Deals and Data
San Diego saw a slight rebound in venture investing last quarter, following a nationwide trend. We’ll take the good news and run with it - $208.8 million for 25 deals - even though funding levels remain below those reported this time last year. Xconomy’s Bruce Bigelow dug through some of the quarterly venture funding reports.
The San Diego Daily Transcript also considered whether investors were feeling more optimistic about the biotechnology industry, given a recent run of good news.
The good news extended to Life Technologies, whose second quarter earnings surpassed analysts’ expectations. The Carlsbad-based company said its work connected to the swine flu outbreak earlier this year helped lift its revenue.
San Diego’s Orexigen Therapeutics said two late stage clinical trials showed its weight loss drug Contrave passed one of the Food and Drug Administration’s tests to prove success. The company plans to file a New Drug Application next year, according to reporting by the Union-Tribune’s Thom Kupper. The company also reported that it has raised $70.9 million through a stock offering. The funding will help it move Contrave toward commercialization.
Helicon Therapeutics, a privately-held San Diego company developing drugs to improve memory, received $50 million in funding from unnamed investors, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
TorreyPines Therapeutics plans to merge with a Northern California company. Novato-based Raptor Pharmaceuticals said it was interested in a pain medication in the San Diego company’s pipeline.
Biocept, which was founded in 1997, raised $3 million from undisclosed investors, according to a recent SEC filing. The company describes itself on its website as an emerging biotech leader in cell separation technology, and says it is developing a new class of diagnostic tests to be used in the early detection and monitoring of cancer.
Ambit Biosciences says in a SEC filing that it has raised about $6.4 million out of a $19.7 million offering of debt, options, and warrants convertible to stock. Founded in 2000, the company had raised at least $49.3 million from inception through 2007, according to BioWorld Today.
Lithera, a San Diego biotech working on a therapy to increase the metabolism of fat, raised $10 million recently, according to data collected for the second-quarter MoneyTree Report released by the National Venture Capital Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers, based on data from Thomson Reuters. Alta Partners and Domain Associates participated in the deal, according to data collected for the MoneyTree report.
Previous cost reductions at Amylin help the diabetes drug maker cut its losses for the quarter.
Brain Cells Inc in San Diego announced this week that its proprietary platform both selected and tested its early stage therapy for depression BCI-952. It is the first clinical data that shows the utility of neurogenesis, the ability of stem cells in the hippocampus to grow into new brain cells, as a treatment for depression, specifically major depressive disorder. The study was conducted by Mass General Hospital and led by Dr. Maurizio Fava.
San Diego’s Perry Scientific was acquired this week by Absorption Systems based in Exton, Pa. The deal will allow Perry, an in vivo toxicology and pharmacokinetics testing company to stay put, according to Absorption’s press release. The San Diego company’s services compliment Absorption’s portfolio.