Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008

Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

Aptamer-drug maker Archemix withdraws its $72.5 million IPO (Edgar)
OraMetrix raises $20M for robotic orthodontic systems (peHUB)
Microarray maker TeleChem goes public via reverse merger (release)
BioVascular pulls in $11M for platelet-disease treatments (release)
Cequent Pharma adds $4.5M for for RNAi drugs (VentureWire)
CareSeek, online medical-rating service, gets $575K, looks for $5M (VentureWire)
Satiogen takes in $700K for obesity treatment (VentureWire)
Dilon Tech appoints Robert Moussa as CEO (release)

Aptamer-drug maker Archemix withdraws its $72.5 million IPO – I’ve expanded this news into… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

H-P “great-grandchild” Alverix raises $7.7M for portable diagnostic devices (release)
Moksha8 takes in $39M to commercialize drugs for Asia (peHUB)
Dynogen Pharma goes public, gets $98M in reverse merger (release)
EKR Thera raises funds, pays up to $170M to “reacquire” PDL BioPharma drug (release))
R4 Vascular receives $4.4M for vascular-access devices (VentureWire)
Medical tube and syringe maker Amsino Medical sells stake to Baring PE Asia (release)
Implantable-diagnostic maker Transoma Medical postpones IPO (IPOhome)

H-P “great-grandchild” Alverix raises $7.7M for portable… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007

Featured companies: Atritech, Avalon Partners, Ensemble Discovery, Hyperion Therapeutics, LifeBond, ReShape Medical, SafeStitch, Trophos, UltraShape

Hyperion Therapeutics raises $40M against GI and kidney disease — Hyperion Therapeutics, a South San Francisco, Calif., specialty pharmaceutical company, raised $40 million in a second funding round. Investors included Sofinnova Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, New Enterprise Associates and WRF Capital.

Hyperion, which buys the rights to test and market drug candidates from other companies, said the proceeds will allow it to complete… Continue Reading

Cleveland biotech Athersys raises $65M with reverse-merger

Athersys, a Cleveland, Ohio biotech, went public via reverse merger and raised $65 million in a private placement. The company’s release is here.

Founded in 1995, Athersys is active in a bewildering number of areas. Its lead product candidate is an appetite-suppressing drug that acts on a serotonin receptor in the brain called 5HT2c, and in general the company describes itself as focused on metabolic and neurological conditions. But it is also at work on an… Continue Reading