reinnervate Ltd. is commercializing Alvetex, a three-dimensional scaffold for cell culture. By supporting cell cultures that are more representative of the original tissues, Alvetex cultures could help drug companies fail drugs at an earlier stage, and could reduce the numbers of animals required in testing, thereby saving money in drug development. . . . [MORE . . .]

New money is increasingly hard to come by for life sciences venture capital firms. Start-Up tracks VCs to determine which firms have older vintage funds and which have plenty of fresh capital to invest. . . . [MORE . . .]

An investor syndicate led by Morgenthaler Ventures has backed cancer drug researcher Calithera Biosciences Inc. with $40 million in Series A funding, intended to support development of small-molecule compounds that activate caspases. . . . [MORE . . .]

China has become especially enticing as an unpenetrated, gigantic health care market, especially since the government in 2009 signed into effect a health care reform bill promising $125 billion over a three-year period to modernize the infrastructure of health care and provide insurance coverage to hundreds of millions of people. Medical device companies look to China as an enormous and rapidly growing market for medical disposables and equipment. However, the complex nature of the distribution infrastructure in China will make it difficult for companies to get a foothold. Headquartered in Beijing, TCT Medical Inc., which recently received $10 million in venture funding from Fidelity Asia Ventures and Fidelity Biosciences, its sister firm in the US, offers a potential solution for companies focused on women's health, and a model for the future. . . . [MORE . . .]

When J&J offered to sell its Ionsys pain-relief patch at a fire-sale price last year, Cadence Pharmaceuticals' management team saw a diamond in the rough. But the specialty pharma didn't have the cash or the focus to take on a new project. Enter Frazier Healthcare Ventures, which organized an investor syndicate that teamed with Cadence management on a deal with enough moving parts to make Rube Goldberg proud. The arrangement birthed Incline Therapeutics Inc., an independent, privately held start-up backed by $43.5 million in venture money. . . . [MORE . . .]

With big Phase III failures heating debate about the amyloid hypothesis, small biotechs must convince investors that their early research is pointed in the right direction, and larger ones must design clinical trials with care. We profile four Alzheimer's-focused start-ups in this issue: AlzProtect, Axerion Therapeutics, Cognition Therapuetics and Galantos Pharma. . . . [MORE . . .]

AlzProtect SAS believes that Alzheimer's disease is caused by the loss of neuroprotective factors including APP intracellular domain and sAPP alpha, both of which are produced during the metabolism of amyloid precursor protein. The start-up is developing compounds that can stimulate the APP, increasing the production of neuroprotective compounds. . . . [MORE . . .]

Axerion Therapeutics Inc.'s technology aims to block the binding of Amyloid beta to the prion protein PrP-C, a mechanism its scientists say is the toxic trigger behind neuronal death in Alzheimer's disease. Based at Yale University in New Haven, the team found that mice with AB plaques but no PrP-C showed no cognitive impairment. [A#2010900153] . . . [MORE . . .]

Using proprietary assays, Cognition Therapeutics Inc. has discovered small-molecule, highly brain-penetrable drugs that block soluble toxic amyloid beta oligomers in their reactive form, rather than target amyloid beta plaque or expression of the monomer building blocks. . . . [MORE . . .]

Galantos Pharma GMBH is developing a next-generation version of galantamine, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor that's been on the market as a cognition enhancer since 2000 and went generic in 2008. Galantos' Memogain is a nasal-formulation galantamine prodrug that it says will permeate the blood-brain barrier more efficiently. . . . [MORE . . .]

The skill sets of laparoscopy, endoscopy, robotics and even interventional cardiology are all converging to create least invasive surgeries that take laparoscopy as a point of departure but change how surgeons access the abdominal cavity. Start-ups are innovating to supply the new surgical instruments. . . . [MORE . . .]

EndoControl's founders bet there are large market applications where surgeons will want to reach for a single-function, low-cost robot to lend a helping hand. EndoControl has developed the ViKY system, a motorized endoscope holder compatible with any endoscope, that responds to a surgeon's voice or foot command. . . . [MORE . . .]

