Percutaneous Mitral Valve Repair Developer Secures Largest Venture Round (December 17, 2007)

Evalve, a developer of devices for the percutaneous repair of cardiac valves, secured funding to support commercialization in Europe and trials in the United States of its MitraClip. The device is intended to treat mitral regurgitation by percutaneously repairing the mitral valve, instead of by open heart surgery. The $60 million financing, provided by New Enterprise Associates, Split Rock Partners, Abbott Laboratories and Emergent Medical Ventures, was the Series D for Evalve, and the largest round announced during November 2007. In the second-largest deal of the month, Ambit Biosciences, a biopharmaceutical company, raised $49.3 million in its Series D financing. Ambit is using the proceeds to support the ongoing development of preclinical and clinical drug candidates in its pipeline of small molecule kinase inhibitors for the treatment of cancer, including a potential treatment for acute myeloid leukemia. MedImmune Ventures, OrbiMed Advisors, Radius Ventures, NovaQuest, Horizon Technology Finance, Perseus-Soros Biopharmaceutical Fund, Forward Ventures, Avalon Ventures, Roche Venture Fund, GIMV, Jov-CMDF and Genechem provided the funding to Ambit. The third-largest deal in November was announced by another biopharma, Anaptys Biosciences, which raised $33.9 million in Series B financing from Novo A/S, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Alloy Ventures, Numenor Ventures and WS Investment Company. Anaptys is targeting a range of applications with significant medical and commercial potential, and is using the proceeds to support the ongoing development of therapeutic antibody products discovered and optimized using somatic hypermutation, the body’s natural process for generating antibody diversity to fight disease. Next in November’s top five is Novalar Pharmaceuticals, a pharma company that is focused on in-licensing and developing oral health care solutions. Novalar raised $30.0 million in Series D funding, to fund the launch of its lead product, a first-in-class, local dental anesthetic reversal agent, and for the ongoing development of other dental pharmaceuticals its pipeline. Investors in Novalar this round include New Enterprise Associates, Domain Associates, S.R. One and Montreux Equity Partners. The last company on the top-five list this month is Medingo, a medical device company that has a miniature, insulin-dispensing patch in the advanced stages of development. Medingo’s device is designed to be more convenient, discreet, cost-effective and easier to use than standard insulin pumps; it is expected to receive FDA approval and be on the market in 2008. Elron Electronic Industries, Radius Ventures and other investors provided Medingo with $27.0 million in financing to support the company’s efforts.

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