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Southeast Bio Venture Wire
November 6, 2007 |
Welcome to the first edition of the Southeast Bio (SEBIO) Venture Wire. Our goal is to provide a bimonthly overview of the most relevant news to those with an interest in the region’s life science community, particularly as it relates to emerging companies. SEBIO is now entering its 10th year. Our annual Investor Forum, which begins tomorrow in Pinehurst, NC, has been an important event in the history of many of the Southeast’s most successful life sciences companies. The SEBIO Venture Wire will track the progress of these companies, and many following in their footsteps, as well as provide feature stories on trends and issues of importance to the growth of the region’s life sciences economy.While there are a number of sources of general venture news, very few providers offer industry specific content focused in a particular region. We will provide a snapshot of a time period significant enough to tell the story of what is happening specifically in the Southeast- both to those who live and work here daily and to those interested in knowing more about our region. We expect to make some adjustments to format and content going forward and welcome your input.Hope to see you in Pinehurst.
Becky
Rebecca
Kaufman
Chairman, SEBIO
Metastatix Closes $35 Million Series B Financing Atlanta, GA– Metastatix, Inc., an emerging pharmaceutical company focused on the development of small molecule therapeutics, announced today it has secured $35 million in Series B financing. The new round of funding primarily will be used to conduct clinical trials of the company’s lead candidate, MSX-122, in cancer patients and to advance the company’s development programs in inflammation and HIV infection. (more…)
Aldagen Raises Additional $9 Million, Increasing Series C Financing to $23 Million
Durham, NC – Aldagen, Inc., a biotechnology company advancing a pipeline of clinical stage regenerative therapies, today announced it has raised an additional $9 million in its Series C financing, bringing the total round size to $23 million. The initial Series C closing was announced in December of 2006. New investors include Tullis-Dickerson and CNF Investments LLC. Existing investors Harbert Venture Partners, LLC and Intersouth Partners also participated in the additional financing. (more…)
Tranzyme Pharma Closes New $20 Million Financing
Research Triangle Park, NC - Tranzyme Pharma, a leading biopharmaceutical company developing small molecule drugs for the treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) and metabolic diseases, announced today that it has completed a new round of private financing, raising a total of $20 million. The financing was led by existing investors H.I.G. Ventures, Thomas , McNerney & Partners, Quaker BioVentures, and BDC Venture Capital. (more…)
OsteoLign Inc. Secures $10 million
Atlanta , GA- Medical device company OsteoLign Inc. recently secured $10 million from Versant Venture Capital L.P. in Menlo Park, Calif.; SV Life Sciences with offices in Boston , London and San Francisco ; and Accuitive Medical Ventures with offices in Atlanta and Rochester , Minn. , according to an Aug. 17 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (more…)
Phase Bioscience obtains additional $5.4M in B round Durham , NC —Phase Bioscience Inc., a company developing protein purification technology, has raised an additional $5.4 million in its Series B financing, bringing the total to $6.6 million. Fletcher Spaght Ventures co-led the round with Johnson & Johnson Development Corp. (more…)
BioMarck Pharmaceuticals Raises $4 Million Research Triangle Park , NC– BioMarck Pharmaceuticals, a Research Triangle Park drug development company, raised $4 million through private placement financing. (more…)
NanoCor Brings in $3.75M for Heart Research Chapel Hill, NC- A tiny treatment for congestive heart failure got a $3.75 million boost this week. Medtronic Inc., of Minneapolis , Minn., made the investment in NanoCor Therapeutics of Chapel Hill. Medtronic receives certain rights to exclusively license Rancor’s treatment for congestive heart failure. (more…)
Atlanta’s Biofisica lands $2 million from Leader Ventures
Atlanta, GA —Biofisica Inc., a company focused on wound care therapy, has obtained $2 million in venture debt financing from Leader Ventures. (more…)
Oriel Therapeutics Raises Third Round of Funding
Research Triangle Park, NC- Oriel Therapeutics, a drug delivery and development company, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its third round of venture capital. The round was led by New Leaf Venture Partners. The company, a spin out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , develops drug delivery and development methods for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and diagnostic industries for the development and commercialization of innovative pre-metered unit and multi-dose dry powder delivery systems for medicines for asthma and COPD. Oriel has raised $5 million in its previous two rounds of venture financing. (www.orieltherapeutics.com)