With technology licensed from the University of Tuebingen, Ovesco Endoscopy has set out to address one of the biggest challenges of NOTES procedures: achieving closure of the gastric wall while working through a flexible endoscope. Ovesco has developed a clipping system that imitates the mechanics - the geometry and force pattern - of a surgical suture, but with advantages. . . . [MORE . . .]

Fundamental technoloiges are still wanting to encourage the migration of surgeries to a single-incision approach. SurgiQuest has a proprietary platform that addresses a long list of limitations hampering surgical access through traditional trocars. . . . [MORE . . .]

The debate surrounding the future of minimally invasive surgery -- whether single-incision laparoscopy will prevail, or whether it is merely a stepping stone to a world of incisionless NOTES procedures - is not really relevant to Virtual Incision, a start-up developing mini surgical robots. The company's founders believe that in vivo robots will free a surgeon of any constraints due to the method of entering the body. . . . [MORE . . .]

Antabio SAS is taking an antivirulence rather than an antibiotic approach to treat gram-negative nosocomial infections. When combined with marketed antibiotics, the compounds in its pipeline have potential to target key virulence pathways in pathogenic bacteria, and thus reduce patient mortality and associated costs. . . . [MORE . . .]

A new implantable device from Beta-Stim Ltd. is designed to eradicate type 2 diabetes. The start-up's Balance System provides electrical stimulation of the duodenum during food intake to reduce blood glucose levels. This profile was originally published in the June 2010 issue of Medtech Insight. . . . [MORE . . .]

Chitin may be the second most common molecule on earth. It could be the source of a treatment for the common cold, too. So hope investors in CMP Therapeutics Ltd., which is developing a micronized nose-spray version of the polysaccharide chitin. The company is also using chitin as the basis for programs in novel allergy and asthma therapies, vaccine adjuvants, and nutritional products. . . . [MORE . . .]

Elixir Medical Corp. aims to address the shortcomings of current drug-eluting stents, such as late stent thrombosis, dual antiplatelet therapy duration and better efficacy in more complex disease. Elixir's technology innovations include what it describes as the thinnest durable biocompatible polymer coating, an ultra-thin biodegradable polymer coating and a fully biodegradable drug eluting stent. . . . [MORE . . .]

The Marigen Lipid Enhanced Matrix from Kerecis Ltd. is derived from fish skin and has been shown to effectively improve the healing of wounds and surgical cuts. The company says that Marigen offers significant advantages over existing human and porcine-derived products, including improved manufacturing economics, lower risk of disease transfer and the promise of better clinical outcomes. . . . [MORE . . .]

Optivia Biotechnology Inc. is positioned to help drug developers address clinically significant transporter-related drug-drug interactions. In addition to its polarized mammalian cell assay, it is developing a platform for studying transporter biology and optimizing drug discovery and development. . . . [MORE . . .]

Quanterix Corp. has applied fiber optic technology to immunodiagnostics to create a dramatic improvement in sensitivity based on single molecule counting. The company intends to use its platform to develop in vitro diagnostics for several clinical applications, beginning with prostate cancer and Alzheimer's disease. . . . [MORE . . .]

Brief profiles of these recently formed companies: Audax Medical, Fluence Therapeutics, Implandata Ophthalmic Products and Metagenomix. . . . [MORE . . .]

Recent executive-level hires and director appointments at venture capital firms and biopharma and medtech start-ups. . . . [MORE . . .]

Our monthly update on technology transfer deals--licensing agreements between companies and universities or other research institutions--in the fields of life sciences, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, in vitro diagnostics and research/analytical instrumentation and reagents. . . . [MORE . . .]

Start-Up's monthly comprehensive review of emerging life science companies that have received venture funding during the month, including companies in the pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic and research instrumentation and reagent sectors. . . . [MORE . . .]