UTRECHT, Netherlands – Symphogen, a private biopharmaceutical company developing superior antibody therapeutics (monoclonal, monoclonal mixtures and polyclonal) to treat cancer, infectious and autoimmune diseases, announced that it closed a €100 million placement of Preferred Stock to a group of investors led by Novo A/S and joined by existing investors Essex Woodlands and Gilde Healthcare Partners. The Danish Pension Fund PKA also joined as a new investor. The € 100 million raised is the largest ever financing for a private European biotech company. Symphogen intends to use the proceeds to accelerate advancement of its lead clinical oncology product Sym004 as well as its other clinical and preclinical oncology opportunities both for proprietary pursuit and partnering.
Kirsten Drejer, PhD., Symphogen Chief Executive Officer, commented,
“Our overall goal is to progress Symphogen’s early stage clinical oncology pipeline; to enhance our platform; and to move our preclinical oncology programs to proof-of-concept in humans. Our work in infectious diseases and our partnerships with Genentech and Meiji Seika Kaisha, Ltd. remain fully funded.”
Symphogen’s Drejer will present an overview of the company’s business, financial and clinical strategies next week in San Francisco at the J.P. Morgan 29th Annual Healthcare Conference, January 10, 2011 at 10 am at the Westin St. Francis Hotel, Elizabethan Rooms C and D. The presentation will be made available on the company’s website at www.symphogen.com.
Joining Symphogen’s Board of Directors as Chairman is Goran A. Ando, MD.
Dr. Ando commented,
“We now have unique financial resources to build a sustainable and eventually profitable biopharmaceutical company. By leveraging Symphogen’s proprietary platform and its initial clinical successes, the investors believe that the company is positioned to commercialize proprietary oncology products on its own as well collaborate on new products with partners in other focus disease areas, including infectious and autoimmune disease.”
About Symphogen
Symphogen is developing superior antibody therapeutics (monoclonal, monoclonal mixtures and polyclonal) to help people with serious diseases and significant unmet medical needs. With its proprietary, unique Symplex™ discovery, SymSelect™ lead selection and Sympress™ manufacturing platforms, the company captures the diversity and specificity of the natural immune response in rationally designed recombinant antibody compositions. Symphogen is maturing a diversified pipeline of internal and partnered products across multiple indications including cancer, autoimmune and infectious disease. Symphogen is a private biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, with a US subsidiary in Princeton, New Jersey. For more information, please visit www.symphogen.com.
About Gilde Healthcare Partners (www.gildehealthcare.nl)
Gilde Healthcare Partners founded in 2000 is headquartered in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Gilde Healthcare Partners has over EUR 300 million under management and is actively looking to lead new investments in therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, enabling technologies and healthcare services. Gilde is a successful builder of healthcare businesses across Europe and US. By investing in companies with clear achievable business models, Gilde has used its financial resources and network to create significant value for both its investors and the entrepreneurs it backs.
Companies that Gilde Healthcare Partners has pro-actively supported span all aspects of healthcare and include Ablynx (Belgium), Acacia (UK), Agendia (Netherlands), AMT (Netherlands), Ascendis (Denmark), BG Medicine (US), Chroma Therapeutics (UK), Conatus (US), Flowcardia (US), Glycart (Switzerland), Innate Pharma (France), mtm therapeutics (Germany) Pieris (Germany), Profibrix, Santaris (Denmark) and Symphogen (Denmark).