DermBiont, a clinical stage biotechnology company developing targeted topical therapeutics that address the root causes of skin diseases, has raised a $28 million Series A2 financing. It has also acquired clinical-stage biotechnology company Chromaderm, which is developing a topical inhibitor of melanin production as a first-in-class therapy for skin brightening, melasma, and other skin diseases. As part of these new developments DermBiont has named Dr. Emma Taylor as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Taylor is a board-certified dermatologist.
“We are excited to welcome Chromaderm and its team to DermBiont,” said Dr. Karl Beutner, co-founder and CEO of DermBiont. “Chromaderm’s topical small molecule drug in development is a great fit for the DermBiont portfolio, which is focused on targeted topical therapeutics for skin conditions with well-defined mechanisms of action.”
Excess melanin production is the root cause of a number of common skin diseases including melasma, solar lentigos (sunspots), and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. These disorders are most common in people of Hispanic, African, and Asian descent and primarily affect women. Melasma affects approximately 5 million people in the United States, with a prevalence rate up to 40% in certain populations. Current treatments for these conditions have minimal efficacy, are not specific, and have significant safety concerns.
As part of the transaction, Jeni Lee, Principal at Pivotal Life Sciences, joins DermBiont’s Board of Directors. In addition to Pivotal Life Sciences, the round also includes participation from Viking Global Investors, Olive Tree Capital, Toba Capital, Civilization Ventures, and other biotechnology investors.
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has published draft guidance on digital health tech for remote data acquisition in clinical studies. The guidance provides recommendations to clinical trial sponsors, investigators, and other stakeholders on using digital health tech to acquire data remotely from participants in clinical investigations evaluating medical products. Digital health tech could take the form of hardware and/or software and may be used to gather health-related information from study participants and transmit that information to study investigators and/or other authorized parties to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of medical products. The deadline for submitting comments on the draft guidance is March 23, 2022.
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Janus Health, a revenue cycle automation and decision support platform founded in 2020, has closed a $8 million Series A round led by Ensemble Health Partners, in partnership with Caduceus Capital Partners.
As part of the deal, Jim Gaffney, EVP, strategy and corporate development at Ensemble Health Partners and Sue Tyler, venture partner at Caduceus Capital Partners will serve on the Janus Health board of directors.
“Several factors, including labor shortages, shrinking reimbursements and more stable IT environments, are creating a ripe opportunity to transform the revenue cycle with artificial intelligence and automation,” said Brendan Downing, co-founder and CEO of Janus Health. “Janus Health offers a timely service that can have a significant impact for health systems struggling with these rising costs-to-collect and reimbursement challenges.”
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Embold Health, a health tech company focused on objective physician performance analytics, has closed a $20 million Series B round led by Echo Health Ventures. Embold Health was founded on the premise that the cost and quality of health care can be dramatically improved only when all constituencies have access to objective clinical performance measures.
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MedCity News is currently accepting applications from healthcare startups for our INVEST Pitch Perfect competition as part of the INVEST conference, Held in collaboration with Mid America Healthcare Investor Network (MHIN), the conference will be held at the Ritz Carlton in Chicago March 28-30.
Categories include:
- PharmaTech
- Diagnostics 2.0
- Remote Patient Monitoring and Smart Devices
- Care Coordination and Value-based Care.
Entrepreneurs will present their companies to a group of investors and then respond to their questions. The winner of each category will receive a profile in MedCity News by the news team.
The application deadline is January 15, To learn more and to apply, click here.
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