Tag: biotechnology
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Biofuels Developer Secures $17M Investment Round
SG Biofuels Inc., a bioenergy crop company in San Diego, has completed a $17 million financing round to expand its R&D and commercialization programs. The series B funding — the second round of financing after start-up — was lead by life sciences venture capital company Thomas, McNerney & Partners, with participation from Finistere Ventures and…
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BASF to Move Plant Biotech Work to U.S. from Germany
The German chemical company BASF says it will move much of its plant science R&D work to the U.S. to take advantage of a more favorable regulatory climate than in Europe. The company expects to relocate its facilities in Limburgerhof, Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a new site in Research Triangle Park near Raleigh,…
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U.S. Patent Granted for Peptide-Based Obesity Treatment
Unigene Laboratories Inc. in Boonton, New Jersey has received a patent for its appetite suppression technology used in the treatment of obesity. Patent no. 8,076,291 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office was issued on 13 December 2011. The patent protects the company’s compounds that work like the hormone calcitonin to reduce the appetite…
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Sanofi, VCs Back Start-Up Deriving Natural Product Drugs
The French drug maker Sanofi, with American venture capital (VC) companies Third Rock Ventures and Greylock Partners, are investing up to $125 million in Warp Drive Bio a new biotechnology company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Warp Drive Bio, being incubated at Third Rock Ventures, specializes in using genomics to derive drug candidates from natural sources, such…
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$600M Venture Fund Targets Technology, Health Care Sectors
Canaan Partners, a venture capital company in Menlo Park, California says it has closed contributions to a new fund to finance start-ups in the technology and health care fields. The company says the $600 million fund, the ninth such fund in its series, will support new technology and health care entrepreneurs. Canaan Partners says two-thirds…
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Foundation to Fund Drug Maker Diabetic Eye Disease Research
KalVista Pharmaceuticals in Southampton, U.K. and JDRF in New York have formed a partnership to develop a drug candidate with potential to slow the advance of diabetic macular edema (DME). The collaboration aims to move KalVista’s plasma kallikrein inhibitor into human proof-of-concept clinical trials and generate clinical data to highlight its potential as a new…
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Diagnostics Company Out-Licenses Cancer Testing Technology
Health Discovery Corporation in Savannah, Georgia says it has licensed its diagnostics technology to NeoGenomics Inc. in Fort Myers, Florida to develop lab tests for blood and solid tumor cancers. The license excludes tests for breast and retina cancers, for which other companies have already acquired Health Discovery’s technology. NeoGenomics will pay Health Discovery Corporation…
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Analytics Company, Johns Hopkins to Study Asthma Genomes
Knome Inc., a genomics analysis company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, says it received a contract from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore to provide its software and services for a study of genetic variants that contribute to asthma in African American and African Caribbean populations. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. The…
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Forma, Boehringer Ingelheim to Partner on Cancer Drugs
Forma Therapeutics, a biotechnology company in Watertown, Massachusetts says it signed an agreement with the German pharmaceutical maker Boehringer Ingelheim to discover and develop drug candidates for cancer. The deal involves the discovery of small molecule drugs targeting interactions among proteins. Forma’s technology for cancer drug discovery involves computational and medicinal chemistry, parallel synthesis, and…
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Emergent BioSolutions, Abbott Labs End Collaboration
As reported yesterday, Emergent BioSolutions Inc. in Rockville, Maryland has started a phase 2 clinical study of its drug candidate TRU-016, a program conducted in partnership with pharmaceutical manufacturer Abbott Laboratories. Emergent BioSolutions now says that Abbott Laboratories has ended the partnership agreement to develop and commercialize the compound. Daniel J. Abdun-Nabi, president of Emergent…