A Chapel Hill startup that aims to commercialize technology developed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has raised $600,000 in funding to accelerate its drug-development efforts.

G1 Therapeutics raised the money from Hatteras Discovery, the seed-funding unit of Durham venture capital firm Hatteras Venture Partners. G1 previously raised more than $4 million in federal and state grant money, including grants from the federal Small Business Investment Research program and the N.C. Biotechnology Center.

As part of the new funding, Christy Shaffer, managing director of Hatteras Discovery and the former CEO of Inspire Pharmaceuticals, has joined G1 as executive chair. Shaffer said in an interview that she will devote 1 1/2 days a week to G1, functioning in effect as as an interim CEO. She will focus on business strategy and facilitating advancement of the company's first drug into clinical trials, a move that requires Food and Drug Administration approval.

Shaffer said G1 will eventually recruit a full-time CEO, with the timetable pegged to the company's development.

Bob Ingram is in no danger of getting bored.

On May 18, the retired CEO of Glaxo Wellcome plans to join the board of PPD, the Wilmington-based pharmaceutical research company with a large operation in the Triangle. It's just the latest role for one of this region's busiest and most experienced corporate leaders.

Ingram, 68, is also a general partner with Durham-based investment firm Hatteras Venture Partners. In January, he became chairman of Elan Corp., an Irish biotechnology firm.

He's also on the boards of other public companies Allergan, Cree, Edwards Lifesciences and Valeant Pharmaceuticals. And he serves as a strategic advisor to GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty.

PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, a company that is working on products designed to extend the half-life of drugs in the body, has closed its Morrisville office and relocated to Philadelphia.

PhaseBio CEO Christopher Prior said the move made sense because the company's focus has shifted to product development and clinical trials. The company is developing drugs to treat diabetes and hypertension, among other ailments.

The shift required Prior to bring in a new team, which he said he was able to put together quickly in Philadelphia, where he has a network of contacts in the pharmaceutical industry.

"We moved to the greater Philadephia area not because I couldn't do it in North Carolina," he said. "I couldn't do it as quickly."

Prior said the company had downsized in October, and only four people here were let go in the Triangle as part of the move. At its peak, the company had about a dozen employees in the Triangle.

PhaseBio was given new life in December when it raised $25 million in venture capital funding. Its investors include RTP-based Hatteras Venture Partners.

PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, a privately held protein engineering company in Research Triangle Park, announced today that it has raised $25 million in venture capital funding.

Lead investors in the Series B round were New Enterprise Associates and OSI Investment Management, a subsidiary of OSI Pharmaceuticals. Also contributing money were Hatteras Venture Partners, Johnson & Johnson Development Corp. and Fletcher Spaght Ventures.

PhaseBio also announced several new additions to the company's board of directors, including Robert Ingram, a vice chairman of GlaxoSmithKline and a current partner at RTP-based Hatteras Venture Partners.

PhaseBio had raised about $8 Million in venture funding prior to this latest round.

The company's CEO is Dr. Christopher Prior, who previously founded BioRexis Pharmaceuticals, a firm that was acquired by Pfizer in 2007.