Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2007
Featured companies: American TeleCare, Gliknik, Juvaris BioTherapeutics, Medsphere Systems, Primera Biosystems
UPDATED: Expanded items on Juvaris, Medsphere, Primera, American TeleCare and Gliknik. Moved Broncus Tech and Aegerion Pharma items to an IPO roundup here.
Vaccine maker Juvaris Bio raises $12M, aims for $30M more — According to VentureWire (subscription required), this Pleasanton, Calif., vaccine maker raised $12 million in its first funding round. That appears to contradict an earlier item from PE Hub that said Juvaris BioTherapeutics had raised… Continue Reading
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: Monday, Aug. 13, 2007
(UPDATED: See below.)
Featured companies: FoldRx Pharmaceuticals, Ophthotech, Pevion Biotech, Restoration Robotics, Glide Pharma, Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Nanosphere, SurModics, BioFX Laboratories
FoldRx Pharma to receive $22M against cystic fibrosis — Cambridge, Mass.-based FoldRx Pharmaceuticals, a biotech focused on diseases that result from misfolded proteins, will get $22 million over the next five years from an affiliate of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to further its work against the genetic lung disease. The money will be paid as FoldRx meets various developmental… Continue Reading
GlycoVaxyn pulls in $9.3M for conjugated vaccines
Zurich’s GlycoVaxyn, a biotech developing new “conjugated vaccines”, raised a $9.3 million first funding round. Sofinnova Partners and Index Ventures supplied the investment.
The company will use the funding to push forward with the development of vaccines for bacterial infections, and plans to begin clinical trials by 2009.
Vivaldi Biosciences scoops up $2M for flu vaccines
Vivaldi Biosciences, a San Francisco developer of flu vaccines and therapies, raised $2 million in a first round of funding, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The initial funding was raised through Bay City Capital.
Vivaldi is reportedly working on live attenuated vaccines for influenza and a potential drug for treating the flu. The company plans to push some of its candidates into the clinic by the middle of next year, and plans to focus on the elderly,… Continue Reading
AstraZeneca ups the biotech ante
Now that AstraZeneca has made the bold — or impulsive — decision to snap up MedImmune for $15.6 billion in cash, one big question is whether the U.K. pharmaceutical giant has kicked Big Pharma’s appetite for biotech acquisitions into high gear.
The green-eyeshade types are generally still scratching their heads over the rich price, which amounted to a 21 percent premium over MedImmune’s close on Friday. The biotech was known primarily for Synagis, an antibody-based drug… Continue Reading