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September 12th, 2005
Replidyne, Inc., a company developing anti-infective
drugs, has raised $62.5 million in a Series D round. New investors in the round included Duquesne Capital Management, Healthcare
Investment Partners and MDS Life Sciences Technology II funds. Other existing investors were listed as HealthCare Ventures,
TPG Ventures, Morgenthaler Ventures, Perseus-Soros BioPharmaceutical Fund, Sequel Venture Partners, Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd
and Quintiles Transnational.
Remarking about the investment was Kenneth J. Collins,
Replidyne's CEO, "The strong interest from such high-quality investors validates our confidence in the potential of our lead
product candidate, faropenem medoxomil, and the ability of a superb team to drive the product to approval and commercialization.
The proceeds from this offering are expected to carry us through the launch of faropenem for respiratory tract infections
and will also allow us to move REP8839, a topical antibiotic being developed to treat infections caused by antibiotic-resistant
bacteria such as MRSA, into clinical trials."
Replidyne's lead product is faropenem medoxomil, which
is an antibiotic taken orally for the treatment of infections such as respiratory tract infections (RTIs). The company has
planned to file a New Drug Application (NDA) for faropenem in late 2005. If approved by the FDA, the company indicates that
the product could be on the market in late 2006. So far to date, the product has undergone Phase III clinical trials, which
involved over 3,400 patients.
September 8th, 2005
Protez
Pharmaceuticals Receives $15 Million to Fight Drug Resistant Infections
Protez Pharmaceuticals has closed a $15 million Series
B funding round as part of its strategy to further the development of its lead compound, SMP-601, an antibiotic that has been
targeted towards drug resistant gram-positive and gram negative pathogens. Clinical trials for SMP-601 are expected to begin
in 2006.
BioAdvance Ventures, Birchmere Ventures, L Capital Partners,
S.R. One and BTG participated in the financing. Sherrill Neff, managing partner of Quaker BioVentures, noted that SMP-601
could be instrumental for the treatment of hospital-based infections, "Preclinical data suggest that SMP-601 could be a critically
important new weapon in the fight against the growing incidence of hospital-based infections that do not respond to existing
treatments, and we look forward to the progress of both this promising agent and other novel antibiotic compounds in the Protez
pipeline."
August 31st, 2005
The YaSheng Group (NASDAQ Other OTC: YHGG) through its
Academy of Science Research and Development Center has reported what it calls a breakthrough in Lysozyme DNA Technology. The
technology, which YaSheng has received China authorized patent (ZL03100582.9) and International patent (C12N15/62) is considered
an alternative to antibiotics. Other uses the new Lysozyme technology include an antiseptic for the food industry, a baby
food and milk additive, and as a less drastic measure to prevent cow Mastitis in dairy cows. The company through its Research
and Development Center is also looking at the technology as a low-cost alternative for the treatment of AIDs. The pharmaceutical
division of the company also indicated that it has produced transgenic Lysozyme plants as a herbal and food product with health
applications. Besides fighting off bacteria in animals and humans, Lysozyme has the potential to be used to improve the ability
of plants to resist bacteria.
YaSheng estimates that if Lysozyme was sold for $50.00
per gram, it could obtain $525 million in annual sales from its patent, which can be viewed at its web site. The YaSheng Group
has 135 subsidiaries, over 15,000 employees and assets of about $1.5 billion. The company is incorporated in Redwood City,
California.
August 24th, 2005
Inhibitex Closes $41.25 Million
Private Placement
Inhibitex, Inc. (NASDAQ:INHX), a biopharmaceutical company
focused on the development of antibody based products for serious infections, has obtained $41.25 million in gross proceeds
through the private placement of its common stock with a group of institutional investors.
Inhibitex’s drug development programs are based
on its proprietary MSCRAMM protein platform technology. Veronate, one of the company’s products undergoing Phase III
trials is for the prevention of hospital associated infections in premature infants. The company’s other product, Aurexis,
also in clinical trials, is for the treatment of infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus. The FDA has granted both Veronate
and Aurexis FastTrack designation status.
August 19th, 2005
Electric Aquagenics Plans Entry into South and
Central American Markets with Bacteria and Pathogen Protectant Technology
Electric Aquagenics Unlimited, Inc. (EAU) (OTC Bulletin
Board: EAQU) has entered into licensing agreement negotiations for its Empowered Water and Protectant Technologies for the
Central and South American markets with a Florida company. EAU indicated that the agreement involves both a license
fee and royalty on all gross revenues.
The move into the lower Americas will be the company’s
first move into the international market according to Gaylord Karren, CEO of EAU, "We have always intended on expanding our
sales to the international market with situations like this We are beyond pleased to see Empowered Water take its first step
outside the Continental U.S. This is precisely why we are the market leader in EO water
technologies. EAU has proven, again,
that it can take solid scientific research and commercialize it." Mr. Karren added that the agreement was to close shortly,
"We expect to close on this next week."
Dirty carpets, contaminated food, moldy kitchens are
all markets that
EAU's protectant technology addresses. The company’s Empowered technology is said to be non-toxic
in the applications tested in so far. The company’s technology, described in United States patent 6,638,364, is a system
and method used to disinfect a wide variety of surfaces with electrolyzed alkaline water. The alkaline water is based on a
sodium chloride solution with concentration levels between 1 percent and 50 percent.
August 15th, 2005
Mpex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company focused on antibacterials
for the treatment of serious infections, reported on a $32 million private placement of its Series B preferred stock. Investors
in the Series B round that company listed included lead investor, SV Life Sciences), HBM BioVentures (Cayman) Ltd/HBM BioCapital
LPs, Aberdare Ventures, Adams Street Partners, Western States Investment Group and Charitable Leadership Foundation. According
to Bill Gerhart, CEO of Mpex, the funding will be used for clinical development, and support R&D partners, "This capital
will enable us to advance our first two candidates through preclinical and early clinical development, as well as attract
and support future R&D partnerships."
Mpex indicates that its most advanced candidate is an
aerosol antibacterial for the treatment of cystic fibrosis patients and those with serious respiratory infections.
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