Trans1 Inc. Announces Initial Public Offering of 5,500,000 Shares
Wilmington, N.C. – TranS1 Inc. (Nasdaq: TSON) today announced the initial public offering of 5,500,000 shares of common stock at a price of $15.00 per share. TranS1 has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 825,000 shares at the initial public offering price to cover over-allotments, if any. The common stock will trade on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “TSON.” (more…)
Biolex files for $70M IPO
Pittsboro , NC —Biolex Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise up to $70 million in an initial public offering of stock. (more…)
BioHeart files for $45 Million IPO
Sunrise, FL– Biotechnology company BioHeart Inc. on Thursday filed with U.S. regulators to raise up to $45 million in an initial public offering of common stock. (more…)
MAKO Surgical Corp. Files Registration Statement for Initial Public Offering
Fort Lauderdale, FL– Medical device company Mako Surgical Corp. plans an initial public offering of its common stock, according to a filing Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company did not disclose the estimated number or price range of shares to be offered, but indicated the offering price could total up to $86.3 million. It said the total offering price was estimated solely to calculate its registration fee and may change. (more…)
Metastatix Appoints Carol G. Gallagher, Pharm.D. as President and Chief Executive Officer
Atlanta, GA– Metastatix, Inc., an emerging pharmaceutical company focused on the development of small molecule therapeutics, announced today the appointment
Carol
G. Gallagher,
Pharm.
D. as President and Chief Executive Officer. Having recently closed a $35 million series B round, Gallagher will lead the company as it conducts clinical trials of its lead candidate, MSX-122, in cancer patients and as it advances development programs in
inflammation and HIV infection. (www.metastatix.com)
Biotech Veteran Joins AerovectRx as CEO
Norcross, Ga.– AerovectRx Corporation, an aerosol drug delivery and therapeutics company, announced the appointment of Ed Cannon , Ph.D. , as Chief Executive Officer.
Cannon ’s initial objectives will be to engage additional corporate partners for AerovectRx’ AeroCell(TM) drug delivery technology, to advance the company’s initial therapeutic development program to human clinical trials and to complete a Series A financing. (www.aerovectrx.com)
Atlanta, GA–Inhibitex, Inc. (Nasdaq: INHX) announced today that it has entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with the University of Georgia Research Foundation (UGARF) for intellectual property covering a series of HIV integrase inhibitors and other antivirals. (www.inhibitex.com)
Memphis, TN–The Memphis economic development initiative, MemphisED will provide $11.5 million over five years to help the Memphis Bioworks Foundation launch Innova, a business accelerator for biotech startups. (more…)
ByAllan Maurer, Tech Journal South
Tampa , FL —Three veterans of the Florida venture capital industry are raising a new $100 million fund called Sunrock Ventures to target technology companies in the Southeast. Managing director Tate Garret says that because the Southeast has 20 percent of the nation’s population but only 5 percent of total venture capital invested nationally, it represents a potentially lucrative opportunity. (more…)
SEBIO Announces Four Finalists Selected in First Annual BIO/PLAN Competition
Atlanta ,
GA– Southeast BIO (SEBIO), a regional nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the growth of the Southeast’s life sciences industry, announced today the selection of four finalists in its first annual BIO/Plan Competition. The final four competitors are: CureFAKtor, Inc. (University of Florida ); Triptor Pharmaceuticals (Emory University); SpherIngenics, Inc. (Georgia Institute of Technology); and Oncoscope, Inc. (Duke University ).
(more…)
SOUTHEAST BIO ANNOUNCES 2007 INVESTOR FORUM KEYNOTE SPEAKER AND PANEL DISCUSSION LINE-UP Atlanta , GA – Southeast BIO (SEBIO) today announced the keynote speakers and featured panelists for the Ninth Annual Southeastern BIO Investor Forum. The Forum, scheduled for November 7-8, 2007 at the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst , NC , will feature remarks from more than 14 industry leaders. (more…)
COMPANIES SELECTED FOR SOUTHEASTERN BIO INVESTOR FORUM
Atlanta , GA– Southeast BIO (SEBIO) announced today it has selected 24 companies to participate in its Southeastern BIO Investor Forum, an event that brings together the Southeast’s most promising life sciences venture opportunities with the regional and national venture capital community. (more…)
