Silicon Valley Biotech Carbylan Therapeutics Files for $86 Million  

December 30, 2014 - Bio Space

Osteoarthirtis pain management startup Carbylan Therapeutics has filed plans with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a sizable initial public offering, saying in a filing this week that it hopes to raise up to $86 million to go public. The company said in its filing it plans to list on the NASDAQ under the symbol CBYL, but did not disclose pricing terms or amount of publish shares available. Carbylan initially filed confidentially on Sept. 19 but is apparently publicizing the news now in an attempt to gin up interest in what could be a mid-winter IPO.

San Diego Biotech TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Files for $58 Million IPO  

December 30, 2014 - Bio Space

Clinical stage startup TRACON Pharmaceuticals is taking its company public, saying in an S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday that it will aim for a maximum offering price of $57.5 million. San Diego, Calif.-based company Tracon will use the ticker TCON on the NASDAQ and will use Wells Fargo and Stifel as lead book-runners, with Needham & Company and Oppenheimer & Co as co-managers. Pricing terms or numbers of shares on offer were not disclosed.

Bay Area BioPharma 3-V Biosciences Reels in $28.5 Million  

December 30, 2014 - Bio Space

California-based biopharmaceutical company 3-V Biosciences has announced the closing of its Series D funding round, totaling $28.5 million. The round was led by NEA, Kleiner Perkins and Rock Springs Capital Management. New investors including Ally Bridge Group also participated in the financing series. The money raised during this financing round will go toward clinical trials that look at monotherapy in combination with cytoxic agents through phase IB expansion cohorts. The company primarily focuses on discovering and developing therapeutics that modulate pathways in oncology and infectious diseases. "All of us involved with 3-V are thankful and excited to be supported by a truly top-tier syndicate of investors," said Merdad Parsey, chief executive officer of 3-V Biosciences. "As a company, we are at a key inflection point in our growth trajectory as our novel oncology target (FASN), that has been historically so difficult to target, is now on the cusp of producing clinically meaningful data."

Gene Therapy Biotech Spark Therapeutics Sets Terms for $86 Million IPO 

December 31, 2014 - Bio Space

Gene therapy startup Spark Therapeutics isn't wasting any time going public, after the barely year-old company said Wednesday that is has filed an S-1 form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $86 million for an initial public offering. The market has recently fawned over IPO issues from peer companies Juno Therapeutics and Bellicum and Spark is apparently ready to cash in on the action. J.P. Morgan Securities and Credit Suisse Securities will act as lead book-running managers for the offering. Cowen and Company will act as lead manager and Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. will act as co-manager.

Valeant Possibly Eyeing Dental Device Makers Such as Align Technology, Inc. and DENTSPLY International Inc. in 2015 

December 31, 2014 - Bio Space

Still-active acquirer Valeant Pharmaceuticals International is now possibly eyeing additional acquisition targets including some in the dental device market, including Patterson Companies, Henry Schein, Align Technology and DENTSPLY International, said an analyst with Cantor Fiztgerald Wednesday. That's news that could give the company's shares a little New Year boost, a welcome lift after a roller coaster year for the firm. Cantor analyst Irina Rivkind Koffler wrote in a note that Valeant will be looking for cost synergies and "strategic overlap" and added that since Patterson and Henry Schein have veterinary businesses, a sector Valeant has long coveted, they might be a good fit.

HTG Molecular Diagnostics, Inc. (Formerly Known as High Throughput Genomics, Inc.) Files for $60 Million IPO  

December 31, 2014 - Device Space

HTG Molecular Diagnostics, which markets a diagnostic platform for complex molecular profiling, filed on Tuesday with the SEC to raise up to $60 million in an initial public offering. The Tucson, AZ-based company, which was founded in 1997 and booked $3 million in sales for the 12 months ended September 30, 2014, plans to list on the NASDAQ under the symbol HTGM. HTG Molecular Diagnostics initially filed confidentially on September 23, 2014. Canaccord Genuity, Leerink Partners and JMP Securities are the joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were disclosed.

