CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Alinea Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing new therapeutics for the treatment of diabetes and other metabolic disorders, today announced a $45M Series A financing. The round was led by MPM Capital, with participation from SV Life Sciences and Burrill & Co., who played an active role in structuring the deal, and Flagship Ventures. In conjunction with the financing, the company also announced the appointment of Robert Mashal, MD, as President and CEO.
Alinea’s initial assets were licensed from the Institute for Diabetes Discovery (IDD), in Branford, CT. IDD is a premier R&D organization focused exclusively on metabolic diseases. The licensed assets include lidorestat, a compound in Phase II trials for the prevention of the complications of diabetes, and several preclinical programs, the most advanced of which targets protein tyrosine phosphatase 1b (PTP1b). Alinea and IDD will work together under a multi-year R&D agreement to bring compounds to the development candidate stage. Alinea Pharmaceuticals will have primary responsibility for IND enabling studies, clinical development and commercialization of the in- licensed assets.
Alinea Pharmaceuticals has a novel financing and operating structure. Alinea will be staffed as a development and commercial organization. Through its discovery collaboration with IDD, Alinea will not be solely reliant on in- licensing activities to build its pipeline, and it will have the added financial flexibility that comes with not having to build its own discovery infrastructure. The discovery collaboration will be governed by a Joint Steering Committee.
Dr. Mashal stated, “I am very fortunate to lead the initial phase of a company with the potential to generate major products in large markets, supported by a strong investor syndicate. IDD’s success in developing PTP1b inhibitors, a very difficult and highly competitive area, gives me great confidence in our ability to build a company with innovative products and a deep pipeline.”
Jim Nolan, President and CEO of IDD, added, “We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with top-tier life science investors and the management team at Alinea. We look forward to seeing our portfolio of exciting diabetes projects work their way through the clinic and onto the market.”
Nick Galakatos, General Partner at MPM Capital, said, “We invested in Alinea because of the breakthrough nature of its product portfolio. We worked with IDD to create a unique financing structure that focuses the company on clinical development and commercialization while outsourcing discovery research to IDD, a highly successful, specialized operation in metabolic diseases.”
The co-Chairmen of Alinea’s Scientific Advisory Board will be Dr. Jeffrey Flier and Dr. Jay Skyler. Dr. Flier is the George C. Reisman Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard Faculty Dean for Academic Programs and Chief Academic Officer at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including both the Eli Lilly Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement and the Banting Medal, the American Diabetes Association’s highest scientific honor. He has been elected as a Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He serves as an Editor of the Journal of Clinical Investigation and on the Board of Consulting Editors of Science.
Dr. Skyler is Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami School of Medicine, and serves as Chairman of the NIH sponsored Type I Diabetes TrialNet. Dr. Skyler has served as President of the American Diabetes Association and on the Executive Board of the International Diabetes Federation. Dr. Skyler served on the Board of Directors of Mega Technologies before its acquisition by Abbott, of Minimed before its acquisition by Medtronic, and currently serves on the Boards of Directors of two publicly traded companies, Amylin Pharmaceuticals and DexCom.
Alinea’s Board of Directors is comprised of Nick Galakatos and Todd Foley of MPM Capital; Michael Ross of SV Life Sciences; John Kim of Burrill & Co.; James Nolan and Michael Fare of IDD; Edward Scolnick, former President of Merck Research Laboratories; and Robert Mashal, President & CEO.
Michael Ross, Edward Scolnick and Robert Mashal also serve on the Joint Steering Committee along with James Nolan, Michael Fare and one other senior member of the IDD research staff.
About Alinea Pharmaceuticals
Alinea Pharmaceuticals is a Massachusetts based Company founded in August, 2005. It is dedicated to developing and commercializing pharmaceuticals for the treatment of diabetes and related metabolic disorders. It seeks to build a product portfolio both through its existing research collaboration with the Institutes for Diabetes Discovery, and through in-licensing of complementary products and programs. More information about Alinea can be found at www.alineapharma.com.
About the Institutes for Diabetes Discovery
The Institute for Diabetes Discovery, LLC, (IDD) is a privately held biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the research and discovery of novel drugs and therapeutics for diabetes and metabolism. Founded in 1995 in Branford, Connecticut, IDD is the flagship institute under the umbrella of the Institutes for Pharmaceutical Discovery, LLC. More information on IDD can be found at www.idd-discovery.com.
About MPM Capital
MPM Capital L.P. is a global investment management firm focused solely on life sciences investing. One of the largest investment management firms dedicated to the life sciences sector, MPM Capital has offices in Boston and San Francisco. MPM’s portfolio includes early stage start-ups as well as large capitalization public companies, representing biopharmaceutical and medical device companies, encompassing platform technology as well as product-driven opportunities. The firm manages over $2.1 billion in assets through the MPM BioVentures Family of venture capital funds and the MPM BioEquities public market funds. More information on MPM can be found at www.MPMCapital.com.
About SV Lifesciences
Schroder Ventures Life Sciences (SVLS) is a life sciences focused venture capital firm with funds totaling $900M in capital. Schroder Ventures Advised Funds have invested in the life sciences industry since the early 1980s and, to date, have backed over 100 companies internationally. SVLS was established in 1993 and currently has offices in London, Boston and San Francisco. More information on SV Lifesciences can be found at www.svlifesciences.com
About Burrill & Company
Burrill & Company is a life sciences merchant bank focused exclusively on companies involved in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, devices, human healthcare and related medical technologies, nutraceuticals and wellness, agricultural biotechnology, and industrial biotechnology (biomaterials/bioprocesses). With over $500 million under management, Burrill’s technical and venture investing competence spans the entire spectrum of life sciences. The expertise of the firm’s investment team, strategic partners and Advisory Boards is unparalleled in depth and breadth. In addition, Burrill is a leader in life science strategic partnering, an invaluable practice to build value in portfolio companies and to accelerate their growth and development. Burrill is also the sponsor and facilitator of a number of leading annual industry conferences and publishes the seminal annual report on the state of the biotechnology industry. This combination of resources and capabilities has helped Burrill develop a unique and highly effective platform for finding and making outstanding life science investments. More information on Burrill & Company can be found at www.burrillandco.com.
About Flagship Ventures
Flagship Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on creating, financing, and building innovative companies in the Life Science and Technology sectors. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, Flagship Ventures was founded in 1999 and manages $700 million in capital. Prior to its founding, Flagship’s principals were involved as founders or investors in over 100 firms including: Adolor, AltaVista, Anesta, Antigenics, Aspect Medical, Astral Point, Celera Genomics, ChemGenics Pharmaceuticals, Color Kinetics, Chantry Networks, Cytyc, DataSage, Exact Sciences, IDEXX, PerSeptive Biosystems, Somatogen, Telecorp PCS and TripAdvisor. For more information, visit www.flagshipventures.com.
Alinea Pharmaceuticals Noonan Russo Robert Mashal, MD Wendy Lau President & CEO (212) 845-4272 (617) 949-2226 wendy.lau1@eurorscg.comrmashal@alineapharma.com
Alinea Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
CONTACT: Robert Mashal, MD, President & CEO of Alinea Pharmaceuticals,+1-617-949-2226, rmashal@alineapharma.com; Wendy Lau, Noonan Russo,+1-212-845-4272, wendy.lau1@eurorscg.com
