Funding to accelerate Phase 2 Development of Novel Antibiotic to Treat Resistant Gram-negative Bacterial Infections in the Hospital
Munich, Germany and Naarden, The Netherlands, 16 June 2016 - Forbion Capital Partners, the Dutch life sciences venture capital firm, today announced that it has invested from its recent FCF II Co-Invest I fund in Allecra Therapeutics, an existing FCF II portfolio company dedicated to the development of novel antibiotics to combat drug-resistant bacterial infections. The round was led by new investor, Delos Capital.
The proceeds will fund Phase 2 development of AAI202, Allecra’s lead drug candidate, a novel and proprietary antibiotics combination designed to treat drug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections. AAI202 is a combination of a powerful ß-lactam antibiotic together with a novel Extended Spectrum ß-Lactamase (ESBL) Inhibitor.
The combination is designed for use as broad-spectrum antibacterial therapy to treat hospitalized patients who contract infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria, proven or suspected to express certain resistance mechanisms, particularly extended-spectrum ß-lactamases.
Holger Reithinger, General Partner at Forbion Capital Partners and Allecra’s Chairman, added, “This Series B investment into Allecra enables the pursuit of the development program of AAI202, accelerating the potential availability of AAI202 to patients. We are confident that Allecra can further build on the positive results for AAI202 generated to date and therefore have invested in excess of our pro-rata share by deploying capital from both our main fund and from our latest co-invest fund.”
“FDA has granted QIDP status (Qualified Infectious Disease Product) for AAI202, including, eligibility for Fast-Track designation in the USA” commented Nicholas Benedict, Allecra’s CEO. “QIDP facilitates getting a potentially life-saving new antibiotic to patients in the USA. The FDA is not alone in recognizing that Gram-negative antibiotic resistance is a growing and a widespread epidemic, somewhat analogous to the situation with MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) during the last decade.”
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Notes To Editors
About Forbion Capital Partners
Forbion Capital Partners is a dedicated life sciences venture capital firm with offices in The Netherlands and Germany. Forbion invests in life sciences companies in the pharmaceutical, as well as the medical device space. Forbion’s investment team has built an impressive performance track record since the late nineties with successful investments in multiple companies. With the new fund FCFIII, Forbion manages well over €700 Million across six funds. Its investors include the EIF through its European Recovery Programme (ERP), LfA and Dutch Venture Initiative (DVI) facilities and the KFW through the ERP - Venture Capital Fondsfinanzierung facility. Forbion also operates a joint venture with BioGeneration Ventures, who manages two separate seed and early stage funds focused on Benelux. For further information please visit www.forbion.com.
About Allecra Therapeutics
Allecra is a biopharmaceutical company established in 2013 in the European BioValley Life Sciences cluster located in the Upper Rhine valley encompassing northwest Switzerland, southwest Germany and the Alsace Region of France. Allecra is focussed on the development of novel treatments to combat multi drug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections. Allecra’s mission is to contribute towards the global effort to combat antibiotic resistance by developing new treatments which overcome emerging resistance mechanisms, thereby saving lives of patients whose infections may otherwise be inadequately treated. Allecra’s wholly-owned French subsidiary is a beneficiary of financial support from the French public bank Bpifrance and from the Région Alsace. For more information on Allecra please visit www.allecra.com or email info@allecra.com.
