Mineralys Therapeutics Inc., a Philadelphia-based company developing an aldosterone synthase inhibitor in-licensed from Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. (MTPC), has raised $40 million in series A funding to complete a phase II proof-of-concept study in hypertension for the candidate, known as MLS-101.
Invitae Corp. has inked a definitive agreement to acquire Genosity Inc., a genomics company with a technology platform for next-generation sequencing (NGS) assays, for approximately $200 million in cash and stock. Separately, the medical genetic testing company reported a $1.15 billion investment, led by Softbank Group subsidiary SB Management, to support ongoing growth initiatives. San Francisco-based Invitae expects the Genosity platform to accelerate the development and launch of its oncology products, including three tests that won FDA breakthrough device designation.
PARIS – Holistick Medical SAS reported a $5 million round for development of the first generation of a light-activated implant for a patent foramen ovale (PFO). Truffle Capital provided the startup with $4.6 million, while Bpifrance provided $470,000 in non-dilutive funding. “This robust financing provides us with the resources needed to catapult our strategy forward and reinvent the treatment of heart defects such as PFO, which can be associated with occurrence of stroke in young people,” Boris Warnack, CEO of Paris-based Holistick Medical, told BioWorld.
TORONTO – Exact Imaging Inc. has secured C$5.1 million (US$4 million) from the Business Development Bank of Canada and federal Export Development Canada to drive adoption of its Exactvu micro-imaging platform for real-time imaging of the prostate. Company CEO Randy Aucoin said it’s been a slow process getting street cred for his prostate imager, investing “tens of millions of dollars” in a direct sales force that eventually installed 100 systems in the U.S., Europe and Canada.
LONDON – Phoremost Ltd. has raised $46 million in an oversubscribed series B that will enable it to put clinical heft behind its claim to have developed a novel approach to finding and drugging inscrutable targets.
The number of venture capital financings completed in March, as well as the total amount they raised for the biopharma industry, are more than any other month in the past 21 years. With 92 rounds worth $6.2 billion, the volume is 35% higher than the September 2020 record of 68, and the total funds are 66% more than the $3.8 billion raised in the next top month of June 2020.