures, joined by Amgen Ventures.

Argolyn is at work on new peptide-based drugs, which are made from short stretches of protein, for schizophrenia and pain. Neither of its lead candidates have yet entered clinical trials, although the company said the new funding will allow it to begin human… Continue Reading

Roxro Pharma raises $43M for pain drugs

Roxro Pharmaceuticals, a Menlo Park, Calif., specialty pharmaceutical company focused on pain drugs, raised $42.7 million in a second funding round. The company’s release is here (PDF).

Founded in 1999, Roxro acquires discarded or failed drugs from other companies and pushes them through clinical development. Although I keep thinking the bloom has come off this particular trend, investors apparently can’t get enough of the strategy, at least to judge by this sizable round. The company’s lead… Continue Reading