Welcome! We hope you enjoy our second edition of the Southeast Bio (SEBIO) Venture Wire. As part of our mission, one of SEBIO’s goals is to continue to provide industry specific content regarding the Southeast to those with an interest in the region’s life sciences community. As our second bi-monthly installment of the Southeast Bio Venture Wire reflects, the Southeast continues to increase its profile as one of the nation’s leading life science regions.

SEBIO would like to extend special congratulations to the winners of our first annual awards ceremony to honor the top venture capital transaction, initial funding, and strategic transaction deals in the region as well as a regional leadership award for 2007. SEBIO is also pleased to announce its Second Annual SE BIO/Plan competition (application deadline: March 14th).

We hope you enjoy SEBIO Venture Wire.

Phillip
Phillip Street
Chairman, SEBIO

Venture Deals

CardioMEMS, Inc. Closes $33 Million Series E Financing and Appoints New CFO
Atlanta GA – CardioMEMS, Inc., the pioneer in wireless sensing for the management of chronic cardiovascular diseases such as Heart Failure, today announced the closing of its Series E Preferred Stock financing for $33 million of equity funding led by Arcapita Ventures. Joining Arcapita in this financing round are existing investors Boston Millennia Partners, Medtronic, Inc., Easton Capital Partners, Foundation Medical Partners, and Arboretum Ventures, along with new investors Deerfield Capital Management, Vision Capital Advisors, Aperture Venture Partners and Rockport Venture Securities. (more…)

ViewRay raises $25M second round
Gainsville, FL—Medical device maker ViewRay Inc. has closed on a $25 million Series B round led by OrbiMed Advisors and Fidelity Biosciences and joined by Aisling Capital and Kearny Venture Partners. (more…)

TransEnterix™ Secures $21 Million in First Round of Institutional Financing
Research Triangle Park, N.C.- Synecor, LLC and SV Life Science Advisers, LLC announce today the first round of institutional financing for TransEnterix, Inc., a Synecor-founded company focused to pioneer and deliver novel, less-invasive tools and techniques for high volume gastro-intestinal surgical procedures. The first round of institutional financing secures for TransEnterix $21 million of raised and committed funds. The capital will be used to deliver the initial product platforms and further develop the next generation product platforms of TransEnterix. (more…)

Romark Laboratories Raises $18 Million in Institutional Financing
Tampa, FL - Romark Laboratories, L.C., a privately-owned biotechnology company, today announced the closing of an $18 million institutional financing with the D.E. Shaw Group. (more…)

Biospace Med Raises $18M
Atlanta, Ga and Paris, France—Orthopedic imaging company biospace med has closed an $18 million venture financing led by NBGI Ventures of London, and Credit Agricole Private Equity, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners and UFGPE, all of Paris. Current investors also participated. (more…)

AxoGen receives $12.1M round for nerve repair
Alachua, FL—AxoGen Inc., a company commercializing technology that repairs peripheral nerves, has raised a $12.1 million Series C round from Accuitive Medical Ventures, Cardinal Partners, DeNovo Ventures and Springboard Capital II. (more…)

Cempra Pharmaceuticals raises $10M B round
Research Triangle Park, NC—Cempra Pharmaceuticals, a developer of anti-infective drugs, has raised $10 million in Series B funding from investors including Aisling Capital, Intersouth Partners, Optimer Pharmaceuticals and banker I. Wistar Morris, III, PE Hub reports citing a regulatory filing. (more…)

Accentia Biopharmaceuticals raises $8.7M financing
Tampa, FL—Accentia Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ABPI) announced that it has entered into definitive agreements for a private placement offering of convertible preferred stock and warrants to new and existing institutional investors for gross proceeds of approximately $8.7 million. (more…)

NovaMin raises a $2.2M C round
Alachua, FL–NovaMin Technology Inc., developer of a mineral compound used in dental products to strengthen teeth, has raised a $2.2 million C round from Intersouth Partners and U.S. Biomaterials Corp. according to a regulatory filing. (more…)

IPOs and Public Market Financings

Chelsea Therapeutics Completes $48.9 Million in Registered Direct Offering
Charlotte, N.C.– Chelsea Therapeutics International, Ltd. (Nasdaq:CHTP) announced that it has completed its previously announced registered direct offering of approximately 7.4 million shares of common stock at a price $6.62 per share for gross proceeds of $48.9 million. (more…)

Targacept Announces Closing of $30.9 Million Public Offering
Winston-Salem, North Carolina: Targacept, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRGT), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of drugs known as NNR Therapeutics (TM), today announced that it has completed the previously announced underwritten public offering of shares of its common stock. The completed offering included 570,000 shares purchased by the underwriters upon exercise of their overallotment option. Targacept issued and sold a total of 4,370,000 shares in the offering, resulting in gross proceeds, before deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and offering expenses, of $30.9 million. (more…)

Medgenics Raises £3.28 Million in Initial Public Offering in Conjuction with Forthcoming Listing on AIM market of the London Stock exchange
Vienna, VA; Karmiel, Israel and London, UK – 29 November, 2007 – Medgenics, Inc., a US biopharmaceutical company with key operations in Israel, is pleased to announce that it has raised £3.28 million in its Initial Public Offering (“IPO”) in connection with its forthcoming Admission to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, expected on 4 December 2007. The shares being placed in the IPO are being issued at 10 pence per share, giving the Company a market capitalisation of approximately £10.4 million immediately after the IPO (£27.6 million on a fully diluted basis, equivalent to ca $58m). (more…)

