Life-science briefing: Thursday, March 20, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Vantia Thera spins out of Ferring, raises £19M (PDF release)
Third Eye gets $150K for intracranial-pressure monitor (release)
Diabetes tester Oculir closes doors, returns capital (VentureWire)
Catalyst Health Ventures raising $60M fund (VentureWire)
Vantia Thera spins out of Ferring, raises £19M – Vantia Therapeutics, a U.K. spinout of Ferring Pharmaceuticals, has launched and raised £19 million ($37.7 million) in a first funding round (PDF link). Investors included MVM Life Science Partners, SV Life Sciences and Novo A/S.
Vantia inherits a… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Affinergy gets $3M in grants for biological “linkers” (release)
Specialty pharma EUSA raises $50M, spends $23M for public biotech Cytogen (release)
Calderome takes in $12M for cancer diagnostics (peHUB)
Pulse Health raises $2M for handheld free-radical device (release)
LifeMasters takes in $15M for wellness, disease-management programs (release)
Dubai Techno Park launched $300MVC fund for life sciences, other sectors (release)
Affinergy gets $3M in grants for biological “linkers” – Affinergy, a Duke University spinout in Research Triangle Park, N.C., received grants worth more… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Monday, March 10, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
BrainCells raises $30M for neuroregeneration drugs (release)
EKR Therapeutics takes in $50M plus $95M in debt for pain, heart drugs (release)
Wright Medical acquires Berkeley’s Inbone Tech for $24M (release)
Argolyn Bioscience names Nixon Ellis as CEO (release)
BrainCells raises $30M for neuroregeneration drugs – San Diego’s BrainCells, a startup focused on drugs intended to stimulate the growth of new neurons, raised $30 million in a second funding round. Investors included MedImmune Ventures, Bay City Capital, Oxford Bioscience Partners,… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
San Diego’s Ocera raises $36M for gastrointestinal treatments (release)
Antibody-drug maker Affimed pulls in €20M (release)
GraftCath, venous catheter developer, gets $12M (VentureWire)
Ranier Tech takes in £8M for spinal-disc replacements (release)
NeuWave Medical pulls in $4.5M for microwave cancer treatment (Milwaukee J-S)
Avalon Ventures closes $150M fund for biotech, wireless and Web media (release)
Heptares Thera raises more seed funds for nervous-system disease (VentureWire)
Essex Woodlands gets $800M for new life-science fund, aims for $1B (VentureWire)
5AM Ventures names Richard Ulevitch… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Feb. 15, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Q Thera takes in $15M for neural stem-cell treatments (release)
Stroke clotbuster Concentric Medical withdraws IPO (IPOhome)
Avera recaps with $9M to relaunch human tests of GI drug (VentureWire)
Tissue repairer Nerites raises $5.7M (release)
Semafore Pharma aims for $7.5M to launch new cancer-drug trials (VentureWire)
Triage Wireless gets $6.7M for “cuffless” blood-pressure monitors (peHUB)
MAKO Surgicals prices IPO, falls in first day of trading (WSJ)
ImmunoCellular acquires assets of Molecular Antibody Technology (release)
Q Thera takes in $15M for neural stem-cell… Continue Reading
EKR Therapeutics and the sweet taste of “re-acquisition”
A few months ago, I wrote about the intriguing trend toward “re-launching” biotech startups that had been recently acquired by Big Pharma or Big Biotech — minus, of course, whatever promising drug candidates had prompted the acquisition in the first place. Now an entrepreneur has taken the logic one step further, having just re-acquired a drug from the troubled biotech that bought out his previous startup three years earlier.
