Intrexon Raises $1M in VC Cash for Subcellular Genetic Tools
Blacksburg, Va.-based Intrexon said this week that it has closed a $1 million round of financing to advance its subcellular tools and related marketing initiatives.
The financing was provided by NewVa Capital Partners, a regional investment partnership managed by Third Security. NewVa last made an investment in Intrexon in May 2005.
"This financing will enable us to expand our capabilities and offerings in the emerging market for subcellular inhibition tools," Robert Beech, Intrexon's CEO, said in a statement.
Intrexon has used previous investment funds to research, develop, and validate a set of DNA vectors that target selected kinases in primary subcellular locations. These vectors are now available from the company as mDECOY kits, Intrexon said.
Institute Pasteur Korea and Euroscreen Ink GPCR Drug-Discovery Deal
The Institute Pasteur Korea and Euroscreen will collaborate in GPCR screening, the partners announced this week.
Under the deal, Euroscreen will provide receptor cell lines and GPCR library compounds for analysis on IPK's high-throughput screening platform.
Additional details were not provided.
CyBio to Distribute Liconic Products in France
Liconic has granted CyBio France exclusive marketing rights to its product portfolio in that country, CyBio said this week.
CyBio will also provide service for the technology and will be able to integrate Liconic's incubators and hotels into CyBio's equipment, the company said in a statement.
Financial details were not provided.
Liconic Instruments is a manufacturer of automated incubators with offices in Lichtenstein, Japan, the UK, and the US.
ABI Wraps Up $273M Acquisition of Ambion's RNA Business
Applied Biosystems has closed its acquisition of the research products division of Ambion, the company said this week.
The $273-million cash acquisition, which the firms announced in late December, enables ABI to enter the consumables market for sample prep, RNAi, microRNA, and gene-expression and array products.
The research products division has about 300 employees, and will continue to be based in Austin. It will report to ABI's molecular biology division.
According to ABI, Ambion stands to generate more than $52 million in revenue in 2005, which would be a 22-percent improvement over last year's receipts.
Cytomics Systems Completes €10M Financing Round
French drug-discovery firm Cytomics Systems said this week that it has raised €10 million (US $11.9 million) in a second round of financing.
The financing was led by Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners and Truffle Venture, with additional support from Société Générale Asset Management Alternative Investments. Aelios Finance acted as financial advisor on the transaction.
The financing will enable the company to accelerate the development of its most advanced antifungal compounds, and initiate preclinical studies in a second program based on compounds that inhibit in vitro proliferation of human cancer cells, Cytomics Systems said.
Cytomics Systems uses a proprietary cell-based high-throughput screening technology called UbiScreen to discover drugs controlling protein turnover by the ubiquitin proteasome pathway.