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Monday, October 19, 2009
Ascension leads $6.1M VC round in Augmenix
By Mass High Tech Staff
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Biotech startup Augmenix Inc. has closed on a $6.1 million Series B financing led by St. Louis-based Ascension Health Ventures, which invested along with existing investors Versant Ventures and Pinnacle Ventures. Also participating were Catalyst Health Ventures and several private investors.
Augmenix, headquartered in Waltham, was founded in 2008 by serial life sciences entrepreneur Amar Sawhney. The company is focused on using the materials Sawhney is famous for developing — hydrogels — in medical devices that will be used specifically for radiation oncology and cancer surgery. According to Augmenix officials, the $6.1 million VC funding will be used to conduct the clinical and commercial development of the SpaceOAR System in Europe and the United States.
The SpaceOAR system is an injectable tissue spacer that officials say will help protect tissue and improve efficacy in prostate radiotherapy. The funding will also be used to develop other products in the Augmenix pipeline, officials said.
Augmenix founder Sawhney is also the founder of I-Therapeutix Inc., also based in Waltham, which is developing its I-ZIP Ocular Bandage also based on hydrogels. Sawhney, a Mass High Tech All-Star in 2007, founded a series of companies based on hydrogels. He and business partner Fred Khosravi control the patents for hydrogels in a holding company they own called Incept LLC.
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