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JULY 14th, 2005
Solexa, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLXA) has completed a private placement valued
at $24 million as the second and final closing of a $32.5 million placement. Solexa’s investors, Abingworth Management
Limited, Amadeus Capital Partners Limited, Oxford Bioscience Partners and SV Life Sciences contributed $10.8 million to the
round.
John West, Solexa's CEO indicated that performance results of its
sequencing system would be announced sometime soon, "This financing demonstrates our investors' confidence in our ability
to execute on our business plan to develop and market our next-generation sequencing systems based on Sequencing-by-Synthesis
(SBS) and Cluster molecular arrays. In the coming months, as we move closer to product launch, we expect to be able to announce
additional experimental results demonstrating the performance of our platform in high-end genetic applications."
Solexa’ genetic analysis platform is based on Sequencing-by-Synthesis
and Cluster molecular arrays. The company has focused its product development efforts on integrating sequencing, gene expression,
genotyping and micro-RNA analysis into the system. The company has planned for the SBS-Cluster genetic analysis instrument
system to be ready before the end of 2005.
JULY 12th, 2005
Primera Biosystems Closes $11 Million in Series A Placement
– Gene Expression System
Primera Biosystems, Inc, which is developing gene expression analysis systems and assays, has
closed an $11 million placement of Series A Preferred Stock. Investors in the round lists include MPM Capital, Burrill and
Company, and the Malaysian Technology Development Corporation. Primera plans to use the funds for the further development
of instrument systems and disease specific diagnostic reagent kits.
Primera’s "STAR" (Scalable Transcription Analysis Routine)
system is based on real-time PCR and DNA microarray technologies. The gene expression analysis system is characterized by
faster speed, lower costs and high accuracy.
JULY 7th, 2005
Galapagos Signs Research Agreement with Novartis
Galapagos (Euronext Brussels, GLPG; Euronext Amsterdam, GLPGA) a genomics-based drug discovery
company, has entered into an agreement with Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. relating to its SilenceSelect technology. As part
of the agreement, Galapagos will receive payments for that technology and its research services. Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of
Galapagos, commented on the agreement, "We are very pleased that Novartis Pharmaceuticals has decided to work with Galapagos
for its expertise in knock-down technology and cellular assays. This collaboration will allow Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK
Limited to utilize our SilenceSelect target discovery engine in a very beneficial way. We are confident that our technology
will perform well in the hands of Novartis. Our SilenceSelect platform has proven to deliver for our other partners, opening
significant opportunities for continued collaboration."
Novartis plans to utilize the research and technology from Galapagos
to validate drug targets. This will be done through the analysis of protein functions found in the primary cells of
humans.
JULY 6th, 2005
First is was wireless, now San Diego, according to the San Diego
Union Tribune, is set to receive approximately $100 million from The National Institutes of Health. According to the newspaper,
the goal of the grants is to develop a better understanding of genes to further develop drugs and treatments. The grants are
part of a $300 million nationwide program called the Protein Structure Initiative to determine the three dimensional shape
of proteins.
The Tribune also reports that two companies will administer the
funds. These include, Structural Genomix (SGX), responsible for $48.5 million and The Scripps Research Institute, responsible
for $52.7 million.
Stuctural Genomix reported that it will allocate half of the funding,
which it says came from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and is called a National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Cooperative Agreement Award, to institutions and use the other half for its own research. Institutions that are
expected to receive funding as part of the grant are the University of California ay San Diego, the Burnham Institute and
the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation – according to the Tribune.
According to Dr. Stephen K. Burley, SGX's chief scientific officer
"We are pleased that SGX's comprehensive protein structure research efforts to date laid the groundwork for this NIH award.
Understanding of protein structures plays an integral role in comprehending complex biological systems and in developing the
next generation of drug targets and medicines. This award gives SGX an unprecedented opportunity to favorably impact both
basic biomedical research and the drug discovery process."
MAY 27th, 2005
Genomatix Corporation, which offers genetic design tools used to
control gene expression and modulate protein interactions, reported that it has closed a Series B round from NewVa Capital
Partners, LP. The $500,000 is planned for the launch of its genetic tools. The tools are considered important in that they
enable scientists to turn on or off genes to determine the effect on the production of proteins and the resultant effect on
cells. In this way, the positive and negative effects of drugs and nutrients on specific individuals can be more precisely
determined.
MAY 20th, 2005
Research Institute Licenses GeneGo's Genome Data Mining
Tool
GeneGo, Inc., a provider of high throughput computational platforms for the data and computive
intense genome analysis and drug discovery market, has licensed its MetaCore platform to Translational Genomics Research Institute
(TGen). MetaCore, which generates, compares and interprets biological networks and pathways, will be used by Tgen in its translational
genomics research efforts. According to Dr. Edward Suh, TGen's Chief Information Officer, "GeneGo enables our scientists to
generate global pathways and smaller targeted networks, and in addition, extending pathways and networks with GeneGo was a
very attractive feature for gaining information." The goal of transitional genomics research is to analyze information obtained
through the Human Genome project to improve the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of a number of serious diseases.
GeneGo's
products include MetaCore, MetaBase and MetaDrug. MetaCore, which is integrated with MetaBase, a knowledge database, is for
pharmaceutical scientists. One of the end-functions of MetaCore is to identify biomarkers related to disease and toxicology.
MetaDrug is used to predict the effects of small molecule compounds on human toxicity and metabolism.
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