Siron call

Juventas Therapeutics Inc. was spun out of the Cleveland Clinic in 2007 to develop JVS-100 for heart failure. But the compound also has shown efficacy in wound healing. To develop the latter indication - which has very different clinical and financing requirements than a cardiovascular drug - Juventas put the program into a newco. The spinout, SironRX Therapeutics Inc., last week raised $3.4 million in a series A round. The money will be used to run a Phase II trial of the DNA plasmid encoding stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1)

SDF-1 is a chemokine responsible for a variety of healing processes, including recruitment of endothelial progenitor cells to the site of tissue damage, promotion of cell preservation and stimulation of angiogenesis, according to Rahul Aras, president and CEO of both companies...