EKR Therapeutics, a Cedar Knolls, N.J., specialty… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Satoris gets $5M for Alzheimer’s test (VentureWire)
Endotis Pharma pulls in €25M for clot-busting and cancer drugs (release)
Germany’s Direvo Biotech strikes drug-development pact with MedImmune (release)
OrthoAccel gets $1.3M for device to speed orthodonture (VW)
Medical-management software co. Accuro Healthcare files for $144M IPO (Edgar)
Psilos Group raises more than $250M in third life-science fund (VW)
Softscope Medical Tech names John Schellhorn as CEO (release)
Endotis Pharma pulls in €25M for clot-busting and cancer drugs — Endotis Pharma, a French… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Teva acquires protein-therapeutic maker CoGenesys for $400M (release)
ViewRay takes in $25M for MRI radiation-therapy guidance (release)
NovaMed, Chinese clinical-research outfit, receives $14M (release)
Progentix Ortho raises first funding round (release)
Medical imaging co. Point Biomedical recaps with $25M (VentureWire)
Lumidigm takes in $7M for optical-fingerprint ID systems (VW)
Medical-software co. Compressus aims to close $14M round (VW)
Channel Medical Partners aims for $150M med-tech fund (VW)
Spinal-implant maker Scient’x names Michael Huggins as CEO (release)
Specialty pharma Cardiokine names Manuel Worcel as… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
MRI image-analysis firm Confirma receives $18M (release)
Specialty pharma Zogenix raises $18M (release)
Arcion pulls in $8.8M for topical pain gel (release)
Bayhill Therapeutics files for $87M IPO (Edgar)
Peakdale Molecular, chemistry-services provider, raises £1M (release)
Radiopharmaceutical maker Cellectar draws in $13M (release)
Critical-care drug maker Ikaria names Daniel Tasse as CEO (release)
Noxxon Pharma appoints Frank Morich as CEO (release)
MRI image-analysis firm Confirma receives $18M –Confirma, a Bellevue, Wash., developer of automated systems for medical-image analysis, received $17.5 million in… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Dec. 21, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Cogentus Pharma raises $63M for blood thinners (release)
Corthera draws $23M for heart-failure drug (release)
Nanolymf seeks $2M for drug-delivery tech (release)
LineaGen pulls in $5.6M for molecular diagnostics (release)
Cogentus Pharma raises $63M for blood thinners — Menlo Park, Calif.-based Cogentus Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharma developing combined formulations of existing drugs, raised $62.5 million in a third funding round. Investors included Keffi Group, Prospect Venture Partners, Ridgeback Capital, Apothecary Capital and Pinnacle Ventures.
Cogentus aims to combine existing… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Acorn Cardio raises $22M for heart-failure device (bizjournals.com)
Agile Therapeutics raises $5.6M for women’s health (release)
Polyheal draws $1M for wound healing (Globes)
MatrixBio receives seed funding for cancer diagnostics (release)
Pacira Pharma names David Stack as CEO (release)
VivoMetrics appoints Howard Baker as CEO (release)
Acorn Cardio raises $22M for heart-failure device – St. Paul, Minn.-based Acorn Cardiovascular, a device maker investigating a device that would restrain the expansion of failing hearts, raised $22 million in a new funding round…. Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Dec. 17, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Specialty pharma Innocoll raises $30M for collagen technologies (release)
Immusol changes name to ItherX Pharma, names Jeffery McKelvy CEO (release)
Austin’s Santé Ventures raises $130M healthcare VC fund (release)
Belgium’s AlgoNomics, immunogenicity screener, names Philippe Stas as CEO (release)
Specialty pharma Innocoll raises $30M for collagen technologies — Ashburn, Va.-based Innocoll, a developer of collagen-based drugs and drug-releasing implants, raised $30 million in an equity financing. Investors included Camulos Capital, NewSmith Asset Management and Morgan Stanley. In addition,… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Dec. 14, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
AcryMed, wound-healing specialist, sells itself to I-Flow for $25M (release)
Stent maker Devax pulls $85M IPO filing (Edgar)
