PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., March 10 /PRNewswire/ -- InfaCare Pharmaceutical Corporation, a privately held pediatric-focused specialty pharmaceutical company, announced today it has raised $30 million in a Series A financing co- led by new investors Atlas Venture and Pequot Ventures. The company also announced that Dr. Peter Barrett, Senior Partner of Atlas Venture and Patrick Enright, Managing Director at Pequot Ventures, have joined InfaCare’s Board of Directors. Leerink Swann & Company served as the exclusive placement agent for the Company.
“We are extremely excited that we have attracted two highly regarded US- based institutional investors with an outstanding track record, especially in the biopharmaceutical industry. This represents a major step forward in our development of Stanate® for the treatment of hyperbilirubinemia,” said John Post, President and Chief Executive Officer of InfaCare. “This financing will allow us to aggressively pursue our development strategy and support the company through to a NDA stage.”
“We believe Stanate® has the potential to be a promising new therapy for treating neonatal hyperbilirubinemia (jaundice), a serious condition which affects over 600,000 babies each year in the U.S. alone,” said Peter Barrett, Senior Partner at Atlas Venture and new board member of InfaCare.
About Stanate®
Stanate® (stannsoporfin) is an investigational drug in late stage development for the treatment of severe neonatal jaundice and possible prevention of kernicterus, a condition attributed to high levels of bilirubin that some believe is on the rise in the United States. In the first few days of life, newborns often lack the ability to effectively eliminate bilirubin. While neonatal jaundice is normally a transient phenomenon, if left untreated in more severe forms can result in irreversible brain damage. Administered by a single intramuscular injection, Stanate® effectively turns off the body’s production of bilirubin and allows the baby’s normal mechanisms to eliminate it from the blood stream. To date, Stanate® has been used successfully in over 800 neonates and found to rapidly and effectively reduce bilirubin and eliminate jaundice. The use of Stanate® may mitigate or potentially eliminate the need for other medical intervention and has the potential to protect the infant from the possibility of brain damage caused by excessive bilirubin.
About Atlas Venture
Atlas Venture is a leading early-stage international venture capital firm that invests in technology and life sciences businesses in the U.S. and Europe. Since its inception in 1980, its Partners have helped build over 300 companies in more than 15 different countries. In the past decade, 25 portfolio companies have been acquired and 37 are now public companies with an aggregate market capitalization of over $12 billion. Atlas Venture is currently investing from its seventh fund and manages over $2 billion in capital through offices in Boston, London, Munich, and Paris. For more information, visit http://www.atlasventure.com.
About Pequot Ventures
Pequot Ventures is the direct private equity investment arm of Pequot Capital Management, Inc., a leading asset management firm which, as of December 31, 2005, had over $7.1 billion of capital under management (including approximately $461 million of uncalled committed capital). Pequot Ventures has successfully raised more than $1.9 billion in capital commitments across eight funds since its formation in 1996 and has invested in over 150 companies in the healthcare and technology sectors. The group has offices in New York City, Menlo Park, Los Angeles, Wellesley, MA and Westport, CT. For more information, visit http://www.pequotventures.com.
About InfaCare Pharmaceutical Corporation:
InfaCare Pharmaceutical Corporation is an emerging specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of products for neonates and older children and is led by John Post, President and CEO. The company was founded in 2001 by Dr. Robert Vukovich (Chairman of InfaCare), formerly the founder and CEO/Chairman of Roberts Pharmaceutical Corporation prior to its sale to Shire Pharmaceutical Group in 1999. InfaCare licenses certain commercial rights related to stannsoporfin from The Rockefeller Institute of New York. Drs. Kappas and Drummond, who recognized its potential as a therapeutic agent to treat hyperbilirubinemia and prevent jaundice, discovered the compound at Rockefeller.
Source: InfaCare Pharmaceutical Corporation
