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Berlin, Germany, May 27, 2010 (euro adhoc) - NOXXON Pharma AG (NOXXON), a
company focused on the development of mirror image oligonucleotide therapeutics
called Spiegelmers®, announced today the successful closing of a EUR33 million
Series D round of financing. The round was led by new investor, NGN Capital, and
joined by existing investors TVM Capital, Sofinnova Partners, Edmond de
Rothschild Investment Partners, Seventure Partners, VC Fonds Technologie Berlin
GmbH, Dow Venture Capital, FCP OP MEDICAL BioHealth-Trends, IBG
Beteiligungsgesellschaft Sachsen-Anhalt mbH, the Dieckell Group, and others.
The funds raised will be used primarily for the ongoing clinical and
pre-clinical development of NOXXON´s lead products NOX-E36, NOX-A12, and NOX-H94
in the fields of diabetic complications, oncology and hematology. These products
are high-potency inhibitors of their respective targets, generated with NOXXON´s
proprietary Spiegelmer® technology. Spiegelmers® are marked by their
biostability and an extremely low potential for toxic or immunogenic side
effects.
"This investment provides NOXXON with the funds to advance the clinical
development of our three most advanced in-house programs without the need for
additional external support. NGN´s decision to lead this round is a testament to
the value of the Spiegelmer® technology and the commercial potential of the
development programs pursued by NOXXON." stated NOXXON´s CEO Dr. Frank Morich.
Peter Johann, a Managing General Partner at NGN Capital, commented: "We are very
excited about NOXXON´s platform and the product opportunities which can be
created from it. The Company and its experienced management team made
significant progress over the last years bringing two Spiegelmers® into the
clinic and one more close to clinical development. With the funding NOXXON will
be able to further clinically validate their technology and achieve clinical
proof of efficacy with the lead compounds." Dr. Johann will join the Board of
NOXXON.
About NOXXON
Berlin-based NOXXON Pharma AG is a clinical stage biotechnology company focusing
on the development of Spiegelmers® for the treatment of various disease
indications. NOXXON is in possession of a broad patent estate and has access to
a readily scalable GMP production. In addition to its in-house programs, NOXXON
discovers and develops Spiegelmers® in collaboration with partners from the
pharmaceutical industry, including Eli Lilly and Hoffmann La-Roche. The business
strategy of NOXXON is to broaden this range of collaborations through
co-development and licensing agreements for the proprietary clinical and
pre-clinical products. Currently, the company has two compounds in clinical
development. The declared goal of NOXXON is to establish its
oligonucleotide-based drug discovery platform (Spiegelmers®) as the leading
"scaffold" technology to create new chemical entities with superior properties.
About NGN Capital
NGN Capital is a venture capital firm dedicated to healthcare investing,
focusing on ventures with the potential to achieve above average private equity
returns with an emphasis on later stage investments. The funds have flexibility
to invest in a broad cross section of healthcare and biotechnology segments
including drug products, medical devices and other healthcare segments like
services. The funds are diversified by stage, from later stage to selected early
stage opportunities, as well as by geography by investing predominantly in the
US and in Europe. NGN Capital's North American offices are in New York, NY,
Greenwich, CT and its European office is in Heidelberg, Germany
About TVM Capital
The TVM Capital Life Science & Healthcare Practice currently manages committed
capital of about 860 million Euros ($1.13bn) for investments in the life science
and healthcare sectors from headquarters in Munich, an office in Boston and a
representation in Singapore. The two sector teams build on the expertise,
experience, international approach and demonstrated success of 113 investments
and more than 70 exits including 37 initial public offerings of portfolio
companies on Nasdaq, and the London, Frankfurt, Zurich and Vienna Stock
Exchanges, and 24 trade sales. This track record of successful investing and
value creation, in traditional early and late-stage life science venture as well
as healthcare private equity, make the TVM Capital Life Science & Healthcare
Practice a preferred partner for ambitiously growing companies in our target
sectors. The operating entity of the TVM Capital Healthcare Private Equity
activities in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) is TVM Capital MENA
Ltd. based at the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), Dubai, United
Arab Emirates. The firm operates the region's first Shari'a compliant and
dedicated healthcare and pharmaceutical investment fund. The fund is regulated
by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).
About Sofinnova Partners
Sofinnova Partners is an independent venture capital firm based in Paris,
France. For over 35 years, the firm has backed nearly 500 companies at
different stages of development - pure creations, spin-offs, as well as
turnaround situations - and worked alongside Europe´s key entrepreneurs in the
technology, life sciences and cleantech sectors. With EUR1.1 billion of funds
under management, Sofinnova Partners´ experienced team and hands-on approach in
building portfolio companies through to exit have created market leaders, from
landmark historical investments including Genentech, Actelion and Vistaprint to
more recent successes such as CoreValve, Novexel, Fovea and Sensitive Object.
With a global mindset, the firm has a sister organization in San Francisco,
California. Please visit www.sofinnova.fr for more information on Sofinnova´s
team and portfolio.
About Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners
Paris based Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners (EdRIP) is dedicated to
minority investments into privately owned companies. It has currently EUR750
million under management which are being invested primarily as life sciences
venture capital and growth capital. Its life science team of seven professionals
has over 90 years of cumulated experience in the life science industry and has a
proven track record in biotechnology and medical technology investments. The
team has approximately EUR270 million Euro under management, recently raised its
EUR155 million BioDiscovery 3 fund, which is to be invested during the next
years. EdRIP is part of the group Edmond de Rothschild, Paris, France. For more
information, please visit www.edrip.fr
About Seventure
Being one of the leading venture capital firms in Europe, Seventure manages
EUR500m and invests since 1997 in innovative businesses with high growth
potential in Information & Communication Technologies and in Life Sciences. The
Life Sciences team invests all over Europe. Its 4 preferred sectors are Biotech
& Pharmaceuticals, Medtech, Industrial Biotech & Cleantech, and Lifestyle
Healthcare & nutrition. A typical investment ranges from EUR500k to EUR10 m per
round, up to EUR20 m per company, from early to later stage. Seventure is a
subsidiary of Natixis Private Equity, the asset management company of Natixis,
with over EUR4.2 bn in private equity investments. www.seventure.fr
Webseite: http://www.noxxon.com
General contact:
Emmanuelle Delabre
NOXXON Pharma AG
Max-Dohrn-Strasse 8-10
10589 Berlin, Germany
Phone: +49-30-726247-100
FAX: +49-30-726247-225
Email: edelabre@noxxon.com
Further inquiry note:
Marco Scheidler
Tel.: +49 (0) 3641 573-3600
E-Mail: marco.scheidler@dewb-vc.com
end of announcement euro adhoc
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issuer: Deutsche Effecten- und Wechsel-Beteiligungsges. AG
Leutragraben 1
D-07743 Jena
phone: +49 (0)3641 573 3600
FAX: +49 (0)3641 573 3610
mail: ir@dewb-vc.com
WWW: http://www.dewb-vc.com
sector: Financial & Business Services
ISIN: DE0008041005
indexes: CDAX, Classic All Share
stockmarkets: free trade: Berlin, Stuttgart, München, Open Market / Entry Standard:
Frankfurt
language: English
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