Good day. Curie Therapeutics Inc. has raised $75 million in Series A financing to develop radiopharmaceutical treatments for cancer, a sign of the growing interest investors are showing in a field that once took a backseat to other types of tumor treatments.

Conventional radiation therapy involves shining external radiation at a cancer in a specific location. Radiopharmaceuticals travel through the blood and deliver a payload of radiation to tumors throughout the body. 

Some obstacles had hampered investment in radiopharmaceuticals, including concerns about the availability of radiation payloads. In recent years, existing suppliers have expanded and new ones have emerged, investors and entrepreneurs say. Curie, for example, has supply agreements in place, said Chief Executive Simon Read.

Curie, backed by Atlas Venture, Access Biotechnology and RA Capital Management, faces competition from startups such as RayzeBio Inc., which disclosed a $108 million financing in June, and Aktis Oncology Inc., which secured $72 million early this year.

External-beam therapy exposes tumors to high-intensity radiation, while radiopharmaceuticals deliver lower amounts for a longer period, Dr. Read said.

One priority for Curie will be studying how radiopharmaceuticals affect tumors differently from conventional radiation therapy, which will be key to developing effective drugs and competing in the sector, he said.

And now on to the news...

Drug prices. Democratic drug-pricing measures passed by the House may steer more venture-capital funding to biological medicines, a field already drawing significant investor attention, some investors and analysts said. 

• The roughly $2 trillion social-spending and climate bill, approved in November, enables Medicare to negotiate prices of certain older drugs it covers and introduces other measures to curb prescription-medication costs.
   
• Biological drugs, such as protein and antibody treatments, would be subject to Medicare negotiation 13 years after their market launch. Small-molecule drugs, chemical compounds typically taken as pills, would face Medicare negotiation after nine years.
   
• Some analysts and investors say this would discourage investment in small-molecule drugs, which are typically less expensive to manufacture and distribute than biologics.

23andMe Holding Co., known for its at-home health and ancestry tests, is spending cash raised in its recent public listing on what could be a yearslong process to develop new drugs, The Wall Street Journal's Kristin Broughton reports.

• Sunnyvale, Calif.-based 23andMe went public in June through a merger with VG Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company backed by British billionaire Richard Branson. 
   
• 23andMe plans to deploy the cash from its SPAC deal largely to fund ongoing investments into drug discovery, Chief Financial Officer Steve Schoch said. After years of selling at-home tests, the company created a therapeutics division six years ago, aiming to use its massive database of genetic information to identify new treatments. 

People

Chicago-based biotech investor ARCH Venture Partners named John Maraganore, Jake Bauer, Luciana Borio, Axel Bouchon and Sabah Oney as venture partners, and promoted Carol Suh to partner. Mr. Maraganore is the founding chief executive of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. Prior to MyoKardia Inc.'s acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb in November 2020, Mr. Bauer served as chief business officer of MyoKardia. Prior to ARCH, Ms. Borio was a senior vice president at In-Q-Tel. Mr. Bouchon is a director at Brii Biosciences, co-founder and chairman of BrainLuxury Inc., and co-founder and chief executive of BrainGames Corp. Before joining ARCH, Mr. Oney was chief business officer at Alector. Ms. Suh previously helped launch Magenta Therapeutics.

Life science investor Pappas Capital promoted Cookie Yu and Gilbert Kinsey to principal. Ms. Yu joined Pappas Capital from M. Ventures. Mr. Kinsey was previously a senior associate at RBC Capital Markets.

Alcresta Therapeutics Inc., a developer of treatments for gastrointestinal disorders and rare diseases, appointed Chris Parrish as chief operations officer. He was previously vice president of manufacturing at Vericel Corp. Newton, Mass.-based Alcresta Therapeutics is backed by investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, HealthQuest Capital, Frazier Healthcare Partners and Third Rock Ventures.

Healthy.io, a provider of at-home urinalysis and digitized wound-care services, appointed Heather Getz as chief financial officer and president of North America. She was most recently chief financial and administrative officer at BioTelemetry Inc. Tel Aviv-based Healthy.io is backed by Corner Ventures, Joy Capital, Aleph and Samsung NEXT.

