Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Follica snags $11M in second round to prevent hair loss

By Mass High Tech Staff

Follica Inc. landed $11 million in a Series B financing round led by Polaris Venture Partners, with existing partners InterWest Partners and PureTech Ventures also participating. The Boston-based firm specializes in treating androgenetic alopecia, a male and female pattern hair loss, and other hair loss disorders.

The biotech also expanded its senior management. The company said it added G. Kirk Raab to serve as chairman of its board. Raab is the former Genentech Inc. CEO and was previously chief operating officer of Abbott Laboratories. Kevin Bitterman, a principal at Polaris will also be appointed to the board. Samir Mitragotri of the University of California at Santa Barbara, will join Follica’s scientific advisory board.

Follica appointed Scott Kellogg to vice president of operations. Kellogg previously held positions at Sontra Medical Corp., Ultracision Inc. and Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc. Stephen Prouty, an alum of Johnson & Johnson, was promoted to vice president of research.

Follica was founded as a joint venture by PureTech Ventures and dermatologists from Harvard University, University of California at San Francisco and the University of Pennsylvania.