changed its name to Qteros, in honor of the so-called Q Microbe, the bacterium at the heart of its process for turning cellulose-rich plant material into ethanol.
—Archemix of Cambridge, MA, unveiled plans to go public via a reverse merger with Lexington, MA-based NitroMed (NASDAQ:[[ticker:NTMD]]), which recently sold off its only marketed product. The resulting company would apply to trade under the symbol “ARCH,” and would have cash and cash equivalents of about $50 million to $60 million.
—Rave Wireless, a maker of security and emergency alert software for mobile phones, reportedly raised $7 million in a Series D financing round, bringing its total raised to around $42 million. Backers of the Framingham, MA-based firm include Bain Capital Ventures, Sigma Partners, RRE Ventures, and Trilogy Equity Partners.
—Cambridge, MA-based Idera Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:[[ticker:IDRA]]) extended its research collaboration with drug giant Merck, forged in December 2006, for one year. The alliance is aimed and developing Idera’s drugs as treatments for cancer, infectious diseases, and Alzheimer’s disease.
—Radius Health, a developer of drugs for osteoporosis and women’s health based in Cambridge, MA, topped off its Series C financing round with an additional $15 million, bringing the round to a total of $82.5 million. MPM Capital, the Wellcome Trust, HealthCare Ventures, Oxford Bioscience Partners, BB Biotech Ventures, and Scottish Widows Investment Partnership all contributed to the round.
—Adimab, a Lebanon, NH-based developer of antibody based drugs, raised an undisclosed amount in a Series C round from new investors OrbiMed Advisors, Borealis Ventures, and return backers Polaris Venture Partners and SV Live Sciences.
—Cambridge, MA-based cancer drug maker Infinity Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:INFI]]) inked a deal with Stamford, CT-based Purdue Pharma and its overseas affiliate Mundipharma potentially worth $75 million upfront and giving Infinity access to a $50 million line of credit. The agreement gives Purdue and Mundipharma rights to co-develop several of Infinity’s drugs, but excludes drugs already being developed with AstraZeneca and Novartis.
