2007. Luke talked to Pops about his decision to return as the company’s chief executive, and wrote about how Pops’ return fits in with Alkermes’ goal of breaking into the “Big Biotech” club with companies such as Amgen and Biogen Idec.
—Momenta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:[[ticker:MNTA]]) announced that it’s conducting a stock sale that is expected to net the company $40.6 million. The Cambridge-based company didn’t reveal the exact use of the cash it’s raising, but we do know that the firm is still awaiting word from the FDA on whether it can sell its generic version of blood thinner enoxaparin, which French drug giant Sanofi-Aventis markets as Lovenox.
—Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals continues to gain support from investors for its efforts to use synthetic chemistry techniques from Harvard to develop drugs for drug-resistant infections. The Watertown, MA-based firm raised $10 million of a planned $29.6 million financing round, according to documents filed with the SEC.
—Aspect Medical Systems, a Norwood, MA-based developer of brain monitoring technology, found a buyer in Irish healthcare products giant Covidien (NYSE:[[ticker:COV]]). Covidien, which has its U.S. headquarters in Mansfield, MA, plans to buy Aspect (NASDAQ:[[ticker:ASPM]]) for $210 million in cash and make the firm part of its medical devices unit.
—I caught up with new Boston investment firm Candescent Partners, which recently raised $21.5 million through a newly formed company called Candescent Healing to acquire the Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine. The center has corporate offices on Long Island. Veteran venture investor Stephen Jenks told me that he and Sandy McGrath formed Candescent Partners early this year after working together as long-time colleagues at Capital Resource Partners in Boston.
