Recent Financings of Private Companies (02/2009)
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
Each month, Start-Up presents a comprehensive review of young, private life science companies that have received venture funding during the month, including companies in the pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic and research instrumentation & reagent sectors.
In Vitro Diagnostics
Singulex Inc.
Singulex brings in $19mm through venture round
Jan.—Singulex (immunoassays) raised $19mm in an undisclosed venture round. JAFCO led and was joined by returning backers OrbiMed Advisors and Fisk Ventures. An officer from JAFCO Life Science Investment will take a seat on Singulex's board.
Pharmaceuticals
7TM Pharma AS
7TM Pharma brings in DKK75mm
Jan.—7TM Pharma AS, whose primary focus is on metabolic diseases, raised DKK75mm ($13.3mm) through a private financing to unnamed returning shareholders. The company, which had raised $60mm in previous rounds, will use the new funding to finish preclinical studies of TM38838 and Phase I trials of TM30339, both for obesity. Concurrent with the financing, 7TM sold OSI Pharmaceuticals's Prosidion subsidiary certain assets and technology related to early-stage discovery.
AC Immune SA
Existing investors return for AC Immune's CHF40mm third round
Jan.—Existing shareholders have invested CHF40mm ($37mm) in the Series C financing for AC Immune SA (uses drug discovery platforms SupraAntigen and Morphomers to develop vaccines, antibodies, and small molecules for Alzheimer's disease). The Swiss biotech will draw the funds in two tranches. The latest round brings the total invested in AC Immune since inception to CHF64mm.
Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Anacor gets $50mm including investments from GSK, Schering
Jan.—Just two weeks after withdrawing its IPO, Anacor Pharmaceuticals (developing compounds for fungal, bacterial, and inflammatory diseases) raised $50mm through the sale of preferred shares to returning shareholders Rho Capital Partners, Venrock Associates, Care Capital, and Aberdare Ventures. Also contributing were GlaxoSmithKline and Schering to fulfill obligations as part of separate 2007 licensing agreements with Anacor. The company will use the proceeds for ongoing development of its boron chemistry-based candidates.
Anaphore Inc.
Anaphore completes Series A financing
Jan.—Anaphore (protein therapeutics) completed its Series A financing, raising a total of $25mm from co-lead investors 5AM Ventures, Versant Ventures, and Apposite Capital. The $25mm includes $8mm brought in as seed money from 5AM and Versant early last year.
The company, which is initially developing treatments for immune disorders and cancer, says the funds should last it through the next two years. Anaphore's TrimeriX platform produces Atrimers, trimeric protein-based drug compounds that have three binding domains and are larger than small-molecule drugs but smaller than antibodies, providing a longer half-life and better tissue penetration. The company has projects at the preclinical stage, and is seeking out development partners.
Axikin Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Actimis spin-out Axikin completes $3mm Series A financing
Jan.—Sanderling Ventures has led the $3mm Series A financing for Axikin Pharmaceuticals (focusing on respiratory and inflammatory diseases). Mitsui & Co. Venture Partners also invested.
Axikin spun out of Actimis Pharmaceuticals after Boehringer Ingelheim announced in June 2008 that it would acquire Actimis in a structured buy-out once the biotech's asthma/atopic disease treatment AP768 reaches Phase III (it's in Phase I now). Axikin is now left to pursue preclinical- and research-stage projects--which Actimis licensed from Bayer in 2004--targeting kinases and GPCRs for diseases including asthma, allergy, COPD, rheumatoid arthritis, and dermatoses. It hopes to submit an IND soon for its lead candidate. The start-up may also expand into cancer and cardiology and other immune disorders.
BiPar Sciences Inc.
Additional round brings $20mm to BiPar Sciences
Jan.—Cancer drug developer BiPar Sciences raised $20mm through an additional financing round. Returning investors included Domain Associates, Canaan Partners, Vulcan Capital, PolyTechnos Venture-Partners, Asset Management Co., Quantum Technology Partners, and Lighthouse Capital Partners, which provided venture debt. BiPar will use the proceeds to advance its lead program BSI201 into Phase III trials for breast cancer.
Forma Therapeutics Inc.
Forma Therapeutics raises $25mm in Series A financing
Jan.—Cancer start-up Forma Therapeutics raised $25mm through its Series A financing round to multiple investors including Novartis Option Fund and Bio*One Capital.
Forma was founded in 2007 by researchers at MIT and Harvard University's Broad Institute, and focuses on structural biology and chemistry synthesis for discovery of new cancer targets. The company's technologies incorporate cell-based screening, structure-guided drug discovery, and combinatorial chemistry. Shortly after announcing its Series A, Forma also released information about a new potential $200mm alliance with Novartis Option Fund to develop inhibitors of a protein-protein interaction target.
Galleon Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Galleon Pharmaceuticals receives $15mm in venture financing
Dec.—Respiratory start-up Galleon Pharmaceuticals raised $15mm through a private financing according to industry sources.
