Life-science briefing: Friday, April 11, 2008

Life-science briefing: Friday, April 11, 2008

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

Stent maker IDev Tech raises $25M (VentureWire)
Xytis gets $15M for brain-injury drugs (VentureWire)
Diagnostic maker Iris Biotech plans to go public, launch breast-cancer test (Edgar)
RiverVest Venture Partners raises $75M life-science fund (release)
Concentric Medical names Maria Sainz CEO (release)

[Note: I’m a little sad to announce that this will… Continue Reading

The storm over stents hits venture firms, as Devax yanks $85M IPO filing

The storm over stents hits venture firms, as Devax yanks $85M IPO filing

Devax, a Lake Forest, Calif., maker of artery-opening stents, withdrew its filing for an IPO that the company estimated would raise $85 million. The company filed for its IPO in May, but until its withdrawal hadn’t filed any revisions to that preliminary document since.

The withdrawal… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007

Featured companies: Algorithme Pharma, Bacchus Vascular, Botaneco, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Ikonisys, Healthcare Management Systems, Illumigen Biosciences, Kilmer Capital Partners, Medical Specialties Distributors, Metastatix, Microphage, Orthosoft, Thomas McNerney & Partners, TranS1, TriReme Medical, Wren Medical, Zimmer

UPDATE: Expanded TriReme Medical, Ikonisys and TranS1 items.

UPDATE REDUX: Added MicroPhage item.

Stent-maker TriReme… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007

(UPDATED at 3:10pm PT: See below.)

Featured companies: Agendia, EndoGastric Solutions, FlowCo, Gentris, MedManage Systems, ParagonDx, Presidio Pharmaceuticals, Xoova

Presidio Pharma raises $26M for viral treatments — San Francisco’s Presidio Pharmaceuticals, a biotech developing new antiviral drugs, raised $26 million in a second funding round. Investors included Panorama… Continue Reading

Micell: A materials chameleon tackles drug-coated devices

Micell: A materials chameleon tackles drug-coated devices

For Micell Technologies, a Raleigh, N.C., materials company that recently reinvented itself as a developer of drug-releasing stents, perhaps the third time will be the charm.

Founded in 1995, Micell specializes in the use of supercritical fluids, which are highly compressed gases that exhibit both gas… Continue Reading

Stent maker CardioMind raises $33M

CardioMind, a secretive Sunnyvale, Calif., developer of stents designed to prop open blocked arteries, raised $33 million in a third round of funding, VentureWire reports (subscription required). From the VentureWire story:

CardioMind, with 30 employees, is developing small-diameter drug-eluting stents and delivery devices for cardiovascular and… Continue Reading