Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• Immune-system specialty pharma Circassia raises £11M (release)
• Cancer-biomarker biotech CS-Keys takes in $6.3M (release)
• Neuro-robotic device maker Myomo receives $3M (VentureWire)
• Micropharma draws C$1.8M for nutraceutical delivery (VentureWire)
• Avalon Labs gets $66M for disposable life-support components (release)
• Gloucester Pharma names Alan Colowick as CEO (release)
• ConforMIS names Philipp Lang as CEO (release)
• Pharma-marketing firm TargetRx names Craig Scott as CEO (release)

Immune-system specialty pharma Circassia raises £11M — Circassia, an Oxford, England biotech focused on immune-system disorders, raised £11 million ($21.8 million) in a second funding round. Investors included Goldman Sachs, Invesco Perpetual, Imperial Innovations and Lansdowne Partners.

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The company is currently developing a range of allergy treatments by “retraining” the immune system not to react to allergens such as cat dander, dust mites, ragweed and grass. Circassia’s approach is to isolate short stretches of the allergy-causing proteins and expose them to the immune system’s antigen-presenting cells, attracting other cells that, though a complex biochemical dance, teach the immune system to “tolerate” the original protein.

Circassia is “preparing to complete” mid-stage trials ‘of its lead candidate, which is aimed at treating allergy to cat dander. The company says its technology should also be useful in preventing the rejection of transplanted organs.

Cancer-biomarker biotech CS-Keys takes in $6.3M — CS-Keys, an Indianapolis biotech working on protein-based “biomarkers,”, raised $6.3 million in a first funding round. Investors included Triathlon Medical Ventures, Clarian Health Ventures, Prolog Ventures and Ceres Venture Fund.

CS-Keys aims to find proteins that indicate the presence and status of tumors, and which can serve as a diagnostic for early detection or for monitoring the status of cancer patients. The company says its first product will be a pathology stain for detection of proliferating cell nuclear antigen in biopsied tumor samples. As a followup, the company intends to pursue a blood test for detecting the return of tumors in patients whose cancer has gone into remission.

Neuro-robotic device maker Myomo receives $3M — Boston’s Myomo, a “neurorobotics” company designing technology to help patients learn to regain the use of weakened or partially paralyzed limbs, raised $3 million in a second funding round, VentureWire reports. Angel investors provided the funding.

Founded in 2006, Myomo has developed a “smart” elbow brace for aiming to relearn how to move stroke-impaired arms. The brace senses electrical nerve signals in the skin’s surface, generated when patients try to move an arm, and then electromechanically moves the arm as the patient intended. The idea is to provide real-time feedback so that patients can re-educate their muscles in order to regain motor control.

The Myomo device has been studied in six patients, who demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in two measures of movement. The company has two additional studies underway in chronic and sub-acute stroke patients. The device has been cleared for hospital use, although Myomo eventually hopes to win approval for home use as well.

Myomo hopes to add another $8 million from venture capitalists by this summer, in what may either be a third round or an extension of the second. The current funding will allow the company to roll out its device to medical facilities nationwide.

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