US-based cancer research firm Light Sciences Oncology has failed in a pivotal clinical trial for its drug/device treatment combination, according to news provider Xconomy, and is preparing for cuts across the company including redundancies.
Light Sciences has raised more than $130m from a selection of investors since its inception. Light Sciences’ series B round featured backing from financial services firm Fidelity Investments’ corporate venturing unit Fidelity Ventures, investment bank Lehman Brothers, state-supported fund the Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund, investment firm Burrill & Co. and financial services firm Deephaven Capital Management.
These investors joined Light Sciences’ 2005 series A backers, including Novo, the holding company for the healthcare corporation the Novo Group, corporate venturing unit Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, VC firms Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, New Science Ventures and Scandinavian Life Science Venture, investment firm Larkspur Capital, financial services company the China Development Industrial Bank and private equity firm Adams Street Partners.
Light Sciences has been conducting two Phase 3 clinical trials for anti-cancer treatments. Results were delayed with Light Sciences revealing in May that it expected to report data in the second half of the year. Light Sciences has not reported results officially.