Eckstein, a venture partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at Germany-based venture capital firm TVM Capital, will report to GSK's research and development chairman Moncef Slaoui and be based in Boston, US.

The Johnson & Johnson-backed medical device company has raised almost $50m in its latest round of funding, as clinical tests for its new system continue.

The Amnis Corporation, a maker of cell imaging instrumentation backed by Henry Crown's corporate venturing unit, has been acquired by Merck subsidiary EMD Millipore.

The corporate venturing divisions of the two pharmaceutical companies have invested in Mission Therapeutics, a company spun off from Cambridge University research.

Cleveland HeartLab reportedly takes its total venture funds raised two years since its spin-out to $21.4m.

Eye treatment company KalVista Pharmaceuticals won the backing of Novo and SV Life Sciences in its spin off from Vantia Therapeutics. The two venture firms also backed Vantia's founding in 2008.

Taizhou Huan Sheng Investment Management Company, a subsidiary of 3SBio, will manage 3SBio Ventures. Taizhou Oriental and 3SBio have committed RMB50m and RMB200m respectively to the fund, with 20% of the total drawn down initially.

Bio-tech diagnostic company Pulmatrix has taken its funding past the $60m with a round backed by the Switzerland-based pharmaceutical company Novartis, among others.