Cempra Pharma gets $10M for anti-infective drugs (TechJournal South)
Genesis Genomics takes in C$312K for DNA-based diagnostics (GenomeWeb)
AcryMed, wound-healing specialist, sells itself to I-Flow for $25M — AcryMed, a Beaverton, Ore., device maker focused on bleeding control and wound healing, agreed to sell itself to I-Flow, a publicly traded maker of drug-delivery systems, for $25 million in cash. The… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Fovea Pharma sees €30M for eye drugs (release)
Ascendis Pharma raises €18M for time-release drugs (PDF release)
Arcion draws $9M for topical pain drugs (VentureWire, sub req’d)
Saladax Biomedical raises $8M for chemotherapy diagnostics (VW)
MedAssets prices IPO at top of range, raises up to $221M (IPO Home)
Pequot spin-off Longitude seeks $250M for life-science investments (VW)
Third Rock Ventures adds three new partners (release)
Ultrasound surgical co. ProRhythm files for bankruptcy protection (release)
The Hartford Financial Services Group acquires healthcare-benefit administrator… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007
Featured companies: AgraQuest, BridgeHealth, CardioMems, Collegium Pharmaceutical, Emergin, Entegrion, gDiapers, Precision Therapeutics, PregLem
UPDATED: Expanded items on Entegrion, Collegium, and gDiapers. Added CardioMems item. New items posted on AgraQuest (link), BridgeHealth (link) and Precision Therapeutics (link).
Entegrion draws $4.7M for bleeding control — Entegrion, a Research Triangle Park, N.C., biotech focused on products that stop bleeding, raised $4.7 million in a second funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription req’d). Investors included BD Ventures, Catalysta Partners and unnamed individuals.
Entegrion’s main product… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007
Featured companies: Cerus, LabNow, Reliant Pharmaceuticals
UPDATED: Expanded items on Reliant Pharmaceuticals and Cerus.
GSK acquires Reliant Pharma for $1.65 billion — And then there were none. Reliant Pharmaceuticals, a Liberty Corner, N.J., specialty pharma that filed for an initial offering back in August, has instead decided to sell itself to GlaxoSmithKline for the eye-popping sum of $1.65 billion. The release is here. The acquisition news comes just days after doppelganger Reliant Technologies abandoned its own IPO bid (see… Continue Reading
IPOs: Biotech ChemoCentryx and specialty-pharma Xanodyne head for the public market
ChemoCentryx files for $58M IPO to fund autoimmune, inflammation drug — Mountain View, Calif.-based ChemoCentryx, a biotech focused on new small-molecule drugs that affect a class of biochemical signals known as chemokines, filed to raise $57.5 million in an initial offering. The company’s SEC filing is here.
Founded in 1997, ChemoCentryx believes drugs that interfere with chemokine signaling may be able to defuse runaway immune-system reactions that give rise to various autoimmune conditions, inflammation and even… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007
Featured companies: Aryx Therapeutics, BioForm Medical, Health Market Science, Hypobaric Therapeutics, Mobile Medical International
UPDATED: Expanded items on BioForm, Aryx, Hypobaric and Mobile Medical.
Medical aethetics co. BioForm Medical prices IPO below range, raises up to $92M — BioForm Medical, a wrinkle-treatment maker based in San Mateo, Calif., priced its IPO below its expected range of $9 to $11 a share, reducing its maximum take from the offering to $92 million from $127 million. (See our earlier coverage here… Continue Reading
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, Oct. 25, 2007
Featured companies: BioVex, Cavadis, Innovention, Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Phase Bioscience, Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Xencor
UPDATED: Expanded Paratek and Xencor items.
Paratek Pharma raises $40M for new antibiotics — Boston’s Paratek Pharmaceuticals, a biotech working on new antibiotics to treat drug-resistant bacterial infections, raised a first tranche of a $40 million eighth round of funding. The company’s release is here, VentureWire (subscription required) has more details here.
Investors in this funding included Aisling Capital, D.E. Shaw, Boston Life Science Venture Corporation, Nomura Phase4… Continue Reading