Phoenix, LLC, known for making the strongest compact neutron generators in the world, announced plans to build a state-of-the-art neutron imaging center in Fitchburg, WI opening in mid 2019. This will be the first non-reactor facility offering commercial neutron imaging services.

“Opening the Phoenix Neutron Imaging Center represents a major advance in making our neutron imaging technology broadly available to any industry,” says Evan Sengbusch, Phoenix President. “By investing in a high performance, reliable, and safe imaging services facility, we’re able to tap into new markets that, due to cost, were previously inaccessible.”

Read more at PRNewsWire.

Phoenix LLC, manufacturer of the strongest compact neutron generators in the world, announced today $15M in signed contracts with two nuclear fuel manufacturers.

The Madison-based technology company recently signed an agreement to provide two nuclear fuel inspection systems for a major US company that provides a wide range of nuclear power plant products and services throughout the world. This comes just days after concluding and passing a key preliminary testing milestone under an existing contract with another US-based nuclear fuel manufacturer. The total value of these contracts is more than $15M.

Read more at PRNewswire.

HealthMyne, the first company to bring multiple enhanced clinical decision support (CDS) workflow modules to Radiology and the Oncology care continuum in a single platform, raised a $15 Million Series B round to expand its global commercialization efforts. Ascension Ventures led the round, with participation from existing institutional backers Venture Investors, 4490 Ventures, and WARF.

Read more at HealthMyne.com.

Zurex Pharma, a Middleton, WI-based company developing antimicrobial products for preventing infections acquired in hospitals, clinics, and home care settings, says it has raised more than $9 million in new funding. Zurex says it plans to use some of the proceeds from the investment to support the development of its lead product candidate, a pre-surgical skin preparation called ZurexPrep.

“We remain focused on working toward our first product approval [and] ongoing product development activities,” Zurex CEO Carmine Durham says in an e-mail.

According to a press release, Zurex’s existing shareholders led the round. Square 1 Bank, a division of Pacific Western Bank, was the only new investor Zurex named in the release. The company’s previous backers include Baird Venture Partners, Peak Ridge Capital, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, and Wisconsin Investment Partners.

Read more at Xconomy.

Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd. (“HCC”) has agreed to license from Silatronix^®, Inc. the rights to manufacture, sell and use specific OS compounds for use in lithium-ion battery (“LiB”) electrolytes. In early 2016, HCC and Silatronix^®entered into a joint development agreement. The companies selected specific compounds from the Silatronix^® portfolio of OS materials to evaluate their feasibility for application in LiB electrolytes. Over the last 2 years, Silatronix^® has provided HCC with numerous samples of the selected OS materials, as well as samples of OS3^®, Silatronix^® current commercial product. Based on the performance benefits demonstrated in their evaluations, HCC found that combinations of OS materials and HCC anode materials improved LiB performance. As a result, HCC decided to obtain license rights to the selected materials, which does not include OS3^®. HCC expects a further synergy created by various combinations of OS materials and HCC anode materials.

Read more at BusinessWire.com.

FluGen, Inc. announced today that the first subject has been dosed in a clinical study in Belgium which will challenge subjects with an influenza virus genetically mismatched by six years from the influenza strain utilized in the vaccine.

“If successful, the results from this challenge study of FluGen’s M2SR vaccine would represent a significant step forward in bringing a novel influenza vaccine to patients; and which responds to the need for broader protection and increased effectiveness, as compared to existing influenza vaccine options,” said Paul Radspinner, chief executive officer of FluGen.

Read more at BusinessWire.

Exelixis, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXEL) today announced that it has entered into a collaboration with Invenra, Inc., the Madison, Wisconsin-based biotechnology firm focused on developing next-generation biologics, to discover and develop multispecific antibodies for the treatment of cancer. The partnership pairs Exelixis’ fundamental biological insights, clinical development prowess and commercialization expertise with Invenra’s innovative platform technologies and biologics expertise to identify, optimize, and manufacture multispecific therapeutics, including immunotherapy applications. The collaboration is part of Exelixis’ ongoing strategy to build an innovative pipeline beyond its two internally discovered, commercially available compounds, cabozantinib and cobimetinib. The agreement with Invenra creates a biologics discovery capability that complements Exelixis’ in-house small molecule drug discovery efforts.

Read more at Invenra.com.

Things are accelerating at Phoenix.

The Monona, WI-based business, which manufactures particle accelerator-based neutron generators and other machines, has outgrown its current headquarters and plans to break ground on a new home next year, says vice president of business development Evan Sengbusch.

Phoenix, which recently shortened its name from Phoenix Nuclear Labs, also plans to add about 30 new employees to its current 56-person team by the end of 2018, Sengbusch says.

The company has raised a $12 million round of financing to support the expansion. New York-based Deerfield Management led the Series B funding round, Sengbusch says. The other investors included several Wisconsin-based funds that had previously backed Phoenix, he says. The company has raised a total of about $18 million in outside investment since launching in 2005, Sengbusch says.

Read more at Xconomy.

Madison Vaccines Incorporated (MVI) today announced the appointment of Jeff Bailey to the Company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Bailey brings nearly 30 years of experience based on a diverse set of leadership positions to aid MVI’s mission to bring immunotherapies to their full potential for treating prostate cancer.

Mr. Bailey has a track record of delivering compelling business performance based on building and leading teams in both mature and early stage organizations. Most recently, he was the Chairman and CEO of Neurovance, leading its acquisition by Otsuka earlier this year. Previously, he served as President and CEO of Lantheus Medical Imaging Inc., leading the company to a successful IPO. He also served as COO of Fougera Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Novartis), Chief Commercial Officer for King Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), and held earlier executive positions at Novartis Pharmaceuticals as well as at Johnson and Johnson (including Janssen Pharmaceuticals). Mr. Bailey recently served on the board of Landauer, Inc. (NYSE – LDR) up through their acquisition by Fortive in September of this year. Mr. Bailey earned a business degree from Rutgers University.

Read more at BusinessWire.

FluGen Inc., announced today that it has been awarded a grant of $14.4 million through the DOD’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program’s (PRMRP) mechanism to conduct clinical challenge-studies against mismatched influenza strains with its lead universal flu vaccine, RedeeFlu™.

Under the three-year award, FluGen will conduct two challenge-studies with RedeeFlu™. In these studies, half of the participants will be vaccinated and half will receive a placebo but all will subsequently be infected with an influenza virus. The goal of these studies is to show that, unlike currently available vaccines in the United States, RedeeFlu™ can protect against infection in a mismatched vaccine-flu virus combination. In addition, the award will be used to look for correlates of immunity or biological markers that demonstrate that RedeeFlu™ vaccine will work in a given population.

Read more at BusinessWire.