GHENT, Belgium--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 23, 2006--Ablynx, the pioneer in the discovery and development of Nanobodies®, a novel class of antibody-derived therapeutic proteins, has announced the successful closing of its series C financing round raising Euro 40 million (approx. US$50 million). The international syndicate of investors was led by new investor KBC (Belgium), Belgium’s leading bank for private and public equities. SR One (USA and UK), the venture capital arm of GSK, one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies was the second new investor. All existing financial investors participated in the round - Abingworth Management (UK), Alta Partners (USA), Biotech Fund Flanders (Belgium), Gilde Healthcare Partners (The Netherlands), GIMV (Belgium) and Sofinnova Partners (France). In addition, VIB (Belgium) also participated to a significant degree. This brings the total capital raised by Ablynx since its inception in 2002 to date to Euro 70 million (approx. US$87.5 million).
Combined with its existing cash, Ablynx will now be able to fund operations through to at least mid-2008, allowing the Company to further develop its product pipeline based on its proprietary Nanobody® technology and to rapidly increase its headcount which is currently just over seventy. Ablynx is developing a portfolio of Nanobody®-based therapeutic programs in a number of major disease areas, including inflammation, thrombosis, oncology and Alzheimer’s disease. Three of these programs are in preclinical development, and Ablynx is on track to submit its first regulatory filing before the end of this year and anticipates to initiate phase I studies in early 2007.
Ablynx’ strategy is to build a diverse and broad portfolio of therapeutic Nanobodies® based on strategic partnerships as well as on its own internal discovery pipeline. It has ongoing research collaborations and significant, multi-target partnerships with several major pharmaceutical companies, including Novartis, Centocor (J&J), Kirin Breweries and P&G Pharmaceuticals.
Commenting on the financing, Dr. Edwin Moses, Chairman and CEO said: “We are delighted to have received such strong financial support from top class international investors with a broad range of capabilities and resources. The Company is now in an excellent financial position to rapidly expand its operations and aggressively develop its product pipeline.”
Ruth Devenyns, Senior Investment Manager at KBC Private Equity joining the Ablynx Board, commented: “Ablynx’ Nanobody® technology has the opportunity to revolutionize the biologics landscape. We are excited to have led the investment and we are looking forward to working with Ablynx’ existing premier investment syndicate and the strong and experienced international management team to take the Company forward to its next stage of development. We believe that Ablynx’ impressive development is another indicator of the growing strength and critical mass of biotech in the Benelux.”
Denis Lucquin, Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners, said: “The existing investors were all extremely confident about the future of Ablynx and were cautious about allowing new investors to become involved. However, in KBC and SR One we have found organisations which provide a lot more than just cash and we are delighted that they are joining this exciting endeavour.”
www.ablynx.com
Contact: Northbank Communications Sue Charles, +44 (0)20 7886 8150 s.charles@northbankcommunications.com
Source: Ablynx
