Novartis VC Arm Backs Universal Flu Shot Company, Immune Targeting Systems (ITS) Ltd. Raises $13.6 Million in Venture Cash
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Immune Targeting Systems (ITS) Limited (“ITS”), one of the leading developers of synthetic vaccines for mutating viruses, today announced it had secured a Series-A equity funding round extension for £8.65m which brings the total Series A financing to £13.15m. The company’s key investors HealthCap (Sweden), London Technology Fund (UK), Novartis Venture Fund (US & Basel) and Truffle Capital (France) are all participating. The round will be kept open until mid-2010 for new potential investors to invest.
This funding will progress ITS’s lead candidate FP-01 through to the completion of phase-II proof of concept efficacy studies. This vaccine holds the promise of being able to target all potential seasonal and pandemic influenza strains and protect people from severe influenza disease. The synthetic and thermostable FP-01 vaccine would offer a new paradigm in flu vaccine supply and could represent a major breakthrough to Governments wishing to create long-term vaccine stockpiles.
Carlton Brown, CEO of ITS, commented: “This round of financing will allow the company to evaluate its flu vaccine product candidate in phase I and Phase II clinical trials and assess the vaccine safety and preliminary efficacy against multiple influenza virus strains”.
Ken Powell, ITS’s Chairman commented: “This sound support of ITS and its exciting clinical programmes shows that there is funding available for high quality teams and projects in 2010 and should give encouragement to other UK biotechnology companies”.
Florent Gros, Managing Director at Novartis Venture Fund commented: “We believe strongly in the need to enhance T-cell immunity in vaccinology, and we are delighted that ITS is advancing its unique technology and lead program to clinical validation.”
Jacob Gunterberg Partner at HealthCap: “In the vaccine field this is a unique global problem solving vaccine technology and its potential to hit mutating viruses in their Achilles heel is a major breakthrough. We like management’s philosophy of delivering milestones and managing risk.”
Philippe Pouletty, MD, General Partner of Truffle Capital added: “We strongly believe novel technologies can allow vaccine protection against multiple seasonal and pandemic flu viruses and ITS pursues a very promising approach”.
David McMeekin, Chairman of the London Technology Fund, said, “This further funding is an important endorsement of ITS’s technology and we are delighted to see a London-based business like this continue to attract funding from such a strong group of investors”.
Contact:
Corporate Inquiries London Bioscience Innovation Centre Carlton Brown, CEO Tel +44 7970 944 454 Email: carlton.brown@its-innovation.co.uk or Media Inquiries Schwartz Communications Richard Hayhurst Tel +44 (0) 7711821527 Email: rhayhurst@schwartz-pr.co.uk