Venture Capital

BG Med gets $40M in fourth round

John Carroll — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:01:43 -0400

Waltham, MA-based BG Medicine garnered $40 million in its fourth venture round. New investors Legg Mason Capital Management, GE Asset Management and SMALLCAP World Fund joined current investors Flagship Ventures, Gilde Healthcare Partners, Humana, and Stelios Papadopoulos in the round. BG Medicine plans to use the money to complete development and commercialization of its first two molecular diagnostics based on biomarkers.

"Molecular diagnostics are having a strong influence on the practice of medicine and we are pleased to be at the forefront of that revolution," says CEO Dr. Pieter Muntendam. "This substantial investment further validates our technology, product pipeline and business model."

- check out BD Medicine's release

LSO rounds up $40M in third venture round

John Carroll — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:39:04 -0400

Bellevue, WA-based Light Sciences Oncology has garnered $40.1 million in new venture funds to advance its work on light infusion therapies. The developer has raised $97 million in two earlier rounds, but has not released the names of investors involved in the latest round. According to LSO, researchers are undertaking two Phase III clinical trials in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and metastatic colorectal cancer. There's also a planned Phase III trial in glioblastoma multiforme, and early stage clinical trials in benign prostatic hyperplasia. LSO scrapped plans for an $80 million IPO last February.

"We are approaching exciting milestones in the development of Litx, including the completion of enrollment in our Phase III primary liver cancer trial," said Llew Keltner, M.D., Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Light Sciences Oncology. "The Series C funds combined with our substantial cash reserves will allow us to continue to move forward with all aspects of our development plan in a timely manner."

- read the funding release

ALSO: Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, an RNA interference company, today announced a second closing of its Series A financing, receiving a total of $8.4 million in additional venture capital from new investor Abingworth and existing investors Oxford Bioscience Partners and Skyline Ventures. Release

Portola gets $60M for Phase II work

Maureen Martino — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:58:25 -0400

Portola has concluded yet another impressive round of funding. The South San Francisco-based company has extended its earlier $70 million third round with an additional $60 million in financing. New investors, including D.E. Shaw group, Adage Capital Management, BBT Capital Management/Apothecary Capital, Janus Capital Group and PAC-LINK BioVentures, joined the company's existing investors to complete the round.

Most of the funding will be used to advance Portola's lead drug betrixaban, a therapy for prevention and treatment of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism after orthopedic surgery, for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation, and for secondary prevention of myocardial infarction and stroke. The funding will be used to see betrixaban through Phase II trials. In addition, Portola will use the money to advance its Phase I drug--PRT060128--and additional preclinical targets. The company ranked fourth in FierceBiotech's list of the top 20 VC deals of 2007.

- check out Portola's release

Cambridge start-up reaps $33M in first round

John Carroll — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:11:06 -0400

A trio of familiar biotech venture groups is bankrolling the $33 million Series A for Agios Pharmaceuticals, a Boston-based biotech focused on new cancer therapies. Third Rock Ventures, Flagship Ventures and Arch Venture Partners joined forces to back the new venture. A Third Rock partner, Kevin Starr, is acting as interim CEO during the start-up phase.

Agios' technology will try to starve cancer cells by preventing them from breaking down glucose, using fatty acids or cannibalizing portions of their own cell. "Once you choke off the food supply, the cancer has no place to go," Starr tells the Boston Globe, which carried the scoop.

The Globe's story concentrates on some industry jitters related to biotech financing. With IPOs hurting in a roiled market, there's considerable concern that investors will grow increasingly reluctant to back biotech companies. So far, that hasn't been seen in the Boston cluster, where a string of new venture rounds have been announced, but second quarter venture numbers are due soon.

- see Agios' release
- read the report from the Boston Globe

CoLucid garners $25M in Series B money

John Carroll — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:51:11 -0400

CoLucid Pharmaceuticals says it has rounded up $25 million in Series B financing. New investor Care Capital led the round, which included previous investors Pappas Ventures, Domain Associates, Pearl Street Venture Funds and Triathlon Medical Ventures. The financing will be used to develop COL-144, a migraine compound, and to advance preclinical pipeline candidates that target neurological and psychiatric disorders.

