Companies Archives - Page 45 of 60

Ultragenyx Announces Series A Financing

$45 million to support development of rare disease therapeutics

June 20, 2011 10:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time

NOVATO, Calif.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. today announced the closing of a $45 million Series A financing to support the development of rare disease therapeutics. The co-lead investors are TPG Biotech and Fidelity Biosciences, joined by European investor HealthCap, and Pappas Ventures. This funding will advance multiple rare disease product programs in the pipeline, as well as the development of new product candidates and partnerships. The lead product, UX-001, a first-in-class therapy for treatment of Hereditary Inclusion Body Myopathy (HIBM), is expected to enter the clinic in 2011.

"I am pleased and excited to have found a set of investors with the insight to support the development of a new rare disease company with multiple product candidates. They believe in the concept that a tightly focused company of committed rare disease development specialists will be able to create value as well as bring a series of novel, life-changing therapeutics to patients affected by rare and ultra-rare disorders," said Emil D. Kakkis, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and President of Ultragenyx.

Dr. Kakkis formed and funded Ultragenyx in April 2010, based on his experiences in academia and over 11 years at BioMarin, where three rare disease products were approved during his tenure. The company has received additional funding from John Klock, M.D., and William Aliski, both experienced rare disease company executives. Joining the Ultragenyx Board of Directors are Eran Nadav, Ph.D. (TPG Biotech), Ben Auspitz (Fidelity Biosciences) and Mårten Steen, M.D., Ph.D. (HealthCap).

The company will be located in Novato, CA.

About Ultragenyx

UltragenyxTM develops therapeutics for rare diseases, sometimes referred to as Orphan products. Founded in 2010, the company is led by Emil Kakkis, M.D., Ph.D., former CMO of BioMarin Pharmaceutical. Efficient and effective development strategies are essential for success in the rare disease space, in which information may be incomplete or ambiguous, and few development precedents exist. The management team's experience in selecting and developing products with clear mechanisms of action for untreated rare diseases will help Ultragenyx create life-changing therapeutics by leveraging existing yet undeveloped science for these little-known indications.

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical - 06/20/2011

Pappas Ventures-Backed Lumena Pharma Bumps up Debt Offering to $2M - cbl

DURHAM -- Lumena Pharmaceuticals Inc. has secured $500,000 of its bumped-up debt offering to $2 million.

The Durham-based company, founded earlier this year, disclosed the higher amount in an SEC amended filing, after reporting in February the sale of debt worth $250,000 to two investors.

Principals named in the current filing are executive director Michael Grey, executive officer Ford Worthy and director Rosina Maar Pavia, all of Pappas Ventures, plus Frankfort, Mich.-based Ted Greene, chairman of Satiogen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and a scientist who holds several patents.

Founded in 1994, Pappas Ventures has more than $350 million in capital under management. The Durham-based firm has invested in more than 50 life sciences companies, including Cerexa (acquired by Forest Laboratories), Peninsula Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Johnson & Johnson), Syntonix (acquired by Biogen IDEC), NuVasive and Arena Pharmaceuticals.

Grey is a pharmaceutical industry veteran who previously led SGX Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Auspex Pharmaceuticals. He is a member of Pappas Ventures' scientific advisory board and a venture partner.

Lumena Pharmaceuticals - 06/17/2011

Anthera Pharmaceuticals Announces Proposed Public Offering of Common Stock

HAYWARD, Calif., June 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANTH), today announced that it intends to offer and sell shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering. The Company expects to grant the underwriters...

Anthera Pharmaceuticals - 06/16/2011

One-Year Follow-Up Results From Athersys' Phase I Study of MultiStem in Heart Attack Patients Presented at International Stem Cell Symposium

Data Suggest MultiStem Provides Longer-Term Benefit in Heart Function in Heart Attack Patients Athersys, Inc. announced positive results from the analysis of one-year follow-up data from its Phase I clinical trial of MultiStem(R), its allogeneic adult stem cell product, administered to individuals following acute myocardial infarction (AMI), more commonly referred to as a heart attack. Dr. Marc Penn, M.D., Ph.D., co-principal investigator of this study and Director of Cardiovascular Cell Therapy at the Cleveland Clinic, and Director of the Skirball Laboratory for Cardiovascular Cellular Therapeutics, presented the results on June 10, 2011 at the Eighth International Symposium on Stem Cell Therapy and Cardiovascular Innovations in Madrid, Spain. The long-term follow-up, based on one year of patient data, suggests that trends observed at four months -- indicating a benefit in heart function from MultiStem treatment -- were continued through twelve months.

