Denis Harrington, who until recently was head of sales for Boston Scientific Corp.’s cardiovascular and CRM business, has left the company to become president and CEO of a Twin Cities startup called BridgePoint Medical Inc.

The CED Biotech/Life Science Conference didn’t have an official theme, but if it did, it could have been “think early.” What the more than 1,000 in attendance got was a steady, instructional drumbeat telling them to think about facing important decisions for their companies and their research and development at earlier stages than they’re accustomed.

BridgePoint Medical Inc. has raised $9.1 million from the sale of equity. The company based in Plymouth, Minnesota, is developing balloon catheter system to treat chronic coronary and peripheral total occlusions, a condition in which clots frequently clog blood vessels.

The Philadelphia-area pharmaceutical company hopes for medical breakthroughs in Type 2 diabetes and hypertension. PhaseBio has embarked on Phase I and Phase II testing of its diabetes treatment, Glymera. Another treatment, Vasomera, focuses on hypertension. The $15 million was part of a total $25 million raised by the former Research Triangle Park/Duke University spinoff.

BridgePoint Medical Inc. has raised $1 million from the sale of debt and stock warrants, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.The company, based in Plymouth, Minnesota, is developing balloon catheter system to treat chronic coronary and peripheral total occlusions, a condition in which clots frequently clog blood vessels.Last year, European regulators [...]

Acorn Cardiovascular Inc., which has struggled for years to convince the Food and Drug Administration to approve its heart device, will need to either raise more money or sell the company, MedCity News has learned. In an e-mail, Acorn president Steve Anderson said the company already has slashed costs, including shutting down its website and moving out of its headquarters in New Brighton, Minnesota.

Trevena Inc. has landed a sizable $35 million Series B round that it hopes will push its lead heart-failure drug through Phase 2 clinical trials.The funding was led by venture heavyweights and existing investors Polaris Venture Partners and New Enterprise Associates. Other previous investors — Alta Partners, Healthcare Ventures [...]

CVRx Inc. in Plymouth, Minn. said Monday that hypertension patients using its Rheos stimulation device reported a sharp drop in blood pressure after four years.In a study presented to the European Society of Hypertension meeting, the company said patients’ average systolic blood pressure dropped 27 percent to 140 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) from 193 mmHg [...]

Predictive Biosciences plans to use its now-completed $25 million Series C round to begin commercializing its biomarker-based bladder cancer test.Predictive Biosciences completed a $25 million Series C round, saying it plans to use the money to complete clinical trials for its CertNDx bladder cancer assay and ready it for market.The assay reduces the need to [...]

Venture capitalists may be stingy these days but it seems what little money they’re willing to spend is going toward Anulex Technologies Inc. in Minnetonka, Minn.The company said Thursday that it raised $18 million in a Series E financing round. And Anulex still plans to raise at least $2 million more, said CFO David Noel.That [...]