Jennerex advances cancer-killing vaccine

Jennerex Biotherapeutics Inc. has a trick up its sleeve to defeat cancer.
Using an altered version of the smallpox vaccine to deliver a hefty dose of the drug into a cancer cell, tiny Jennerex has vaulted to a lead position in the busy field of oncolytic viruses. In the space of a few months, the San Francisco company has shown that its drug, JX-594, is replicating inside cancer cells and that a protein slipped into the drug sets off an immune system response to those cells.
What’s more, the company said this month, a mid-stage trial showed that high doses of JX-594 more than doubled life expectancy for liver cancer patients, compared with patients given a low dose of the drug.

Jennerex raises $8.6M in private placement

Cancer drug company Jennerex Inc. raised $8.6 million in gross proceeds from a private placement.
The San Francisco company didn’t say what it is likely to net after expenses.
Jennerex, led by CEO and President David Kim, M.D., is testing a treatment for liver cancer which is in mid-stage clinical development. It plans a Phase IIb test of that treatment “in the coming months.”

Transcent Medical's $51M leads life science funding roundup

Transcend Medical leads a list of recent financing action by Bay Area life sciences companies.
Transcend closed a $51 million Series B round, including a previously announced $35 million.