Thursday, December 11, 2008

Semprus secures $8M in Series A funds

By Mass High Tech staff

Antibacterial coatings biomedical company Semprus BioSciences Corp. reports it has raised $8 million in Series A financing co-led by 5AM Ventures of Waltham and Canada’s Pangaea Ventures Ltd.

In addition to the $2.5 million in seed financing from private investors and 5AM Ventures that Semprus raised in December of 2007, when the company was known as SteriCoat Corp., Seprus has taken a total of $10.5 million in funding.

Semprus is developing technology to reduce medical device complications in areas of infections, thrombus, restenosis and bone integration, by providing a permanent surface structure on such devices, whether they are made from plastics, like catheters, or metals like orthopedic implants.

The company says it will use the proceeds of this latest financing to move its product candidates forward in development.

David Lucchino, CEO and a founder of Semprus, has said the firm’s coatings can battle bugs for up to 30 days — which is longer than the week or so that silver-based coatings last. The firm’s technology would compete with silver-based coatings made by such firms as Agion Technologies Inc., based in Wakefield.

Other Semprus founders include serial entrepreneur Robert Langer, chief technology officer Chris Loose and Gregory Stephanopoulos, Bayer professor of chemical engineering at MIT.