PETACH-TIKVA, ISRAEL--(MARKET WIRE)--Aug 20, 2008 -- NST NeuroSurvival Technologies Ltd. (NST), the leading developer of agents that target apoptosis (programmed cell death) for both molecular imaging and therapy, today announced the completion of a $13.3 million financing. The company also announced that it has changed its name to Aposense Ltd.
In a two-part financing, Aposense Ltd. raised $6 million in September 2007 and now concluded the second part of additional $7.3 million. A prominent group of existing shareholders participated in the financing by exercising outstanding warrants, in exchange for shares of Aposense. Participating shareholders included, among others, Zeigler Meditech Equity Partners LP, Pontifax LP, Docor International, Federman Holdings, Technorov, Bargal R&D Investment, Phoenix Insurance Co., Polar Investments and Clal Biotechnology Industries.
“Our new name, Aposense, reflects our expanded mission to improve patient care through both molecular imaging and targeted therapy based on our apoptosis targeting technology,” said Yoram Ashery, CEO of Aposense Ltd. “This $13 million financing will help fulfill this mission by funding operations into Phase 3 clinical trials of our ML-10 compound, for molecular imaging of apoptosis. I would like to thank the shareholders who participated in this financing for their contribution and continued support.”
Since inception, Aposense Ltd. has raised more than $40 million, including the current financing.
About Aposense®
Aposense Ltd. is a molecular imaging and drug development company, focused on introducing novel imaging and therapeutic agents based on targeting of cells undergoing apoptosis. The Aposense technology utilizes a novel, proprietary class of rationally-designed, small molecules developed by Aposense that selectively identify and accumulate within apoptotic (dying) cells in vivo. Apoptosis (programmed cell death) plays a role in many diseases across numerous clinical areas, including oncology, neurology and cardiology. Molecular imaging with APOSENSE enables real-time visualization of the biological activity of disease, its onset, change in course and response to therapy, and to personalize treatment for the individual patient. Therapeutic applications of APOSENSE technology in pre-clinical development include anticancer therapy which uses apoptotic cells in tumors as targets for specific delivery of cytotoxic compounds into the tumor. For additional information, visit http://www.aposense.com
About Apoptosis
Apoptosis is a genetically-controlled program of cell death, inherent in any nucleated cell in the body and therefore often referred to also as “cell suicide.” Upon activation, the apoptotic program executes a well-characterized sequence of events by which the cell undergoes fragmentation and elimination by macrophages, without damaging the surrounding tissue. Apoptosis is a universal process of cell death and it plays a role in most medical disorders, making it one of the important processes of cell biology. For example, apoptosis has important roles in oncology, both in the process of tumor growth, as well as in treatment with most therapies which aim to induce death in cancer cells. Targeting cells undergoing apoptosis, for imaging or delivering therapy, can therefore have broad clinical applications.
About Molecular Imaging
Molecular imaging is an emerging field which aims to visualize non-invasively biological processes in-vivo. The ability to image disease-related biological processes may allow to detect disease early, characterize it better and to personalize treatment by real-time monitoring of its therapeutic effect. Molecular imaging depends on special molecules (probes) that can selectively target these biological processes, while carrying an imaging moiety for visualization, such as 18F or other positron emitting radio-isotopes that can be visualized by positron emission tomography (PET).
Contact:
Contacts:
David Carey Lazar Partners Ltd. 212-867-1768 Email Contact
Nitzi Avro Aposense +972-544-660-555
Source: Aposense