Galleon was established in February 2005 with a license to IP from an unnamed university. It started out as an infectious disease company, using nanoparticle and polymer technologies to reformulate intravenous antibiotics as oral drugs, but has since switched focus and is now studying the biochemical and physiological processes that regulate breathing. Galleon is developing candidates for sleep apnea, respiratory depression caused by narcotic analgesics or anesthesia, COPD, obesity-hypoventilation syndrome (low levels of oxygen and high carbon dioxide in the blood), and medications to help ease patients off ventilators. The financing is most likely early stage: Galleon received $500k in seed funding from BioAdvance in 2005 and two years later raised an undisclosed amount of additional money.
Garnet Biotherapeutics Inc.
Garnet completes $10.4mm Series A recap financing
Jan.—Garnet Biotherapeutics (scar healing) grossed $10.4mm in its Series A recap financing led by SCP Vitalife Partners. Safeguard Scientifics and Alliance Technology Ventures also participated. Garnet will now have representatives from SCP and Safeguard on its board.
The company, which was founded last year, has discovered a group of cells derived from human bone marrow that when administered topically or internally exhibit anti-inflammatory and healing properties through the secretion of pro-regenerative growth factors and cytokines, and have the potential to reduce scarring from surgical procedures. Garnet is able to produce large batches through its proprietary manufacturing technology that is able to scale up patient doses from a single source, and it has generated a lead program GBT009 that it hopes to get in Phase II with help from the Series A money. The company's initial focus is dermatology, but it is considering other areas such as plastic, cardiovascular, and orthopedics surgeries, burns, wound healing, and the treatment of autoimmune diseases including psoriasis.
Hydra Biosciences Inc.
MedImmune Ventures leads Hydra's Series D round
Jan.—Hydra Biosciences (developing ion channel therapeutics) raised $22mm through its Series D round, which was led by MedImmune Ventures and included returning investors Advanced Technology Ventures, Abingworth, Polaris Venture Partners, BioVentures Investors, Biogen Idec New Ventures, and Lilly Ventures. An executive from AstraZeneca, as designee for MedImmune and MedImmune Ventures, will take a seat on Hydra's board. The company will use the proceeds to advance its Transient Receptor Potential ion channel drug programs into clinical trials for pain, inflammation, and pulmonary diseases.
Iconic Therapeutics Inc.
Iconic brings in $2.57mm via third round
Jan.—According to industry sources, Iconic Therapeutics (oncology and ophthalmic therapies) has closed the first tranche of its third financing round, bringing in $2.57mm from Elm Street Ventures, the ATDC Seed Capital Fund, and angels. The company is planning to raise a total of $4.2mm.
Iconic licensed rights to I-con, its lead compound, from Yale University in 2003. I-con binds to tissue factor and Factor VII, proteins found on the surface of pathological blood vessels in diseases including wet macular degeneration and cancer. Once bound, the compound triggers an immune response to destroy the diseased cells while sparing surrounding healthy tissue. Iconic has raised about $12mm since inception in 2003.
Karus Therapeutics Ltd.
Karus Therapeutics gets £900k from venture round
Jan.—Karus Therapeutics (cancer and inflammatory diseases) raised £900k ($1.3mm) in a venture round from returning investor IP Venture Fund, individual investor Drummond Paris, additional backer Esperante, and angels.
The company will use the proceeds to advance its pipeline of second-generation histone deacetylase inhibitors, or optimized synthetic HDIs. In preclinical studies, Karus has candidates for cancer and psoriasis. It also has a compound in lead optimization for rheumatoid arthritis, and is working on a new project in the area of organ transplant rejection. Karus was formed in 2005 as the result of a four-year collaboration between the University of Southampton and Cancer Research UK. In 2007, the company raised £820k in a prior venture round.
Kolltan Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Kolltan raises over $35mm in Series A round
Jan.—Cancer-focused Kolltan Pharmaceuticals raised over $35mm in its Series A financing round. Investors include Purdue Pharma, HBM Capital Partners, the Pritzker/Vlock family, and other private investors.
Kolltan was spun out of the Yale University School of Medicine in 2007 and is discovering receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) targets for development as cancer therapeutics. The company's work is based research performed by Yale's Dr. Joseph Schlessinger showing that next-generation RTK therapies may overcome resistance and limitations of currently available cancer drugs. RTKs regulate cell processes, especially those involved in the formation of tumors.
Rib-X Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Rib-X Pharmaceuticals closes $25mm financing round
Jan.—Antibiotics developer Rib-X Pharmaceuticals raised $25mm in its fourth financing round to returning shareholders ABS Ventures, Axiom Ventures, EuclidSR Partners, MedImmune Ventures, Oxford Bioscience Partners, SR One, Vox Equity Partners, and Warburg Pincus. The company raised a total of $135.5mm in its previous three rounds.
Satori Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Neuro start-up Satori Pharmaceuticals raises $22mm
Jan.—Satori Pharmaceuticals (neurodegeneration) raised $22mm in what industry sources are calling a Series B financing. The round was led by first-time investors InterWest Partners, Prospect Venture Partners, and New Enterprise Associates, each of which is contributing a new board member, and included PureTech Ventures plus other returning shareholders.
