Company

Location

Date

Amt. (M)

Details

Advion BioSciences Inc.

Ithaca, N.Y.

5/7

$15

Advion raised $15M in a Series B financing round led by Skyline Ventures and Perseus-Soros BioPharmaceutical Fund; other investors were Polaris Venture Partners and Soros Private Equity Partners

Agennix Inc.

Houston

5/30

$20

Agennix raised $20M in a financing led by Gordon Cain, the company's chairman

Arriva Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Alameda, Calif.

5/7

$28

Arriva raised $28M in a Series D round of financing led by MPM Capital LP; other investors were CIBC Capital Partners and AIG Global Investments

Athersys Inc.

Cleveland

5/13

$16.2

Athersys raised $16.2M in a private financing; new institutional investors were National City Equity Partners, Greenleaf Capital Management and the Biomedical Sciences Investment Fund of the Singapore Economic Development Board

Avera Pharmaceuticals Inc.

San Diego

5/23

$16

Avera raised $16M in a Series A financing led by Frazier Healthcare Ventures; other investors were Bay City Capital, InterWest Partners, Windamere Venture Partners LLC, St. Paul Venture Capital and BTG plc

Barrier Therapeutics Inc.

Princeton, N.J.

5/13

$46

Barrier raised $46M to create an independent biopharmaceutical company; investors were JP Morgan Partners, TL Ventures, Perseus-Soros BioPharmaceutical Fund, Baker/Tisch Investment Partners and KBC

CMC Biotech A/S

Copenhagen, Denmark

5/15**

DKK300
(US$36.4)

CMC Biotech raised US$36.4M through a debt and equity financing; European Equity Partner and P/S BankInvest Biomedicinsk Venture III funded the equity investment portion of the transaction, while Vaekstfonden and TK Development supplied the debt financing

Cropsolution Inc.

Research Triangle Park, N.C.

5/2

$6.4

Cropsolution raised $6.4M in its initial funding round led by the Aurora Funds; other investors were ATP Capital, Research Triangle Ventures, Charlotte Angel Partners, the Atlantis Group and individuals

Ecopia Biosciences Inc.

Montreal

5/16

C$8
(US$5.1)

Ecopia raised US$5.1M in two financings, a bought deal with Desjardins Securities and Vengate Capital Partners Co. covering the issue of about 4.44M shares and the private placement of them at C90 cents per share, and a private placement with Fonds de solidarite FTQ

ESBATech AG

Zurich, Switzerland

5/13

US$6.6

ESBATech closed a second round of financing led by the Immunology Fund of Lombard Odier & Cie; other investors were Novartis Venture Fund, HBM BioVentures, BSI New Biomedical Frontiers and Peter Ohnemus

Genesto A/S

Copenhagen, Denmark

5/15

DKK40
(US$4.86)

Genesto raised US$4.86M in its first round of equity funding from 3i plc and the Danish government's National Growth Fund

GenPath Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Cambridge, Mass.

5/17

$15.5

GenPath riased $15.5M in a Series A financing led by MPM Capital LP; other investors were Venrock Associates, Prospect Venture Partners LP, Greylock, Weg and A. Grant Heidrich III

Kinexus Bioinformatics Corp.

Vancouver, British Columbia

5/6

C$0.5
(US$0.32)

Kinexus received an investment by a syndicate of institutional investors, venture capital funds and private investors that included BIRC Corp., Bio FutureFund Capital Corp., an angel investor and the founder of Kinexus, as part of its round of equity financing

Neuro Discovery Inc.

Vancouver, British Columbia

5/16

C$0.775
(US$0.499)

Neuro Discovery raised US$499,000, issuing 387,500 common shares at C$2 per share, in the first closing of a non-brokered private placement of 500,000 common shares at C$2 per share; it expects an additional closing in the next 30 days

Panacea Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Rockville, Md.

5/14

$3

Panacea closed its Series B private financing for about $3M; participants were MedImmune Inc. and prior investors

Paratek Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Boston

5/28

$30.4

Paratek raised $30.4M in a Series D financing led by Novartis BioVentures; other investors were HBM BioVentures AG, POD Holdings, China Development Industrial Bank, Bioveda Capital, Wheatley Medtech Partners and GeneChem Therapeutic Ventures, along with Lombard Odier & Cie, BankInvest, Bio Fund and Nomura International plc

Salpep Biotechnology Inc.

Calgary, Alberta

5/9

$1

Salpep received $1M in funding, including a second round from Milestone Medica Corp.

Tercica Medica Inc.

South San Francisco

5/23

$21.5

Tercica raised $21.5M in a Series A round of financing led by MPM Capital LP with co-investor Prospect Venture Partners

Thios Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Oakland, Calif.

5/3

$15

Thios raised $15M in a Series A financing led by HealthCare Ventures; other investors were Skyline Ventures and private investors

Zapaq Inc.

Waltham, Mass.

5/1

$1.2

Zapaq raised $1.2M in a seed round; the Institute for the Study of Aging in New York contributed $500,000

Company
(Symbol)^#*

Partner (Country)

Amt. (M)

Triggering Event

Details (Date)

Astralis Ltd. (OTC BB:ASTR)

SkyePharma plc (UK)

$2.5

Payment

Astralis received the payment as the second installment of $10M due under the December 2001 stock purchase agreement between the companies (5/2)

Incara Pharmaceuticals Corp. (INCR)

Elan Corp. plc (Ireland)

$3

Equity investment

An affiliate of Elan made the investment of $3M by purchasing Series B preferred stock to enable the development of Incara's catalytic antioxidant compounds as adjunctive agents to cancer treatment (5/21)

NaPro Bio-Therapeutics Inc. (NPRO)

Abbott Laboratories

$8

Milestone payment

NaPro received an $8M milestone payment following the commercial sale of NaPro's paclitaxel by Abbott in the U.S. (5/20)

PharmaSeq Inc.*

Dionex Corp.

$3

Investment

Dionex made an investment in PharmaSeq of $3M, giving Dionex certain rights to negotiate access to PharmaSeq's technology (5/21)

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. (RIGL)

Novartis Pharma AG (Switzerland)

ND

Milestone payment

Rigel received a milestone payment after Novartis accepted a drug target from the research collaboration (5/22)

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. (RIGL)

Pfizer Inc.

ND

Milestone payment

Rigel will receive milestone payments for delivering six additional validated drug targets to Pfizer, completing the discovery-phase respiratory disease research collaboration (5/6)

Vernalis Group plc (UK; LSE:VER)

F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. (Switzerland)

ND

Milestone payment

Vernalis began Phase I trials of a candidate from its collaboration with Roche, resulting in the milestone payment (5/22)

Notes:

# Unless otherwise indicated, shares are traded on the Nasdaq exchange.

* Denotes privately held company.

** Denotes the date the item ran in BioWorld International.

ND = Not disclosed

LSE = London Stock Exchange; OTC BB = Over the Counter Bulletin Board