• CardioVascular BioTherapeutics Inc., of Las Vegas, completed the sale in a private placement of $20 million worth of senior secured notes together with warrants to purchase 705,882 shares of the company’s common stock. The notes are convertible at any time at $12 per share. Proceeds from the financing are expected to carry CVBT through Phase II of its Cardio Vascu-Grow product in heart disease patients and through Phase I and II studies of the product in wound healing.

• Chemokine Therapeutics Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, placed about 5.5 million shares with a group of primarily institutional investors at a price of C$1.06 per share for gross proceeds of C$5.8 million (US$5 million). Net proceeds will be used to fund the preclinical and clinical development of the company’s product candidates and for capital and general corporate purposes. Chemokine focuses on developing drugs that harness the therapeutic potential of stem cells through chemokine pathways. Following the offering, the company has about 38.4 million shares outstanding.

• F2G Ltd., of Manchester, UK, completed a £5 million (US$8.7 million) equity financing round with an international syndicate of existing investors plus new investor Astellas Venture Management LLC, the venture capital arm of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc. The funding will allow F2G to accelerate the development of several lead compounds that are showing promise as potential antifungal drugs. Founded in 1998, F2G uses its genomics technology, MycoBank, to identify essential gene targets in fungi, and then develop drugs to attack those targets.

• IRX Therapeutics Inc., of New York, raised $12.5 million through a convertible note offering to fund further development of cancer and viral disease products, including IRX-2, its lead cancer drug. The drug, designed to correct both dendritic cell and T-cell defects to stimulate an immune response against tumor cells, is in Phase II testing, and the company is preparing for a pivotal Phase III study. IRX also named Frank Loverro, managing director of New York-based Kelso & Co., to its board.

• Valentis Inc., of Burlingame, N.C., completed a private placement of about 2.1 million shares of its common stock and warrants to purchase up to 1.1 million shares at $2.50 per unit, for aggregate gross proceeds of about $5.25 million. The five-year warrants are exercisable at a price of $3 per share. The company intends to use the proceeds to advance its VLTS 934 poloxamer product for patients suffering with peripheral arterial disease into Phase III. Valentis completed dosing of a Phase IIb trial last month, and plans to release results of that study in July.

• Viragen Inc., of Plantation, Fla., completed a private placement unit offering to institutional and accredited investors for gross proceeds of about $5.2 million. The company sold 52,150 units priced at $100 each. Net proceeds are expected to total about $4.7 million, and will be used to fund Viragen’s ongoing research and development plans, regulatory strategies, and to proceed with the international marketing of Multiferon in approved territories. Most recently, Multiferon (multi-subtype, natural human alpha interferon) was approved in Sweden for the first-line adjuvant treatment of malignant melanoma.