"COL-144 is the first in a new class of migraine therapeutics and represents a paradigm shift in the treatment of migraine," said James White, Ph.D., President and CEO of CoLucid.

- check out CoLucid's release

ALSO: Ibis Biosciences, a unit of Isis Pharmaceuticals, has gained an additional $20 million investment from Abbott Laboratories. Ibis release

Isconova gets $5.2M for vaccine work

Maureen Martino — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:20:50 -0400

Sweden's Isconova has secured financing of 30 million Swedish kronor ($5.2 million) from InnovationsKapital for its work in vaccine adjuvant technology. Isconova release

Seattle vaccine developer raises $18M in Series A

John Carroll — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:25:33 -0400

Seattle-based Immune Design has raised an impressive $18 million in its first round of venture capital. The vaccine company is developing therapies targeting dendritic cells, which control the human immune response system. And its researchers plan to develop new vaccines as well as enhance existing therapies. The company only has three full time staffers, but Immune Design says it will quickly expand to 30. And the developer has already attracted some top venture capital groups. Alta Partners, The Column Group and Versant Ventures all participated in the round.

- check out the company's release
- read the story from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Limerick raises $15M; Icahn offered $15B for Biogen; Neogen expands R&D

John Carroll — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:27:38 -0400

> Limerick BioPharma has ginned $11 million in venture funds and borrowed $4 million more to advance its work on the bioavailability of drugs. Arch Venture Partners, Sevin Rosen Funds and Altitude Funds are all listed as investors. Report

> Researchers have presented new data backing Cimzia over competitors for the rheumatoid arthritis category. Report

> Carl Icahn offered to pay up to $15 billion for Biogen Idec last October. Report

> Idenix reported positive phase I/II data on IDX899, which is being developed to treat HIV-1. Report

> Neogen says it intends to double its research and development efforts for its new fiscal year by hiring 23 additional R&D personnel by early fall. Neogen release

> Opexa Therapeutics announced favorable safety and efficacy data for Tovaxin, a T-cell vaccination therapy for multiple sclerosis, in the second year of open-label clinical re-treatment studies in patients with MS. Opexa release

> OPKO Health has acquired exclusive worldwide rights in the field of ophthalmology to a novel small molecule agent in Phase II clinical development for the treatment of viral conjunctivitis and other viral infections. OPKO release

> Vical has received $6.3 million from AnGes under a previously announced collaborative agreement for continued funding of the company's ongoing Allovectin-7 Phase III metastatic melanoma trial. Vical release

> Cell Therapeutics has sold $23 million in senior convertible notes. Report

And Finally... Baxter International says that a human trial of its Celvapan bird flu vaccine demonstrated that it spurred an immune response against three strains of the lethal virus. This is the first time that researchers have developed a flu vaccine using a virus grown in cell cultures rather than eggs. Vaccine report

Inimex raises $22M in VC

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:59:55 -0400

Despite a recent Ernst & Young report on the funding challenges in Canada, Inimex Pharmaceuticals managed to round up a healthy $22 million in Series B funding. The company is launching the first clinical trials of an Innate Defense Regulator (IDR) drug in patients and assessing IDR drugs in a range of disease models. IDRs are novel drugs that selectively trigger the body's innate defenses, protecting against antibiotic-resistant infections and controlling inflammation. CEO John North said IDRs peptides could treat infections related to cystic fibrosis, pneumonia, inflammation and in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Morningside Venture Investments led the round, along with new investors Roche Venture Fund, Switzerland, CA-based Astellas Venture Management, and BC-based Advantage Life Science Fund II. Additional investors also participated.

- here's Inimex's release

IRX Therapeutics raises $25M Series A

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:59:55 -0400

New York-based IRX Therapeutics announced that it has raised $25 million in a Series A. The new money will be used to further develop IRX's cancer and viral disease product platform, including IRX-2 (citoplurikin), its lead candidate for cancer treatment. IRX researchers are developing a therapy that stimulates a coordinated cellular immune response that can enable a patient's own immune system to fight disease. IRX has reported positive mid-stage data and say they plan to launch a late-stage trial.

- check out IRX's release

ALSO: Canada's Inimex Pharmaceuticals has rounded up $22 million in venture funds to conduct the first clinical trials of its IDR drugs. Report