January 2, 2015 - Bio Space

Analysts continue to speculate on possible acquisition targets for Pfizer Inc. Again, in a news report Jan. 1, the speculation is that Chicago-based AbbVie could be a potential target. Ever since Pfizer's May 2014 bid worth $119 billion for British company AstraZeneca fell apart, rumors have swirled over a possible replacement target. Pfizer's interest in AstraZeneca was at least partly due to its tax domicile in the U.K., which would have cut Pfizer's tax load. But changes in U.S. tax policy regarding so-called "tax inversion deals" have made these types of acquisitions less worthwhile. In October Pfizer announced a stock repurchase plan of $11 billion in conjunction with a previous $1.3 billion share repurchase program. Analysts suggested that this was an attempt to strengthen the company's stock value. Pfizer also has a number of patents ending, which will make the company more vulnerable to inexpensive generics.

January 2, 2015 - Fierce Pharma

It has been a whirlwind of a year for pharma, with pricing battles, regulatory showdowns and all-but-legendary M&A. And on the ground, it's Rock-em-Sock-em Robots in some of the industry's biggest markets. A steady flow of new drugs in 2014--and a slate of anticipated launches in 2015--have established brands defending their titles and newcomers looking to land a gut-punch or two, if not a knockout. Here are the match-ups to watch in the coming year. Think we missed something? As always, let us know.

January 2, 2015 - Bio Space

India-based SRF Limited announced on Jan. 1 that it had acquired DuPont Dymel, a propellant business of the U.S. company, DuPont (DD). SRF is set to pay approximately $20 million, according to the India Times. "This acquisition is in sync with our long term strategy to move up the value chain and will enable us to enter the niche pharma product segment," said Ashish Bharat Ram, managing director at SRF. "The growth in the Metered Dose Inhalers sector is expected to be reasonably robust in the years to come and with India playing a major role in this sector we are ideally positioned to take benefit of this opportunity. This will also offer great synergy with our existing HFC plants going forward." As a result of the deal, the Dymel name will be transferred over to SRF. The company will also gain access to more pharmaceutical utilities, allowing it to further develop HFC 134a. Thus far, HFC 134a has been approved as an environmentally safe alternative propellant for medical applications.

January 2, 2015 - Bio Space

Israeli startup company Chiasma has raised $33.8 million, despite the fallout of a deal with Roche over the summer, netting the new money from a suite of investors including MPM Capital, Abingworth, 7-Med Health Ventures LP, ARCH Venture Partners and F2 and F3 Ventures. The potential agreement with Roche was worth approximately $595 million, according to Med City News. As a result of the deal, Chiasma was set to receive $65 million up front, and $530 million would have been considered for development and commercialization milestones in the future. Chiasma's lead candidate is oral octreotide, which is designed to treat acromegaly. The disease, which is the result of an excess of growth hormones, impacts about 5,000 people in the world.

January 2, 2015 - Bio Space

Privately held pharmaceutical compounding company CutisPharma said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week that it will seek $20 million in equity financing from two investors, rumored to be private equity players Eric Lev and David Parker, both of whom are partners at Wellesley-based Ampersand Capital Partners. 17-year old Cutis has never sought equity financing before but has seen major expansion in the last year, moving into new Wilmington, Mass., headquarters and naming a new president, Neal Muni, to spearhead its commercial efforts and development strategy for its product portfolio. "Cutis has significantly expanded (its) operating infrastructure and capabilities with a move into a new state-of-the-art corporate headquarters that includes facilities for warehousing, distribution and manufacturing," said the company on its website. It filed the SEC form on Dec. 31.

January 2, 2015 - Bio Space

Gene therapy startup Spark Therapeutics isn't wasting any time going public, after the barely year-old company said Wednesday that is has filed an S-1 form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $86 million for an initial public offering. The market has recently fawned over IPO issues from peer companies Juno Therapeutics and Bellicum and Spark is apparently ready to cash in on the action. J.P. Morgan Securities and Credit Suisse Securities will act as lead book-running managers for the offering. Cowen and Company will act as lead manager and Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. will act as co-manager.

January 2, 2015 - Bio Space

TxCell SA and Ferring International Center S.A., which formed a partnership in 2014 to develop the drug Ovasave, today announced their collaboration has been assigned to Trizell Holding SA, an affiliate member of the Dr. Frederik Paulsen Foundation. The foundation established Trizell "to provide specialist management and scientific and development expertise" to advanced therapies, TxCell said in a statement. The advanced therapy to be supported is TxCell's Ovasave, a new class of personalized T cell immunotherapies for the treatment of severe chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. This class of T cell immunotherapies uses antigen specific T-cells (Ag-Tregs) as the means of treatment. Currently, Ovasave is being studied for the treatment of refractory Crohn's disease, an inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract.