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CeNeRx BioPharma Secures $18.5 Million in First Round Financing
RTP-based CeNeRx BioPharma, a start-up biopharmaceutical company, announced the completion of $18.5 million in its first round of financing. The round was led by the Perseus-Soros BioPharmaceutical Fund, with participation from L Capital Partners, A.M. Pappas & Associates, and Wistar Morris. CeNeRx develops medicines to treat diseases related to neurotransmitters and the central nervous system including anxiety, dementia, depression, epilepsy, schizophrenia, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. The company plans to use the funds for research and business development.

CeNeRx is a CED member.

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Summus Closes on $8 Million in Private Stock Placement
Raleigh-based Summus (www.summus.com), a provider of applications and content for mobile phone users, has closed a private stock placement of approximately $8 million. Liberty Associated Partners was the lead investor, and existing investor Rock Hill Investment Management also participated. The funds will be used to accelerate the company's direct-to-consumer strategy, including the upcoming launch of the company's new mobile content portal in the first quarter of 2006.

Summus is a CED member.

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Lohmueller Inks Deal with Xcelecom Technology Solutions
Lohmueller, the Raleigh-based provider of business management solutions, has landed a contract with Xcelecom Technology Solutions for the NetSuite business management solution. Xcelecom, which is based in Connecticut, has operations up and down the East Coast and has revenues of more than $300 million. NetSuite is the industry's first and only online business application that supports everything from customer relationship management (CRM) to enterprise resource planning (ERP) to Web capabilities.

Lohmueller is a CED member.

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Asklepios Biopharmaceutical to Use Funds for Drug Development
Chapel Hill-based biotechnology firm Asklepios Biopharmaceutical Inc. (AskBio, www.askbio.com) will use $1.5 million in funding to advance its development of a therapeutic drug used to treat a form of Muscular Dystrophy. AskBio is currently in the clinical testing phase for Biostrophin, a drug used to treat Duchene's Muscular Dystrophy, which causes muscular degeneration in young males. AskBio received a $1.5 million grant from the Muscular Dystrophy Association last year that, in combination with matching funds raised by the company, has been earmarked to fund the first phase of clinical trials for the drug. The first trials are set to begin in the spring of 2006 at Columbus Children's Hospital in Ohio.

Asklepios Biopharmaceutical is a CED member.

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Adherex Receives IND Clearance from the FDA for Eniluracil
Durham-based Adherex Technologies Inc. (www.adherex.com), a biopharmaceutical company with a broad portfolio of oncology products under development, announced its global development plans for the chemoenhancer eniluracil, which the company in-licensed from GlaxoSmithKline in July 2005. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared its Investigational New Drug (IND) application for eniluracil, which enables Adherex to commence U.S.-based clinical trials of eniluracil. Adherex plans to begin a Phase I/II trial in Asia in the second quarter of 2006 in patients with liver cancer. It is expected that a Phase III trial in liver cancer could begin by mid-2007.

Adherex is a CED member.

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Events Update

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