The local office of venture investor Domain Associates LLC had a hand in one of Southern California’s larger financings this year.
Novalar Pharmaceuticals Inc., based out of Del Mar, closed a $27 million third round of financing earlier this month, bringing its total raised to $35 million since its founding five years ago.
Besides Princeton, N.J.-based Domain, which has an office in Laguna Niguel, other venture firms that participated included SR-One of West Conshohocken, Pa.; Montreux Equity Partners of Menlo Park; Geneva-based Genevest; and Boston Millennia Partners, out of Boston.
SR-One, a new Novalar investor, led the round.
Dr. Eckard Weber, a Domain general partner who is a former University of California, Irvine faculty member, and Robert More, another Domain partner, are among Novalar’s board members.
Novalar plans to use the money to develop and market its lead product, NV-101. Novalar said NV-101 helps to quickly reverse “the lingering and debilitating lip and tongue numbness associated with local dental anesthesia.”
Dentists inject NV-101 into a patient’s gums after a procedure that required a local anesthetic. Novalar said the drug accelerates the soft tissue’s recovery time by up to 75%.
On its Web site, Novalar said the U.S.’s 120,000 dentists give some 3 million cartridges of dental anesthetic annually.
The company said that third-phase clinical trials could start this year at dental schools.
Stem Cell Researcher Goes Mum
The growing buzz over stem cell research has cut a swath at UCI, thanks to a faculty member whose influence is partially credited for the passage of Proposition 71 last year.
Hans Keirstead, an assistant professor of anatomy and neurobiology at UCI, has used a treatment based on human embryonic stem cells to make paralyzed lab rats walk again.
The professor is working with Geron Corp., a Menlo Park-based biotech company that provided his lab with some $500,000 in research funding.
Keirstead’s efforts were featured last month in the New York Times, which highlighted both those who praise his work and critics who worry that the scientist is leading the field of stem cell research into uncharted territory.
The Business Journal was scheduled to chat earlier this month with Keirstead about his work and his relationship with Geron, which holds several of the more significant patents in stem cell research.
Instead, Keirstead canceled the interview, saying he’s busy with getting his new research paper published.
Life Science Lobbying
Santa Ana’s Advanced Medical Optics Inc., Irvine’s Allergan Inc. and Edwards Lifesciences Corp., also of Irvine, were among the companies that flexed their muscles at the California Healthcare Institute annual life sciences day last week in Sacramento.
The group lobbies for biotech, drug and device companies.
The event was designed to build support for what the association calls “initiatives that are critical to life sciences innovation in California.”
Among the key issues: access to healthcare and drugs, Medi-Cal reform and drug coverage reimbursement, academic research funding, the state’s business climate, preserving tax credits for research and development and bioethics and moving Proposition 71, the stem cell initiative, forward.
Do It at Home
Orange County in recent months has seen its share of news about medical laboratories and testing concerns, including the sale of Irvine-based U.S. Pathology Laboratories to Laboratory Corporation of America, and Quest Diagnostics Inc.’s San Juan Capistrano-based Nichols Institute’s keeping its operation going despite rain-damaged roads.
Another testing company, Irvine-based Early Detect Inc., quietly has rolled out a line of in-home diagnostic tests for pregnancy, cholesterol and drug detection, among others.
Early Detect, a privately held company, was founded nearly a decade ago. It projects sales of $11.2 million this year.
The company’s products are available in stores such as CVS Corp., the Woonsocket, R.I.-based pharmacy chain; Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaprix, a pair of Canadian drug chains; and the company also is marketing the kits to doctors who could then offer them to their patients.
Bits and Pieces:
Two low-profile OC medical device makers have new corporate names. VisiJet Inc., a privately held eye laser maker in Irvine, changed its name to Advanced Refractive Technologies Inc. Down the freeway in San Juan Capistrano, ChromaVision Medical Systems, a cancer testing company, now is called Clarient Inc. It changed its ticker symbol to “CLRT.” Officials of both companies said the name changes came about for strategic purposes … A north San Diego County nursing home and its parent company, the Ensign Group, San Juan Capistrano, were sued by an employee and two advocacy groups. They allege that Ensign and the facility violated state patient safety and staffing regulations. Ensign has denied the charges and said the lawsuits are part of a campaign spearheaded by the Service Employees International Union.