Exits

Women's health company Hologic Inc. completed its acquisition of Bolder Surgical, a provider of advanced energy vessel sealing surgical devices, for an undisclosed amount. Louisville, Colo.-based Bolder Surgical had raised funding from River Cities Capital Funds, Westwood Management and Providence Ventures.

Quell Therapeutics, a London-based developer of engineered T-regulatory cell therapies, scored $156 million in Series B funding. Jeito Capital, Ridgeback Capital Investments, SV Health Investors and Fidelity Management & Research Co. co-led the round, which included participation from Syncona, British Patient Capital and Janus Henderson Investors. Rachel Mears, partner at Jeito Capital, will join Quell’s board.

Harrison.ai, a Sydney-based healthcare artificial intelligence startup, raised 129 million Australian dollars ($97 million) in Series B funding led by Horizons Ventures. New investors Sonic Healthcare and I-MED Radiology Network also participated in the round, along with existing backers Blackbird Ventures and Skip Capital.

Virtual Incision Corp., a Lincoln, Neb.-based developer of miniaturized robots for laparoscopic surgery, secured $46 million in Series C financing. Endeavour Vision and Baird Capital led the round, which included support from Bluestem Capital and others.

SafelyYou, a San Francisco-based provider of fall-management technology for seniors and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, related dementia or cognitive impairment issues, completed a $30 million Series B round. Omega Healthcare Investors led the investment, which saw participation from Eclipse Ventures, Foundation Capital, Founders Fund and DCVC.

ITabMed, a Shanghai-based cancer-treatment developer, closed a $20 million Series A round. 3E Bioventures Capital and Yonjin Capital co-led the funding, which included participation from Binhai Venture Capital.

Medimaps Group, a Geneva-based startup specializing in image processing software for the assessment of bone health, picked up a $20 million investment. Led by Swisscanto Invest, the round included contributions from Swiss Entrepreneurs Fund, Swisscom Ventures and Verve Ventures.

Aanika Biosciences, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based food-tracing technology platform provider, has held the initial closing of its $12 million Series A round. Jon Cholak of Adit Ventures led the investment, which included support from Draper Associates and SOSV.

Surglogs, a Coronado, Calif.-based startup that digitizes regulatory compliance processes for ambulatory surgery centers and other healthcare facilities, snagged a $10.5 million Series A investment. Lead investor OpenOcean was joined by Credo Ventures, 8VC and others in the round.

Great Bay Bio, a Hong Kong-based bioprocessing platform developer, raised almost $10 million in Series A financing led by Proxima Ventures.

Babyscripts, a Washington, D.C.-based virtual-care platform for managing obstetrics, added $7.5 million in Series B funding, bringing the round total to $19 million. Cigna Ventures, Texas Medical Center Venture Fund and Atlantic Health System provided the new tranche.

CareAlign, a Philadelphia-based task-management system for healthcare providers, fetched a $2.3 million funding round from Tech Council Ventures, Boston Millennia Partners, DreamIt, Gaingels and others.

• First U.S. Omicron case is a California patient
   
• Covid-19 cases nearly double in South Africa as Omicron reaches more countries
   
• Some hospitals prepare to lose staff over Covid-19 vaccination mandate
   
• Theranos founder admits regrets, deflects prosecutors
   
• Some hospitals charge up to 10 times more for medical scans than others, study finds

• What’s gone right in our battle against Covid-19. (New England Journal of Medicine)
   
• Getting public is easy, being public is hard. (Life Sci VC)
   
• BeyondSpring's lead drug hits a roadblock at the FDA. (Endpoints News)
   
• Seven policies in Biden’s spending plan aimed at health equity. (STAT News)

This newsletter was compiled by Matthew Strozier, Zachary Cole and Brian Gormley.

WSJ Pro Venture Capital is a premium service of The Wall Street Journal. We cover venture capital and the global startup ecosystem. Share your tips, comments and questions: vcnews@wsj.com

The Team: Matthew Strozier, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley and Marc Vartabedian.

Follow us on Twitter: @wsjvc, @ychernova, @BrianPGormley, @marcvarta.