Dr. Penn presented new information from the one-year follow-up data collected from patients in the Phase I study, showing benefit in heart function through twelve months in patients treated with MultiStem.

Athersys - 06/13/2011

Milestone completes $13 million round of equity financing

June 13, 2011

Milestone Pharmaceuticals Inc., a cardiovascular drug development company, announces the completion of a $13 million round of equity financing. The round is led by Pappas Ventures, the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), and GO Capital. Other participating investors are Fonds de solidarité FTQ (FSTQ), and the company's previous investors, iNovia Healthcare Ventures, who played a key role during the Company's founding and was the lead investor in the earlier rounds, and Fonds Bio-Innovation.

Funding will be used to continue development of MSP-2017 and related products, the company's lead candidate series for episodic treatment of transient cardiovascular conditions such as paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT), and stable angina, amongst others.

Milestone Pharmaceuticals - 06/13/2011

Milestone completes $13 million round of equity financing

"We are excited that this group of leading life sciences investors shares our vision for developing cardiology products for unmet medical needs in atrial arrhythmias and ischemic conditions," said Philippe Douville, Chief Executive Officer at Milestone. "MSP-2017 will be a first-in-class medication for a target group of patients who will benefit from a "pill-in-the-pocket" to terminate acute PSVT episodes in the unmonitored setting without necessarily having to resort to the emergency room."

"We believe that Milestone's strategy to address PSVT is consistent with the trends toward consumer-centric health with patients being more involved in managing their medical conditions and reducing the economic burden on the healthcare system," said Ela Borenstein, Partner, BDC Health Venture Fund, who joins the company's board of directors.

"The Fonds de solidarité FTQ is pleased to invest in Milestone, a pre-clinical company that it has been supporting indirectly for many years. This investment has been made in association with a strong group of Canadian and US based investors that are members of the Fonds' network. The presence of US investors confirms the high quality of the science developed in Quebec and nourishes the Fonds' commitment to pursue the development of Quebec's life science sector" said Janie Béïque Senior Vice-President New Economy.

In conjunction with this financing, Eric Linsley, Managing Partner of Pappas Ventures, Scott Weiner, Senior Principal at Pappas Ventures and Dominic Jaikaran, Principal at BDC Health Venture Fund, will also join Milestone's Board of Directors. The FSTQ will name a Board representative in the coming months. Philippe Lamarre and Adeoye Olukotun will retire from Milestone's Board.

Milestone Pharmaceuticals - 06/13/2011

Plexxikon, Daiichi Sankyo complete potential $935M deal

Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. completed its acquisition of Plexxikon Inc. , giving shareholders $805 million upfront with the possibility of near-term milestone payments of another $130 million on Plexxikon’s potential melanoma drug.

Plexxikon will retain its name, employees and Berkeley facilities, and it will continue research and development operations as an independent unit of Tokyo-based Daiichi Sankyo.

The deal was announced in late February.

Plexxikon’s lead drug is PLX-4032, or vemurafenib, that targets a specific mutation present in about half of melanoma cancers and about 8 percent of all solid tumors. Clinical trials of the drug, which is in a Phase III trial, have garnered a lot of attention because of their strong results and a collaboration with Pleasanton’s Roche Molecular Diagnostics, which has developed a test to help identify patients with the specific mutation.

Plexxikon and its development partner, Swiss drug maker Roche, plan to file this year for market approval in the United States and Europe.

