The big Nor’easter this week didn’t get in the way of big news from New England’s life sciences firms.
—Civitas Therapeutics, a startup operating out of Alkermes’ (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALKS]]) leased facility in Chelsea, MA, is working to commercialize inhaled drug delivery from Waltham, MA-based Alkermes. The firm has about $20 million in first-round funding to develop the technology for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, Ryan wrote.
—Cambridge, MA-based stealthy biotech company Dekkun revealed it had raise $9.9 million of an equity financing that could hit $30 million, via a filing with the SEC. The firm is operating out of the offices of venture firm HealthCare Ventures, which is also represented on the board of directors at Dekkun.
—-Rib-X Pharmaceuticals of New Haven, CT, said it raised $20 million in financing, led by private equity firm Warburg Pincus. Rib-X is developing drugs targeted at traditionally antibiotic-resistant infections.
—Cambridge-based Resolvyx Pharmaceuticals announced that Celtic Therapeutics exercised its option to buy the company’s lead drug, RX-10045, a treatment for dry eye and other eye diseases. Celtic will move the drug, among Resolvyx’s crop of small molecule derivatives of omega-3 fish oils, into Phase III clinical trials later this year.
—Boston venture firm Oxford BioSciences held the first close of its sixth fund at $66 million, according to Fortune’s Dan Primack. Part of the money came from the government of South Korea and the city government of Seoul.
—iWalk, a Cambridge developer of an advanced prosthetic ankle and foot, raised $15 million in third-round funding, the Boston Globe reported. Sigma Partners, General Catalyst, and WFD Ventures participated in the financing.
—Bedford, MA-based Ocular Therapeutix added $6 million to its Series C round, bringing the financing’s total to $21 million. The startup, which is developing advancing hydrogel technology for protecting the eye after ophthalmic surgeries and for delivering drugs to the eye, raised the first $15 million of the round from Polaris Venture Partners, according to a June 2009 announcement.
—Ryan caught up with Daphne Zohar of Boston-based PureTech Ventures, which has recently helped launch Vedanta Biosciences and Entrega. Zohar, who previously served as CEO of baldness treatment developer Follica, dished on what distinguishes PureTech.
