NovImmune completes CHF
62.5 (USD 54.8) million equity financing to move portfolio forward and reacquire
product rights to lead antibodies
Plan-Les-Ouates/Geneva - 12th May 2009 - NovImmune, an immunology-focused
biotech company dedicated to the development of therapeutic monoclonal
antibodies, announced today that it has raised CHF 62.5 million (USD 54.8
million) to take back control of its lead compounds (NI-0401 and NI-0501, a
fully human monoclonal antibody to CD3 and interferon-gamma, respectively) and for
further development of its pipeline. The transaction was led by BZ Bank Aktiengesellschaft.
Jack Barbut, CEO of
NovImmune, said: “The Company has made great progress and remains strictly focused
on achieving its goals to progress NovImmune’s rich pipeline.We are proud to complete this transaction
which allows us to continue to execute our long term business plan.With
the current financing, NovImmune now has regained full control of two of its
lead compounds from MerckSerono and is looking forward to moving ahead with the
seven products in its portfolio.”
Eduard E. Holdener,
MD, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said “This substantial capital increase
allows NovImmune to progress its projects along the value chain while preparing
the company for important strategic partnerships that might involve one or
multiple compounds of its portfolio”.
Key appointments to the executive management team
NovImmune extended
its executive management team by appointing Penelope Ward, MD, as Chief Medical
Officer, Luca Bolliger, PhD, as Head of Business Development, and Olivia
Maurel, PharmD, as Head of Regulatory Affairs. Penelope joined from
F.Hoffmann-La Roche AG where she was global Head of Rheumatology and local Head
of Clinical Development in the Global Development Center, Welwyn Garden City,
UK. Before NovImmune, Luca was Director of Business Development at Actelion.
Olivia joined from Centocor (J&J), where she was Head
of the European Regulatory Affairs group for immunology compounds.Complete biographies can be found at: www.novimmune.com.
NovImmune SA
NovImmune SA (‘NovImmune’)
is a drug discovery and development company with a focus on therapeutic mAbs for
inflammatory diseases and immune-related disorders.
NovImmune has generated, to
date, seven proprietary mAbs. The pipeline is a balance of preclinical and
clinical compounds, with a mix of both clinically validated as well as novel
targets. Each of these portfolio products has the potential to become a
medicine for multiple medical conditions due to the overlapping mechanism of
action under laying these types of diseases.
Two compounds are in
clinical development, with the most advanced in clinical phase II. The lead
product, NI-0401/anti-CD3, is currently being tested in Crohn’s disease, type 1
diabetes and transplantation.
The company was established
in 1999 and has currently 70 employees based in Plan-les-Ouates/Geneva,
Switzerland.
For more information please
visit our website: www.novimmune.com.
