Regional News

Don't miss our other news sources!

Aerie Pharmaceutical Secures $21 million in First Round Financing
RTP-based Aerie Pharmaceuticals (www.aeriepharma.com), a spinout biotechnology company from Duke University that focuses on development of drugs to treat glaucoma, has closed on $21 million in first round financing. Co-leading the round were Alta Partners and Texas Pacific Group Ventures.

Aerie plans to take its leading glaucoma treatment, AR-101, into phase I and phase II clinical studies in 2006. The money will be used in part to support those trials. In connection with the deal, Geoff Duyk, a managing director at TPG Ventures, and David Mack, a director at Alta Partners, will join Aerie's board of directors.

[Top of page]

Pozen to Receive $20 million Milestone Payment from GlaxoSmithKline
Chapel Hill-based Pozen (NASDAQ: POZN, www.pozen.com), a pharmaceutical company that develops therapeutic advancements for diseases with unmet medical needs, will receive a $20 million milestone payment from GlaxoSmithKline. The payment came after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration agreed to review a drug application for Trexima, a migraine treatment.

GlaxoSmithKline and Pozen are co-developing the drug, which combines two drugs into one pill to treat serve migraines. The companies could begin marketing the drug by the second half of 2006 if the drug administration approves the application.

Pozen is a CED member.

[Top of page]

Serenex Raises $30 million in Third Round VC Funding
Durham-based Serenex (www.serenex.com), a drug discovery company focused on oncology research, has raised $30 million in third round funding from venture capital firms. Serenex also signed an agreement to license a drug to treat the effects of chemotherapy.

The latest fundraiser brings the total amount raised by the company since its inception to $55 million. Serenex raised $15 million in second round funding in August 2002 and $2 million in its first round in June 2001. The company also raised $8 million in an add-on round of funding in summer 2004. Ritchie Capital, an asset management and venture capital firm, was the lead investor, joined by existing investors Intersouth Partners of Durham, Lilly Ventures, Mediphase Venture Partners, Takeda Research Investment and Seaflower Ventures.

Serenex is a CED member.

[Top of page]

Diosynth Lands Contract with ImmunoGen
RTP-based Diosynth Biotechnology (www.diosynthbiotechnology.com), a supplier of contract manufacturing services for the global biotechnology industry, has won a contract to manufacture antibodies for ImmunoGen, a developer of targeted anti-cancer therapeutics.

Under the agreement, Diosynth will undertake technology transfer and conduct process and analytical development work related to production of ImmunoGen's huN901 antibody. Diosynth will then manufacture - under cGMP bulk huN901 antibody for ImmunoGen utilizing the Diosynth cell-culture, fed-batch technology. ImmunoGen intends to use this antibody in the manufacture of future huN901-DM1 clinical materials.

Diosynth is a CED member.

[Top of page]

UNC-Chapel Hill Named as One of Seven Centers for Cancer Nanotechnology Research
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been designated as one of seven centers for cancer nanotechnology research by the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.

The Carolina Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence will participate in a five-year, $144.3 million initiative to develop nanotechnology systems that will be used for detecting and treating cancer. The Center will focus on using PRINT particles, which allow scientists to control the shape, size and composition of material when building nanoparticles for use in cancer therapy and imaging. The program will be headed by UNC professors Rudolph Juliano and Joseph DeSimone, co-founder of Morrisville-based CED member Liquidia Technologies.

[Top of page]

NCSRT Honored with Award from U.S. Department of Commerce
Apex-based NCSRT, Inc. (www.ncsrt.com), a provider of innovative filtration, separation and purification solutions for biotechnology, biopharmaceutical, animal healthcare, dairy processing and enzyme manufacturing, has received an Export Achievement Certificate from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The award was in recognition of NCSRT’s recent export transactions.

NCSRT recently exported advanced filtration and chromatography products to aid two Indian-based biotechnology companies with the production on insulin, hepatitis vaccines and other products. U.S. Congressman David Price, who presented the award, praised the company for creating economic efficiencies coupled with product innovations.

NCSRT is a CED member.

[Top of page]

SRK Communications Changes Name to Crossroads Public Relations
Raleigh- based SRK Communications, a leading provider of strategic public relations counsel and services, has changed its name to Crossroads Public Relations (www.crossroadspr.com).

The Crossroads Public Relations team has nearly 30 years of combined public relations experience including a unique combination of agency and in-house expertise. Areas of expertise include technology such as networking, telecommunications, and software solutions; venture capital-related services; and other B2B products and services. In addition, Crossroads has an extended network of partnerships created to help connect clients with complementary expertise in such areas as crisis communications, global/regional support, design and/or multimedia services, message development, branding and more.

[Top of page]

Scynexis Lands Deal with Tokyo Company
Scynexis, Inc. (www.scynexis.com), a medicinal chemistry-focused drug discovery and development company based in Durham, has signed a deal to provide medicinal and analytical chemistry services to Tokyo-based Teijin Pharma Ltd.'s research programs. Teijin Pharma Ltd. is a pharmaceutical company that is an owned subsidiary of Teijin Ltd. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The agreement provides Teijin Pharma with numerous chemistry resources, including access to the Scynexis medicinal chemistry team backed by proprietary technologies such as the HEOS® Software Suite, MEDCHEM-FACTORY™ and KIT™ Kinase Inhibitor Technology.

Scynexis is a CED member.

[Top of page]

CED’s InfoTech 2005 Spotlights Emerging IT Trends

[Top of page]

Events Update

7/21 Fast 50 Nominations Deadline
8/1 Tech 2006 Demo Application Deadline