Personalized medicine firm MDxHealth SA (BSE:MDXH.BR) and its research partner NovioGendix B.V. won a $1.1 million grant to support the research and development of a new bladder cancer diagnostic.
The funding came from Eurotrans-Bio, a European Commission initiative that supports biotech R&D between companies and academia.
Belgium-based MDxHealth, which has U.S. headquarters in Durham, N.C., develops companion diagnostics for cancer treatments and NovioGendix is a molecular diagnostics firm that was spun out of Radboud University Nigmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands.
The grant provides both companies with the resources to further investigate the biological indicators and patterns seen in bladder cancer, according to MDxHealth. The companies hope discover and validate tumor markers, which will guide treatment decisions, with patient samples collected from an existing collaboration between the two firms.
The companies said there is an urgent need for accurate biomarkers of bladder cancer so diagnostic tests can be developed for earlier, and personalized, therapeutic intervention.
MDxHealth was founded in 2003 as OncoMethylome Sciences to develop companion diagnostics that could help physicians diagnose and treat cancer. The company last October changed its name to MDxHealth as part of strategy shift from out-licensing its biomarker discoveries to instead developing and commercializing those discoveries on its own.
MDxHealth last month raised $11.7 million in a private placement of securities that included an investment from Belgian life sciences entrepreneur and investor Rudi Marien, whose investment firm Biovest secured a 9 percent stake in the company.
Here’s a roundup of the latest dealflow and investment news:
- NIH grants Immunetics $2.4 million for Chagas’ disease blood test trials
Immunetics Inc. announced it has been awarded a $2.4 million, 3-year Phase II SBIR grant by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to support clinical trials of the company’s new confirmatory test for Chagas’ disease, a serious and potentially fatal parasitic infection.
Read more - OrSense drums up $18 million
OrSense Ltd., developer of monitors for non-invasive measurements of key blood parameters, announced the closing of a $18 million financing led by Israel Healthcare Ventures (IHCV). Participating venture capital organizations include current investors: IHCV, STAR Ventures and Lewis Trust Private Equity division. The funds raised will be used to accelerate commercialization activities of the Company’s products for non-invasive monitoring of various blood parameters.
Read more - Stealthy neurotech startup NeuroVigil closes first round
NeuroVigil Inc., a San Diego-based neurotechnology company, announced it closed its first round of financing. NeuroVigil’s first round was at a pre-investment valuation reportedly over twice the combined seed valuations of Google Inc. and Facebook’s first rounds, and for less than 2 percent of the company’s stock. The round was led by an anonymous American industrialist and technology visionary, with participants distributed across both the U.S. West and East Coasts, the company said.
Read more - BioBehavioral Diagnostics aims for $500,000
BioBehavioral Diagnostics Co. raised $300,000 and is hoping for another $200,000. The debt and options-based financing was supported by three unnamed investors. The Westford, Mass.-based company makes a medical device for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Read more - Elekta issues new shares
Elekta AB (publ) issued 33,042 new B shares in April through the exercise of warrants distributed within the framework of an established option program. The total number of shares in Elekta as of April 29, 2011 amounts to 94,239,669 divided between 3,562,500 A shares and 90,677,169 B shares. One A share entitles the holder to ten votes and one B shares to one vote. The above information is such that Elekta shall make public in accordance with the Securities Market Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act
Read more - Xlumena completes $7 million B round
Xlumena, a privately held provider of technology for the interventional endoscopist and endoscopic surgeon, closed its Series B financing. The current round of financing was led by new investor, Aperture Venture Partners, LLC and joined by Western Technology Investment. In conjunction with the financing, Eric Sillman of Aperture Venture Partners and Dr. Avi Kometz of Ascent Biomedical Ventures will join Xlumena’s board. Also participating in the current round of financing were existing institutional investors Prism Ventures, Charter Life Sciences and Ascent Biomedical Ventures.
Read more - Bankrupt Angiotech announces another debt exchange extension
Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc. extended its offer to exchange new senior secured floating rate notes due 2013 for all of its outstanding Senior Floating Rate Notes due 2013 to 12:00 a.m. New York City time on May 12. The offer was last scheduled to expire at 11:59 p.m. New York City time on May 9. The extension of the exchange offer has been made to allow holders of outstanding Existing Floating Rate Notes who have not yet tendered their Existing Floating Rate Notes for exchange to do so.
Read more - Bacterin secures $1.9 million through private placement
Bacterin International Holdings Inc. (NYSE Amex:BONE) announced that, subject to NYSE Amex approval, it has raised $1.9 million in a private placement transaction. The transaction was funded in two tranches and priced at market value on the date each tranche was submitted to NYSE Amex for approval. In addition to shares of common stock, investors also received warrants to purchase 40 percent of the common shares purchased in the private placement at the closing price. The warrants are exercisable over the next five years, subject to a six month holding period. Bacterin intends to use proceeds from the private placement for working capital and to increase production capacity in light of growing demand for its existing and newly launched products.
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Material from MedCity News was used in this report.
