Hemostemix Inc., of Calgary, Alberta, said it will not proceed with its nonbrokered private placement of up to $6 million in secured convertible debentures and will not have a second close of its nonbrokered private placement of up to $1 million in secured convertible debentures, which previously raised gross proceeds of $525,000. The company said it continues to pursue efforts to raise capital to fund operations and an ongoing phase II trial.

Ideaya Biosciences Inc., of South San Francisco, appointed Paul A. Stone chief financial officer, Andres Briseno, vice president, finance and Mick O'Quigley vice president, development operations.

Hummingbird Bioscience Pte. Ltd., of Singapore, said it completed an extended series A financing round led by Heritas Capital Management and SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore.

Volitionrx Ltd., of Austin, Texas, was awarded a $1.4 million grant from the Walloon Region in Belgium to support a collaboration with Giga at the University of Liege, Belgium. The project will study the use of telomere maintenance as a cancer diagnostic using Volitionrx's Nucleosomics platform.

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) unveiled its preliminary list of potential assessment topics for next year. The list is based on the projected timing and likelihood of FDA approval, and whether an evidence review would suggest specific actions for payers, physicians, patients and policymakers to improve clinical practice. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) Tuesday updated its list of essential medicines, with a focus on cancer and other global health challenges. WHO added 28 drugs for adults and 23 for children to the medicines list and specified new uses for 26 drugs already on the list. 

GNS Healthcare Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said it raised $23 million in a series D fundraising led by Cigna Ventures, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Cigna Corp., with participation from Amgen Ventures, Celgene Corp., Echo Health Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments and former Caesar's CEO and Aetna Division President Gary Loveman.