1. Scrip
  2. >>Business
  3. >>Start-Ups & SMEs

Venture Funding Deals: New Cash For Delinia, Peloton, Fortis & Others

 
• By Deanna Kamienski, Beth Allan, Maureen Riordan, and Steven Muntner

Moderna and Intarcia lead recent fundraisings; big pharma backing includes Novartis leading Series A for Inflazome and Pfizer for diabetes play Antolrx. Derived from Strategic Transactions, Informa’s premium source for tracking life sciences deal activity, the Venture Funding Deals column provides a comprehensive monthly review of emerging biopharmaceutical companies that have received venture funding. This month’s column covers deals announced August through September 2016.

Immuno-oncology firm Advantagene Inc. raised $14.2m through the sale of its Series A convertible preferred shares to undisclosed investors. National Securities Corp. was the placement agent. (Sept.)

Advantagene is developing cancer treatments based on its GMCI (Gene Mediated Cytotoxic Immunotherapy) platform, which is a viral vector technology based on the aglatimagene besadenovec (AdV-tk) gene vector specially engineered to deliver the herpes simplex-derived thymidase kinase gene to target cells. Administration of GMCI candidates consists of an injection at the tumor site (to deliver the AdV-tk) and an oral dose of an activating prodrug, which together causes a cytotoxic reaction at the tumor site and induces a patient-specific immune response

More from Start-Ups & SMEs

Lilly And Alchemab Tap Into Resilient Individuals To Develop ALS Drug

 
• By Andrew McConaghie

The pharma company is helping to validate the biotech’s model by developing a novel amyotrophic lateral sclerosis candidate, based on its novel approach that ‘turns drug discovery on its head’.

Switzerland Biopharma To Stay Strong Despite More Cash Going To US And China

 
• By Kevin Grogan

The sector is continuing to show resilience despite financial and market challenges.

Veraxa Takes SPAC Route To Develop Bispecific ADCs and T-Cell Engagers

 
• By Andrew McConaghie

The Swiss biotech firm could go public on the NASDAQ later this year, and points to other preclinical dealmaking in the space to back its strategy.

Japan’s Ciconia Seeks Academic Candidates To Hatch In Global Market

 
• By Lisa Takagi

Japanese incubator Ciconia has just started verifying its first drug candidate with a vision of building domestic startups with globally competitive assets.

More from Business

Accelerated Approval May Be Out Of Reach For PTC’s Huntington’s Drug

 
• By Joseph Haas

PTC said its updated Phase II data for PTC 518 met the primary endpoint of Huntingtin’s protein reduction, but analysts said there isn’t clear correlation with clinical benefit.

Finance Watch: Unity Lays Off All Employees As It Evaluates Alternatives

 
• By Mandy Jackson

Restructuring Edition: Unity unveiled more Phase IIb data for lead asset UBX1325 along with plans to shed its workforce while seeking a partner for it and other drugs. Also, Ono is consolidating US employees at one site, Entrada is cutting its workforce by 20% and other recent strategic shifts.

Pharma Predicts Modest Impact From Tariffs, But It Depends On What Comes Next

 
• By Jessica Merrill

Drugmakers aren’t expecting a big financial hit from tariffs for now, but a report commissioned by PhRMA suggests the cost of pharma-sector tariffs could be steep.