Spintech MRI Inc. raised $6.5 million in series A financing to expand deployment of MRI software designed to improve and accelerate diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases. The FDA-cleared Strategically Acquired Gradient Echo (Stage) platform is currently in use at more than 50 U.S. hospitals and institutions, including the Yale School of Medicine for advanced research, analysis and treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
In vitro diagnostics company Gaugene Biotechnology Ltd. has secured more than ¥100 million (US$14.8 million) in a series B financing to develop new products and technologies, as well as expand to new markets. The financing was led by Fortune Venture Capital Co. Ltd., with participation by Tao Capital, Guangdong Hybribio Biotech Co. Ltd., Qiming Venture Partners, and others.
Idrx Inc. launched with a $122 million oversubscribed series A round to boost precision drug combinations in cancer, with a first focus on non-PDGFR-driven gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). The Plymouth, Mass.-based firm aims to develop a pairing, potentially with add-ons, powerful enough to handle existing mutations and those that turn up during treatment. Combo therapy attacks “not just the driver mutations, but also the key secondary mutations,” co-founder and CEO Ben Auspitz told BioWorld, and thereby “block every escape route the cancer has.”
Inventisbio Co. Ltd. has raised ¥2.084 billion (US$296 million) in an IPO on Shanghai’s STAR Market priced at ¥18.12 per share, though its stock saw a disappointing debut, opening at ¥14 per share on the first trading day July 25 and closing at $15.29, for a drop of 15.6%. The stock closed Aug. 1 at ¥14.42.