BioLeap Secures $5M Series A Financing from Adams Capital Management and Quaker BioVentures, Inc.
NEW HOPE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BioLeap, Inc., a drug design company that leverages its proprietary technology platform to conceive structurally-diverse, target-specific chemical entities, today announced that it has raised $5 million in venture financing from Boston-based Adams Capital Management and Quaker BioVentures, based in Philadelphia. BioLeap plans to use the funding to drive business development, to support continued development of its computational fragment-based drug design (CFBDD) technology, and to pursue alternative models of early drug discovery.
“BioLeap is not your traditional drug discovery company,” says David Pompliano, CEO of BioLeap. “We are using our computational method to design novel drugs for specific diseases, and to build the foundation for the next generation of drug discovery. We are incredibly pleased that Adams Capital Management and Quaker BioVentures have the confidence to invest in our company. Quaker's experience in life sciences and Adams Capital's experience in technology investment make for a unique combination of skills to help continue to grow our business.”
Unlike random screening approaches, BioLeap’s hypothesis-driven method is particularly effective for designing and improving lead compounds for “difficult” targets where traditional methods have failed. BioLeap’s methodology conceptualizes molecules of practically infinite structural diversity and accurately predicts their relative binding affinity to a target protein. As a result, dramatically fewer compounds need to be synthesized and tested experimentally before achieving pre-clinical milestones. BioLeap creates novel compounds with intellectual property protection, enhances the intellectual property estate around existing compounds, avoids obstructive patents, and generates fast-follower compounds for early market entry. In the past six months, BioLeap has entered into contracts with GlaxoSmithKline to design lead compounds for difficult drug targets and Lycera Corp. to develop novel small-molecule scaffolds for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
“Since its creation in 2004, BioLeap’s technology has demonstrated its ability to save drug discovery costs for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical companies,” says Brenda Gavin, Founding Partner of Quaker BioVentures. “By minimizing non-productive guesswork during the drug discovery process, BioLeap assists in bringing better drug candidates to market in a shorter period of time. We look forward to this partnership.”
“BioLeap’s technology is truly unique,” agrees William A. Frezza of Adams Capital Management. “Recent contracts with GlaxoSmithKline and Lycera only confirm what Adams Capital Management and Quaker BioVentures have seen—an innovative technology and a dedicated management team to spur further growth and development.”
As part of the agreement, Frezza and Gavin will join the Company’s Board of Directors.
About BioLeap, Inc.
BioLeap is an emerging drug discovery company enabled by the next generation of computational fragment-based design technology. BioLeap’s design platform quickly predicts binding affinity based on thermodynamic principles giving drug designers new insights to efficiently create non-obvious molecules and improve existing molecules. Lack of chemical diversity has blocked the progress of many high-priority targets during the lead identification and lead optimization phase for failure to provide either a suitable chemical starting point or a replacement structural class to a doomed lead series. BioLeap’s technology provides a viable alternative to high-throughput screening and traditional shape-based “docking” approaches. BioLeap has identified lead compounds in four collaborative ventures and is seeking new partners who are interested in exploiting its compelling compound design and engineering platform.
About Adams Capital Management
Established in 1994, Adams Capital Management (ACM) is a national venture capital firm with $815 million under management. ACM is a Series A lead investor that is noted for its technology and business expertise in the in the information technology, networking infrastructure and semiconductor industries. ACM's discontinuity-driven investment strategy targets emerging growth companies with disruptive technologies that yield innovative products with the potential to define and dominate their product categories. For more information visit www.acm.com.
About Quaker BioVentures
Quaker BioVentures is a venture capital firm with $700 million under management, dedicated to investing in life science companies in the Mid-Atlantic region and contiguous states. The firm leads investments in companies across the spectrum of the life science industry, including biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, human diagnostics, specialty pharmaceuticals, and healthcare services. Quaker BioVentures invests in companies at all stages of development, from early stage businesses to public companies. Please visit Quaker BioVentures’ website at www.quakerbio.com.