they showed patients who got the Raptor drug RP103 for a full 36 months experienced a 25 percent slower progression in the degeneration of their motor skills, compared with patients who delayed starting treatment with RP103 for 18 months. The company noted there is no currently approved drug that slows the progression of Huntington’s Disease.
—San Diego-based Enlibrium raised $15 million in a Series A financing co-led by Avalon Ventures and TPG Biotech to advance the diabetes drug metformin as a potential new anti-cancer drug. The financing is expected to provide enough capital to advance Enlibrium’s lead compounds through Phase 1 clinical trials.
—GreatCall, a San Diego mobile virtual network operator targeting the 65+ market, acquired the assets of Lively, a not-so-lively San Francisco startup with technology and services to help older adults live independently. A spokesperson told MobiHealthNews that no Lively employees would be migrating to GreatCall because no Lively employees remained when due diligence for the acquisition began. Financial terms of the asset sale were not disclosed.
—Prosetta Biosciences, a San Francisco biotech developing treatments for humans and animals, said it raised about $31 million in gross proceeds in a Series D financing described as a private stock placement. Net proceeds will be used primarily for R&D as Prosetta advances its “assembly machine” approach to drug discovery for treating central nervous system diseases and disorders, and for working capital and general corporate purposes.
—True North Therapeutics, a South San Francisco biotech developing new drugs for treating rare diseases, said it has completed a $40 million Series C financing. Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance the clinical development of its compound for Cold Agglutinin Disease and other rare diseases. New Leaf Venture Partners led the round, which included new investors Perceptive Advisors and Cowen Private Investments, and existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, MPM Capital, OrbiMed, SR One, and Baxalta Ventures.
—San Diego’s MD Revolution, a concierge medical business developing new ways to manage patients’ health, said it has raised $23 million in a financing round co-led by Chicago’s Jump Capital and an unnamed global healthcare technology company. MD Revolution said it has begun serving over 100 medical practices since February, when the company enrolled the first customers in its chronic care management program.
—San Francisco-based Arterys, which provides a Web-based platform that integrates cloud computing and machine learning to analyze time-lapse MRI heart imaging, agreed to a partnership with GE Healthcare, which is including the Arterys System in new GE Healthcare MRI machines. Arterys also closed on $7 million in a Series A financing round led by Emergent Medical Partners. Norwich Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, Morado Ventures and Asset Management Ventures also participated.
—A new collaborative program between Menlo Park, CA-based SRI Biosciences, a division of SRI International, and physician-researchers from Stanford Cancer Institute (SCI) is working to identify new compounds to treat multiple forms of cancer and other conditions. In a joint statement, the partners said the SRI-Biosciences-Stanford Drug Discovery and Development Program was created in response to a significant drop in the early pipeline of innovative new drugs.
