Taris Biomedical hit the ground running, raising $15 million from venture fund backers for its launch.
The Lexington-based drug-device developer, which is aiming to leverage lidocaine delivery technology developed at MIT to treat bladder conditions, said (PDF) Flagship Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners and Polaris Venture Partners led the investment round.
Taris is an MIT spinoff involving two well-known scientists from the institute, Michael Cima and Robert Langer; Cima is the company’s co-founder and Langer sits on its board.
The company aims to develop a drug-device combination based on a platform that “enables local sustained delivery of drug directly to the target tissue” to treat diseases including interstitial cystitis, painful bladder syndrome, bladder cancer, overactive bladder, urinary tract infections and chronic pelvic pain syndrome.
The financing will be used to develop the technology with an eye toward clinical trials in 2010.
