Clinical trial advances, new financing, and personnel moves made up the New England life sciences news this week.
—Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]) scooped up Cambridge, MA-based drugmaker Stromedix for $75 million upfront and potentially $487.5 million more to come in milestone payments. Stromedix is developing drugs to treat fibrosis and was founded by former Biogen head of research Michael Gilman.
—Cambridge-based Hydra Biosciences is getting ready to launch the first human trial of the drug it’s developing with Cubist Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CBST]]), which is in a novel class of pain drugs. The startup also recently inked a collaboration deal with its Cambridge neighbor Zalicus to develop multiple novel drug candidates for the treatment of pain.
—On-Q-ity, the Waltham, MA-based cancer diagnostics startup, raised $5 million in a Series B funding round and tapped Michael Stocum as its new president and CEO. The financing was led by existing investors Mohr Davidow Ventures, Atlas Venture, and Physic Ventures.
—Mnemosyne Pharmaceuticals, a Providence, RI-based startup that’s developing small molecule drugs to treat neuropsychiatric disorders, inked $5.4 million in Series A financing from lead investor Access BridgeGap Ventures and existing investor Slater Technology Fund.
—Waltham-based MicroCHIPS reported positive results from the first human trial of its implantable, chip-based device for delivering an osteoporosis drug. The study showed that post-menopausal women who received daily doses of the drug teriparatide (Forteo) via the device absorbed the same therapeutic levels as generally observed in women getting daily injections.
