Nextech Venture leads The Genetics Company financing
Press Release by Biotext London, UK, February 22, 2005
The Genetics Company, a Switzerland-based and privately-held drug and diagnostics discovery and development firm, has closed its Series C private equity financing round of CHF25m (E11.1m). The round was co-led by Nextech Venture of Zurich, and Novartis Venture Fund and Varuma of Basel. Series B investors, the company's key employees and founders, as well as an undisclosed private investor also contributed to the financing, which comprises fixed initial investments totalling CHF17m (£7.6m) and a subsequent instalment of CHF8m (£3.5m), to which all Series C investors signed an option. The total equity raised by the company since 2000 have totalled CHF49.5m (£22.1m).
The company will use the financing to advance into Phase I/II clinical trials its pipeline of opportunities for cancer therapy. These are based on the inhibition of the Wnt signal transduction pathway, a physiological process aberrantly active in almost all colorectal cancer patients and in the majority of liver cancer patients. The Genetics Company's small molecule Wnt-inhibitors are currently being tested for efficacy in animals, with clinical trials expected to start in 2007.
The Genetics Company aims at partnering or divesting in the short to medium its beta-secretase (BACE) inhibitors programme for the therapy of Alzheimer's disease, which are currently being optimised for efficacy studies in animals. It will also intensify the commercialisation of its portfolio of unique kits and tools, which enable the selective identification of amyloid beta peptides, the perceived cause of Alzheimer's disease, and which are currently used for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's patients and biological research.
"We are very pleased to further invest in The Genetics Company," said Alfred Scheidegger, founder and CEO of Nextech Venture, a Swiss-based life science firm, and chairman of the company's supervisory board. "They have developed a strong commercial track record combined with excellent scientific and managerial capabilities, which together with a portfolio of exclusive assets, make the appropriate ingredients for an attractive exit within the coming years." Andreas Ziegler, CFO/COO of The Genetics Company added: "We are happy to have received this level of trust and support in a still difficult venture capital market, especially in Europe, where investors supporting pre-clinical stage drug discovery projects aren't easy to find. We are certain that our commercial track record, which is reflected in revenues in excess of CH1m generated from our Alzheimer's diagnostics business since acquisition from Abeta in mid 2003, had an impact on the investors' decision. This business continues to grow nicely."