Plexxikon also has a potential Hodgkin lymphoma drug, PLX-3397, in a Phase II trial and expects to start Phase II trials of the drug this year in acute myeloid leukemia, the brain cancer glioblastoma and metastatic breast cancer. It also has started a Phase I trial of PLX-5622, a possible treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Plexxikon - 04/04/2011

Achillion Announces Positive RVR Results With ACH-1625 to Treat Chronic Hepatitis C

NEW HAVEN, Conn., March 30, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:ACHN) today announced top-line results from its on-going Phase 2a clinical trial of ACH-1625 dosed once daily (QD) in combination with Pegasys® (peginterferon alfa-2a) and Copegus® (ribavirin), a current standard of care (SOC) in patients with chronic hepatitis C (HCV) infection. The analysis demonstrated that 75-81% of patients receiving ACH-1625 achieved rapid virologic response (RVR) with a promising safety and tolerability profile. ACH-1625 is an inhibitor of HCV NS3 protease that was discovered by and is being developed by Achillion.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals - 03/30/2011

Selventa Announces a Joint Technology Collaboration with Pfizer Inc., to Include Developing Knowledge-sharing Portal

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 28, 2011 --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Selventa™ today announced a continuation and expansion of its strategic partnership with the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, Pfizer Inc., in the areas of biological knowledge dissemination and drug safety. The scope of the new collaboration, co-funded by Pfizer, includes creating a publicly available version of Selventa’s Biological Expression Language (BEL) and associated BEL Framework that will enable organizations to capture, store, combine and use scientific knowledge across a wide range of scientific applications to help inform and streamline decision-making regarding drug targets. The collaboration includes establishing a community of BEL stakeholders and users, and the development of a BEL community portal to disseminate the technology to the scientific community at large.

Selventa - 03/28/2011

Selventa Announces a Joint Technology Collaboration with Pfizer Inc., to Include Developing Knowledge-sharing Portal of Bi Read more: Selventa Announces a Joint Technology Collaboration with Pfizer Inc., to Include Developing Knowledge-sharing Portal of

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Selventa™ today announced a continuation and expansion of its strategic partnership with the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, Pfizer Inc., in the areas of biological knowledge dissemination and drug safety. The scope of the new collaboration, co-funded by Pfizer, includes creating a publicly available version of Selventa’s Biological Expression Language (BEL) and associated BEL Framework that will enable organizations to capture, store, combine and use scientific knowledge across a wide range of scientific applications to help inform and streamline decision-making regarding drug targets. The collaboration includes establishing a community of BEL stakeholders and users, and the development of a BEL community portal to disseminate the technology to the scientific community at large.

“The structure of this joint effort enables Selventa to expand its existing technology to develop a knowledge-sharing portal that has the potential to benefit not only Pfizer scientists but also the entire scientific community,” said David de Graaf, President and CEO of Selventa. “We are extremely excited to take our collaboration to the next level and look forward with great anticipation at the prospect of opening our technology platform and working even more closely with cross-functional R&D teams at Pfizer.”

Until recently, Selventa had only used the Genstruct® Technology Platform (GTP) as an internal platform for collaborative research projects with Pfizer and other pharmaceutical partners. Through recent rebranding efforts and collaborations such as this, Selventa is currently transitioning its technology platform and business model to a more open, standards-based approach, thereby enabling broad adoption and use of Selventa tools, infrastructure and knowledge among its customers, their business partners, and the wider scientific community.

“Pfizer is pleased to be part of this collaboration,” said Denise Robinson-Gravatt, Head of Pfizer’s Drug Safety Technology. “The success of our industry to a large extent is determined by new drug innovation, so the more we can make broadly available to the scientific community open-source solutions involving non-proprietary research and technology tools, the more we’re facilitating innovation to occur, which ultimately is a win-win for all stakeholders involved – the scientific community, the pharmaceutical industry and patients.”

About Selventa

Founded in 2002 and privately-held, Selventa helps clients find optimal treatments for the right patients by offering scientific consulting services, software and strategic partnerships. The company analyzes molecular patient data, accelerates the development process and clarifies therapeutics and diagnostics decisions. Selventa engages in short-, mid- and long-term relationships with top-tier pharmaceutical and life science companies to develop new therapeutics and mechanistic biomarkers in the areas of oncology, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular diseases, inflammation and drug safety.

Selventa - 03/28/2011