Winston Labs merges with Getting Ready, secures $9M investment
Miami, FL– Winston Laboratories Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company developing products for pain management, and Getting Ready Corp. (OTCBB: GTRY.OB), a publicly-traded company with no active operations, are merging. As part of the transaction, an investor is putting $9 million in the merged company. (more…)

University/ Economic Development News

University of Florida building life sciences incubator
Gainsville, FL–The University of Florida has inked a deal with a California developer to build a life science and technology incubator. (more…)

SC Launch! invests $152K in Columbia’s DigitalDerm
Columbia, SC—SC Launch!, an affiliate of SCRA, is investing $152,500 in Columbia-based DigitalDerm, a company that developed a system for the early detection of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. (more…)

$65 million biotech wing opens in Huntsville, AL
Kent Faulk, News staff writer, The Birmingham News
Huntsville, AL - State and local officials said Friday the new $65 million HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology could transform Huntsville the way a team of rocket scientists did a half century ago. (more…)

NC IDEA awards grants to five startups
Research Triangle, NC–NC IDEA has recently awarded $215,000 in grants to five early-stage companies throughout North Carolina in the fall cycle of its bi-annual grant program. (more…)

NC Biotechnology Center Funds Advanced Medical Technologies Program
Research Triangle Park, NC: The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has awarded a $100,000 grant to a consortium coordinated by NCBIO for Phase I planning for a Center of Innovation (COI) in Advanced Medical Technologies. (more…)

Other Deals

Sciele Signs Exclusive Agreement with Novo Nordisk to Market Prandin(R) and PrandiMet(R)
Atlanta, GA– Sciele Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCRX) today announced that it has signed an exclusive agreement with Novo Nordisk Inc. to market Prandin(R) (repaglinide). Under the terms of the agreement, Sciele will exclusively market Prandin(R) and, upon approval by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), PrandiMet(R) (the name submitted to the FDA for a repaglinide/metformin fixed dose combination tablet) to physicians in the U.S., and will have the right of first refusal to obtain marketing rights in the U.S. to other Novo Nordisk products containing repaglinide, the active pharmaceutical ingredient in both Prandin(R) and PrandiMet(R). (more…)

TransTech Pharma, Inc. Acquires Three Programs for the Treatment of Metabolic Disorder from Novo Nordisk
High Point, NC: TransTech Pharma, Inc. and Novo Nordisk A/S announced today that TransTech has acquired all rights from Novo Nordisk to a portfolio of drug candidates being developed to treat metabolic disorders. This portfolio is comprised of three distinct therapeutic approaches to such treatment: H3 receptor antagonists, PPARd agonists, and 11βHSD1 inhibitors. (more…)

SEBIO News

SEBIO Elects New Board of Directors and Officers for 2008: Board Sets Direction for Upcoming Year
Atlanta, GA — Southeast BIO (SEBIO) has elected its new 2008 Board of Directors to lead the organization through its next year of operations. (more…)

SEBIO Announces Winners of First Annual Awards Ceremony to Honor the Top Regional Deals of the Year
Atlanta, GA— Southeast BIO (SEBIO) announced four winners of the First Annual SEBIO Awards in a ceremony held at its Ninth Annual Investor Forum in Pinehurst, NC on November 8th. The awards honored companies in the following categories: Southeast (SE) Deal of the Year: Initial Funding; SE Deal of the Year: Venture Capital Transaction and SE Deal of the Year: Strategic Transaction. In addition, the organization awarded its inaugural SE Leadership Award to an individual or organization that made a notable contribution to the growth of the life sciences industry in the region over the last year. The winners were Argolyn Bioscience, Inc., Metastatix, Inc, Targacept, Inc., and Aaron Davidson of HIG Ventures, respectively. (more…)

Three Industry Leaders, One Groundbreaking Organization Honored with 2008 GaBio Community Awards
Atlanta, GA — Each year Georgia Bio (GaBio) recognizes individuals, companies or institutions for significant contributions to Georgia’s life sciences industry with its Georgia Bio Community Awards. The 2008 winners are Georgia State Representative Charlice Byrd; Carl V. Patton, Ph.D., Georgia State University President (GSU); Margaret Offermann, M.D., Ph.D., American Cancer Society Deputy National Vice President for Research; and Southeast Bio. The awards were presented at GaBio’s Annual Awards Dinner Thursday evening with more than 400 life sciences professionals in attendance. (more…)

SEBIO Announces Triptcor Pharmaceuticals as the Winner of the $100,000.00 Grand Prize in the 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, has announced the winner of its first annual BIO/Plan Competition, a year long business creation competition. The winner is Triptcor Pharmaceuticals, a pre-incorporated technology to be spun-out of Emory University. Triptcor will take home the $100,000.00 (non-dilutive) BIO/Plan 1st prize. (more…)

SEBIO Announces Success of the Ninth Annual Southeastern BIO Investor Forum; Winner of Early-Stage Company Shootout Named
Atlanta, GA– More than 400 people attended the Ninth Annual Southeastern BIO Investor Forum on November 7th-8th in Pinehurst, North Carolina. The Forum is the Southeast’s premier life sciences venture capital conference. (more…)