CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, the leading sirtuin therapeutics company, today announced that it secured $37 million in new financing consisting of a $22 million Series C equity placement and $15 million in venture debt.
The Series C round was led by new investor Bessemer Venture Partners, and also included Genzyme Ventures, QVT Fund LP, and Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. Also participating in the financing were all previous institutional investors including Polaris Venture Partners, TVM Capital, Cardinal Partners, Skyline Ventures, Three Arch Partners, The Wellcome Trust, Novartis Bioventures Fund, Cargill Ventures, Cycad Group, Hunt Ventures, and Red Abbey. Sirtris also secured $15 million in venture debt financing from Hercules Technology Growth Capital (NasdaqNM: HTGC - News) of which Sirtris will initially draw down $10 million.
“Attracting additional capital at an increased valuation is an endorsement of the robust product potential of our sirtuin science,” said Christoph Westphal, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of Sirtris. “Adding the expertise of a world class biopharmaceutical organization like Genzyme and the insight of leading investors like Bessemer and QVT further strengthens our ability to develop a new class of drugs to treat diseases of aging.”
Proceeds from this financing will be used to accelerate Sirtris’ therapeutic programs, particularly those focused on metabolic and neurological diseases. “Sirtuins are emerging as attractive targets in diseases ranging from metabolic to neurological disorders, and Sirtris is poised to lead the development of therapeutics in this area,” said Brad Gray, Director, Corporate Development at Genzyme and leader of Genzyme Ventures. In conjunction with the Series C transaction, Stephen Kraus, representing Bessemer Venture Partners, will join Sirtris’ Board of Directors. “Sirtris’ leadership in the science of sirtuins provides a fundamental biological platform for the development of therapeutic products across multiple disease areas,” said Kraus.
About Sirtris Pharmaceuticals
Sirtris Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing novel therapeutics that modulate sirtuins, a recently discovered family of enzymes that promotes the body’s natural defense against disease. Also known as class III histone deacetylases (HDACs), sirtuins are attractive drug targets for diseases of aging, including metabolic and neurological diseases. Sirtris has built the dominant sirtuin intellectual property estate and know-how with a comprehensive suite of reagents, proprietary assays, transgenic animal models, and biomarkers.
Sirtris Pharmaceuticals was founded by Rich Aldrich, Richard Pops, Paul Schimmel, David Sinclair and Christoph Westphal, and has raised a total of $82 million since inception. Its investors include Polaris Venture Partners, TVM Capital, Cardinal Partners, Skyline Ventures, Three Arch Partners, The Wellcome Trust, Bessemer Venture Partners, Novartis Bioventures Fund, Cargill Ventures, Genzyme Corporation, QVT Fund LP, Cycad Group, Hunt Ventures, Red Abbey, and Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. The company’s headquarters are in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For additional information, please visit http://www.sirtrispharma.com.
Media Contact: Kathryn Morris 845-635-9828
Source: Sirtris Pharmaceuticals
