VANCOUVER, BC and CONSHOHOCKEN, PA, March 8 /PRNewswire/ - Neuromed Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation chronic pain drugs, today announced the completion of a Series D financing of US$25 million. This fourth round of financing brings Neuromed’s cumulative venture capital financing to US$74 million.
The investment was completed with significant participation from existing investors including MPM Capital, Neuro Discovery LP, GrowthWorks Capital, CMDF, BDC Venture Capital, Cogene Biotech Ventures and the Royal Bank of Canada. This round saw the addition of one new investor, James Richardson & Sons, Limited. JRSL is one of Canada’s oldest and largest private family-owned companies. Hartley Richardson, President & CEO of JRSL, will join Neuromed’s Board of Directors.
“This successful round of financing, over-subscribed by nearly double, demonstrates the strong confidence our investors have in Neuromed’s calcium channel blocking technology and provides us with the ability to further capitalize on the value of our proprietary platforms,” said Dr. Christopher Gallen, Neuromed’s President and CEO.
“We are very pleased to be working with investors of this caliber. The involvement of James Richardson & Sons is important given their experience in late stage private investments and their strong commitment to investing in companies for the long term.”
Neuromed will use the funds to advance its lead program for developing calcium channel blockers for chronic pain, as well as for its second major development program investigating calcium channel blockers to treat pain, anxiety, epilepsy and cardiovascular diseases.
The Company also announced it will change the name of its Canadian Company to Neuromed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. from Neuromed Technologies Inc. This change signals Neuromed’s evolution from research and discovery to clinical development of a potential commercially competitive product that could impact the lives of millions of people living with chronic pain.
Neuromed is the only company in the world with a sole focus on target- specific calcium channel drugs to treat chronic pain, anxiety, epilepsy and cardiovascular disease. An estimated 50 million people in North America, and several-fold that many worldwide, suffer from chronic pain. Effective treatment options are limited and have potentially damaging side effects. Neuromed’s lead candidate NMED-160, currently in Phase 2, is an orally available small molecule that selectively blocks N-type calcium channels and is aimed at preventing the transmission of neuropathic and inflammatory pain signals. NMED-160 has the potential to provide reduced side effects, greater efficacy and a more convenient, less invasive delivery than current therapeutic treatments.
About Neuromed Pharmaceuticals
Neuromed is a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing the next generation of chronic pain drugs with pipeline programs in anxiety, epilepsy and cardiovascular disease such as hypertension. Located in Vancouver, Canada and Conshohocken, USA, the Company’s drug development programs are designed around validated clinical targets associated with large unmet markets. Neuromed exclusively focuses on calcium channels as drug targets and is the first company to take an orally available drug selectively targeting neuronal calcium channels into human clinical trials. Neuromed is a spin-off biotechnology company from the University of British Columbia founded by Dr. Terrance Snutch, who is also a professor in the Michael Smith Laboratories at UBC. For more information visit www.neuromed.com
For more information regarding this press release, contact: Communications contact in Canada Catherine Ducharme Neuromed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Cell : (604) 813-6104 Phone: (604) 909-2547 Email: cducharme@neuromed.com Communications contact in the US Matt Dallas Financial Dynamics Business Communications Phone: (212) 850-5627 Cell: (917) 363-1333 Email: mdallas@fd-us.com
Neuromed Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
CONTACT: Communications contact in Canada, Catherine Ducharme, NeuromedPharmaceuticals Ltd., Cell : (604) 813-6104, Phone: (604) 909-2547, Email:cducharme@neuromed.com; Communications contact in the US, Matt Dallas,Financial Dynamics, Business Communications, Phone: (212) 850-5627, Cell:(917) 363-1333, Email: mdallas@fd-us.com
