Rempex Raises $67.5M, Vertex Shares Tumble, & More San Diego Life Sciences News
Summary
The startup is on a fast track, and plans to use the capital to accelerate the commercialization of its therapies for treating gram-negative bacterial infections.—Cambridge, MA-based Vertex (NASDAQ: VRTX) has held the high ground in hepatitis C therapies since the FDA approved its protease inhibitor drug telaprevir (Incivek) last year.The startup said in March that its drug candidate TX-5061 appears to prevent the hepatitis C virus from entering liver cells, and has shown “potent preclinical antiviral activity against all HCV genotypes.” Former UCSD virologist Flossie Wong-Staal is a co-founder and chief scientific officer.—Xconomy east coast biotechnology editor Arlene Weintraub profiled PharmaSecure, a four-year-old startup in Lebanon, NH, with operations in San Diego, Michigan, and India.PharmaSecure raised $3.9 million last month from Innovation Endeavors, Gray Ghost Ventures, Healthtech Capital, and angel investors.