Established in 2005, Satori aims to develop Alzheimer's and Parkinson's therapeutics that block pathways responsible for neuronal toxicity, including targeting overproduced or misfolded proteins. Shortly after it was founded, the company in-licensed from the Mayo Clinic a black cohosh plant extract derivative that showed potential in lowering amyloid beta, build-up of which is characteristic of AD. The start-up has since identified several preclinical candidates that break up aggregation of amyloid. Besides the present funding, Satori has also raised $3mm in seed money.
Synosia Therapeutics Inc.
Series B round brings Synosia CHF32mm
Jan.—New backers Aravis Venture and Investor Growth Capital have led the CHF32mm ($29mm) Series B financing for Synosia Therapeutics (in-licenses candidates for neurological diseases). Fellow first-time investor Swiss Helvetia Fund also participated along with existing shareholders Versant Ventures, Abingworth, Novo AS, and 5AM Ventures. The start-up will use the money to support ongoing Phase II trials of rufinamide in anxiety, SYN115 for Parkinson's, and nepicastat for cocaine abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder. Representatives from Aravis, Investor Growth Capital, and Abingworth have joined Synosia's board.
TaiGen Biotechnology Co. Ltd.
Series C results in $37mm for TaiGen
Jan.—TaiGen Biotechnology (therapeutics for cancer, infectious diseases, and diabetic complications) raised $37mm through a Series C preferred share financing to returning investors MPM Capital, National Development Fund, YFY Group, and Yao-Hwa Glass Management Commission, and first-time backers Taiwan Sugar Corp. and Taiwan Global BioFund. The company will use the money for ongoing development of Phase II nemonoxacin for MRSA infections; Phase I TG0054 for stem cell transplants, chemosensitization, and tissue ischemia; and its preclinical hepatitis C protease inhibitor program.
Vivaldi Biosciences Inc.
Vivaldi Biosciences announces Series A financing
Jan.—Influenza vaccines developer Vivaldi Biosciences brought in $18.85mm through a financing of Series A convertible preferred shares co-led by Bay City Capital and NGN Capital, which were joined by the New York City Investment Fund and Alexandria Real Estate Equities. The company could bring the total raised to $23mm if it achieves certain milestones.
Vivaldi will use the funds for cell-based manufacturing efforts and to file an IND for its lead vaccine candidate. The company is developing live attenuated vaccines for seasonal and pandemic influenza based on research performed at the Icahn School of Medicine. Vivaldi alters the gene for nonstructural protein 1, a key virulence factor of influenza, to create vaccine candidates with increased effectiveness. It plans to commence Phase I trials in seasonal flu in 2010. A member from Bay City Capital and NGN Capital will join Vivaldi's board.
Medical Devices
Acclarent Inc.
Acclarent closes $26mm Series D after pulling IPO
Jan.—Following last month's withdrawal of its IPO due to the financial climate, Acclarent (endoscopic surgical devices for chronic sinusitis) looked to venture investors again and raised $26mm through its Series D round. New backer Johnson & Johnson Development Corp. joined returning shareholders New Enterprise Associates, Delphi Ventures, Versant Ventures, and Meritech Capital Partners.
Aptus Endosystems Inc.
$30mm Series C round for Aptus Endosystems
Jan.—To help facilitate completion of a pivotal study, Aptus Endosystems (developing an endograft stapling system for abdominal aortic aneurysms) raised $30mm through a Series C financing round. New investors including Heron Capital (lead), Longitude Capital, and Oakwood Medical Investors were joined by US Venture Partners, Prism VentureWorks, Baird Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, and other returning backers.
Avantis Medical Systems Inc.
Avantis's Series C brings in $10mm
Jan.—Avantis Medical Systems (endoscopic devices for GI cancer detection) raised $10mm through its Series C financing round. MC Silicon Valley (the venture investment firm of Mitsubishi International) led and was joined by returning backers including Montreux Equity Partners, Thomas Fogarty, MD, and CN Investment Partners. The company will use the proceeds to establish Centers of Excellence to expedite the launch of its Third Eye Retroscope colon lesion detection device. Mitsubishi will take a seat on Avantis's board.
Concentric Medical Inc.
Concentric Medical raises $15mm in venture round
Jan.—Concentric Medical (developing minimally invasive devices that remove clots in ischemic stroke patients) raised $15mm in a financing round led by returning shareholder New Enterprise Associates, which was joined by other existing investors and first-time backers. The company withdrew its proposed IPO just over a year ago.
OrthAlign Inc.
OrthAlign closes $7.2mm Series A round
Jan.—OrthAlign (computer-assisted surgical devices for joint replacement) raised $7.2mm in its Series A financing led by Research Corporation Technologies and Okapi Venture Capital, which each contribute a board member. Individual investors also participated.
The company will use the money to finish developing and launch its first product. In the second half of 2009, it anticipates having a device available for clinical use in knee replacement procedures. OrthAlign's small disposable device offers the key features of large surgical navigation systems, allowing surgeons to precisely place knee or hip implants.