News Briefs

Medical device company superDimension is in the process of being acquired by Covidien Plc, for $350 million, Israeli website Calcalist reported. The deal is anticipated to be sealed by the end of this week. superDimension develops pulmonary devices that are mostly used to diagnose lung cancer. It was founded in 1995 in Israel and is headquartered in Minneapolis. View and share

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Mazor Robotics, Israeli developer of surgical robots and complementary products for spine surgery, signed an agreement with Cicel Science & Technology to distribute its Renaissance system in China. As part of the agreement, Cicel is committed  to purchase three Renaissance systems for surgical guidance and will use these systems to pursue regulatory clearance from the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) in China. View and share

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Israeli startup Fooducate has won the mobile application competition “Command the Spotlight” at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas. The competition was organized by analytics company Flurry. According to the blog VentureBeat, Fooducate was one of three selected apps that beat their 700 competitors. Fooducate provides nutritional information about grocery store items after analyzing information found in each product’s nutrition panel and ingredient list. The company is based in Tel Aviv. View and share

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NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals, a privately held biotechnology company focused on the treatment and prevention of neurodegenerative diseases, announced that it has secured $9 million. The funding round that was completed by existing investors and private investors brings the total amount of equity capital raised by NeuroPhage since its inception in 2006 to $28.6 million. NeuroPhage, which focuses on treating diseases involving protein aggregation, was founded in 2007 by a Cambridge-based team along with Professor Beka Solomon, Chair for Biotechnology of Neurodegenerative Diseases at Tel Aviv University. View and share

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WatchDox, the developer of file sharing security solutions,  has raised $9 million. The funding was led by investment and advisory firm Blackstone and included the company’s current investors – Chairman Shlomo Kramer, Shasta Ventures and Gemini Israel Funds. The company, based in Petah Tikva, Israel, and Sillicon Valley, provides solutions to access, share and control sensitive documents on devices such as smartphones, tablets and PCs. View and share

 

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Israeli bio-pharmaceutical company Kamada announced that it has obtained FDA approval to conduct a clinical trial in the US for the company’s next generation drug for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. The drug is an inhalable version of company’s AAT drug (Alpha-1 Antitrypsin deficiency). The current FDA approval is partly based on successful pre-clinical trials of the drug. Company president and CEO, David Tsur, said they expect to shortly complete the preparations for the trial in order to obtain approval for the drug in the US market. View and share

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Teva Respiratory, the U.S.-based respiratory subsidiary of Israeli Teva Pharmaceutical Industries announced that the FDA has approved its quick relief inhaler ProAir HFA with a dose counter, for the treatment or prevention of breathing disorders in patients four years of age and older. The dose counter is designed to help patients suffering drom disorders such as , Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm (EIB),  keep track of the number of doses remaining in the canister. The new product will be commercially available later this year. View and Share

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Vascular Dynamics has raised $13.2 million at a company value of $31 million in a funding round led by an equity fund, whose name was not disclosed. Vascular dynamics developed a passive, catheter-delivered stent implant for the treatment of high blood pressure. The stent is in its preclinical stage. The company was founded in 2008 at Rainbow Medical, a healthcare accelerator developing technologies invented by Israeli inventor, Yossi Gross. In November 2011, the company’s development and commercialization efforts were moved to California.  View and share

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Virdia, a leading developer of cellulosic sugars, announced its latest funding round of $30 million in private financing and a $75 million deal with the Mississippi Development Authority to build manufacturing plants in the State. Founded in 2007 as HCL CleanTech, Virdia has developed the CASE process, which converts wood into sugars that can be used to produce transportation fuel, nutritional products and specialty chemicals. View and share

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Former Microsoft Israel R&D president, Moshe Lichtman, and former NICE Systems CEO and the former director general of the Israeli Ministry of Finance, Haim Shani, will try to raise $100-150 million for a venture capital fund. Israeli media reported that the fund will make investments of a few million dollars into late-stage startups seeking growth. The two are considered to be among Israel’s most prominent high tech executives of the past decade. View and share

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NLT SPINE, a developer of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (MISS) products, announced it has secured additional funding from existing investors, Accelmed and Peregrine Ventures. The investment of $5.7 million will be used to fuel the development of its PROW LIF line for the treatment of degenerative spinal conditions, as well as expand its presence in the US market. This recent round increased the company’s previous funding to a total of $14.5 million. View and share

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Drug development company BiolineRX announced that it has received approval from Israel’s Ministry of Health to commence a Phase II trial of its treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The company reported that the Phase II trial will be an open-label study to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of the treatment, BL-7040, in up to 20 patients. The results are expected by the end of 2012. View and share

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Israeli startup RayV today launched their new Optimized Cloud Streaming – an infrastructure for HDTV streaming over the Internet that allows broadcasting content across multiple IP networks. The platform is targeted to companies that deliver video broadcasts, such as cellular companies or content providers. According to Calcalist website, the company already secured investments of $40 million. View and share

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Teva Pharmaceutical Industries reported positive results from Phase III clinical studies for its QNASL nasal spray. The spray is designed to treat seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) and perennial allergic rhinitis (PAR). The trials tested the efficacy and safety of the spray, as well as the impact on quality of life. The results were reported at the 2012 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) meeting in Orlando, Florida. View and share

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The largest telecom services provider in the Asia Pacific region, Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel), announced that it has acquired mobile advertising solutions provider Amobee Inc. for $321 million in cash. Since its foundation in 2005, Amobee raised $54 million. The company develops software that customizes ads to users of mobile phone media, such as video clips, MMS, SMS, and games. It is headquartered in Silicon Valley and has its R&D offices in Herzliya, Israel. View and share

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