VentureBeat

Active Implants, a Memphis, Tenn., maker of hip, knee and spine implants, has raised $6.7 million of an expected $21 million second round of funding, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The company’s investors are mostly small local firms and Discure, an Israeli company from which Active Implants has licensed technology.

The company is developing implants made of unspecified “pliable” materials that are designed for possible use in patients who, for instance, might not yet qualify for a full hip replacement. In a message from the company president, Active Implants bills its potential products as “an early intervention implant option that is not available today.”

CEO Stephen Bradshaw told VentureWire that the company is preparing for commercialization in Europe sometime in the second half of this year.

BaroFold, a Boulder, Colo., biotech raised $12 million in a first round of funding. The company is developing PreEMT, a technology that uses high levels of fluid pressure to “unclump” biotech-drug proteins that have stuck together and to force proteins that have folded up incorrectly to unfold and refold into a proper configuration. The technology may be useful in boosting production yields of recombinant, or genetically engineered, proteins, which form the basis of many biotech drugs.

The financing was led by HBM BioVentures (Cayman)and Boulder Ventures, joined by the Peierls Foundation and other seed round investors. The round’s proceeds will fund the development of the company’s drug pipeline, including an experimental treatment for multiple sclerosis.

The company’s release is here (PDF).