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Arysta LifeScience Sold to Permira Advisers for $2.2 Billion
Cary-based Arysta LifeScience (www.arystalifescience.com), an agriscience and lifescience development company, has been sold to Europe’s Permira Advisers, a private equity firm, for $2.2 billion. Headquartered in Tokyo, Arysta has its North American headquarters in Cary. The company makes products, such as insecticides, for crop protection. All of the approximate 40 individuals who work at the company’s Cary office expected to retain their jobs.

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Motricity to Acquire InfoSpace Mobile Services Division for $135 Million
Durham, N.C.-based Motricity (www.motricity.com), a provider of mobile content services and technology, has signed an agreement to acquire the mobile services business unit of InfoSpace for close to $135 million in cash. Investor Carl Icahn, who has previously invested in Motricity, and Advanced Equities provided significant investments to lead the funding of the acquisition. Under the agreement, Motricity will acquire InfoSpace's mobile services division, which provides mobile search, storefronts, portals and messaging services for mobile carriers. The acquisition is expected to provide over $100 million in additional annual revenues for Motricity.

Motricity is a CED member.

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Tengion Raises $33 Million in Third Round
Winston-Salem-based Tengion (www.tengion.com), a clinical stage biotechnology company, has raised $33 million in its third round of financing from investors including Deerfield Partners, Bain Capital, Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., HealthCap, Quaker BioVentures, Oak Investment Partners, L Capital Partners, Horizon Technology Finance and Oxford Finance Corp. The company is developing "autologous neo-organs and tissues," such as bladders, that are derived from the patient's own cells and says it has the potential to enable people with organ and tissue failure to lead healthier lives without donor transplants or the side effects of current therapies.

Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation is a CED member.
Oxford Finance Corporation is a CED member.

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Aurora Funds Participates in $20 Million Investment in GA-based Pharma Company
Durham-based Aurora Funds (www.aurorafunds.com), a venture capital firm, was one of several investment partners to participate in a $20 million Series B round of financing in Georgia-based Metastatix, a drug development company working to develop treatments for HIV and cancer. Also participating in the round were Frazier Healthcare Ventures, H.I.G. Ventures, S.R. One, the Georgia Tech Advanced Technology Development Center, CM Capital, MedImmune Ventures, Georgia Venture Partners and Centrosome Ventures. Aurora also participated in the company’s A round of financing in September 2006.

Aurora Funds is a CED member.

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Oriel Therapeutics Raises Third Round of Funding
RTP-based Oriel Therapeutics (www.orieltherapeutics.com), a drug delivery and development company, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its third round of venture capital. The round was led by New Leaf Venture Partners. The company, a spin out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, develops drug delivery and development methods for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and diagnostic industries for the development and commercialization of innovative pre-metered unit and multi-dose dry powder delivery systems for medicines for asthma and COPD. Oriel has raised $5 million in its previous two rounds of venture financing.

Oriel Therapeutics is a CED member.

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Biolex Therapeutics Releases Phase 2a Clinical Results for Hepatitis C Treatment
Pittsboro-based Biolex Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, announced successful preliminary top-line results from the Phase 2a trial, a twelve-week study designed to evaluate a range of four doses of Locteron administered once every two weeks in combination with the antiviral drug ribavirin. The study results also suggested that patients receiving Locteron experienced side effects that were less frequent and less severe than those previously reported in clinical trials for the currently marketed pegylated interferons. Biolex is co-developing Locteron with its partner OctoPlus N.V. The company is expected to begin Phase 2b trials in the first half of 2008.

Biolex Therapeutics is a CED member.

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UNCW Earns Ranking on Princeton Review’s “Best” List
Wilmington-based University of North Carolina Wilmington (www.uncw.edu) Business School was named for the first time to the exclusive Princeton Review “Best Colleges” list. The school was one of 146 colleges named a Best Southeastern College list and was considered one of the best overall bargains—based on cost and financial aid—among the most academically outstanding colleges in the nation. The school’s listing focuses on the University’s master of business administration (MBA) program. Reviewers liked the school’s hands-on projects with local and regional businesses and the accessibility of faculty.

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Local Universities Receive Federal Grants for Genomics Research
Durham-based Duke University’s Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy (www.duke.edu) and Chapel-Hill-based University of North Carolina (UNC) (www.unc.edu) have been awarded $6.5 and $5.6 million respectively from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) (of the National Institutes of Health) for human genome research. According to the NHGRI, Duke’s grant is part of the ENCyclopedia of DNA Elements (or ENCODE) project, a program is designed to study the “entire human instruction book” as included in the genome, while the UNC grant will be used to examine the impacts of discoveries from large-scale genomic research for individuals, families and populations, with a particular focus on studies with implications for specific racial, ethnic or other socially defined groups.

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Entegrion Awarded $2 Million for Development of Trauma Treatment
RTP-based Entegrion (www.entegrion.com), a life sciences company, was awarded a $2 million Congressional appropriation for the continued development of the infusible hemostatic agent Stasix®, a drug that is expected to control internal hemorrhage in trauma and surgical patients. The company, along with scientists and physicians at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, develops advanced, practical and cost-effective therapeutics for limiting bleeding resulting from combat injuries, civilian trauma, surgery and disease, including its first product, Stasilon®, a hemostatic wound dressing, developed in conjunction with the U.S. Office of Naval Research.

Entegrion is a CED member.

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eTrials Partners with TransPerfect on Translation Services
Morrisville-based etrials® Worldwide Inc. (www.etrials.com), a clinical trial management software company, is partnering with TransPerfect, an international communications services firm, in an 18-month agreement for over-the-phone interpretation services for international etrials® customers. The agreement allows etrials® to provide consecutive interpretation without alteration, addition or omission of content from customer messages, and allows customers access to interpreters who will provide a word picture or description when lack of equivalency exists for a particular concept or term. etrials® has facilitated over 900 trials involving more than 400,000 patients in 60 countries and has worked with 16 of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies.

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