BRISBANE, Australia, Nov. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Xenome Ltd, a specialist biopharmaceutical company developing novel peptide drugs, announced today that it has successfully raised US$10M of equity finance. The syndicated funding round includes continuing support from Xenome’s major investor, Queensland BioCapital Funds (QBF), for $2.7M, significant equity funding of $5m from Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc, a top tier USA biotechnology company headquartered in San Diego, California, and $2.3M from Innovis Investment Partners (Innovis).
The combined investment will enable Xenome to continue the execution of its operational plan which includes:
“The opportunity to make two major announcements on the same day does not come around very often, so it is satisfying to be able to announce this new syndicated investment by QBF, Amylin and Innovis together with the execution of the separate Joint Xenome-Amylin Research Collaboration. The Company recognizes QBF’s sustained support and belief in Xenome at a time when biotech funding comes at a premium. At the same time we welcome new substantial shareholders Amylin and Innovis Ltd. to the Company’s share register.” said Xenome CEO, Lewis Lee.
“The equity investment integrated with the extensive Xenome-Amylin Joint Research Collaboration provides a tremendous validation of the Company’s peptide drug discovery platform and will facilitate Xenome’s ability to rapidly generate novel lead molecules for key therapeutic targets.” commented Cherrell Hirst, QBF CEO and Innovis General Partner.
lewis.lee@xenome.comwww.xenome.comc.hirst@qbf.qic.comwww.qic.com
About Xenome
Xenome is a progressive Australian biotechnology company with a promising and distinctive technology platform targeting pain and inflammation. Xen2174, the Company’s lead drug candidate is currently completing a Phase 1b/2a clinical trial for cancer pain with evidence to date providing strong support that the trial endpoints will be successfully met. More substantive clinical trials for expanded indications are planned for 2008. In addition, the drug discovery platform from which Xen2174 emerged has inherent value due to its ability to repeatedly identify new lead medicinal compounds on the basis of its unique construction around Australian biodiversity. Specifically, Xenome has generated a unique expertise in peptide chemistry to translate the evolutionary advantages inherent in venom peptides into highly bioactive libraries of molecules that are of interest to global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.
http://www.xenome.com
About QBF
Queensland BioCapital Funds Pty Ltd (QBF) is a $100 million closed end venture capital fund that seeks to invest in listed or unlisted companies in the human biosciences sector, in particular, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, consumer healthcare products and diagnostics. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), one of Australia’s largest institutional fund managers with over $50 billion in funds invested and owned by the Queensland Government, but with a Board and staff drawn from the private sector. QBF was established in October 2002 to assist QIC in its role as trustee and manager of the fund by identifying, validating and managing investment opportunities. QBF is actively involved in its investee companies, typically holding a significant equity position for several years in the form of preference shares with specified rights.
http://www.qbf.qic.com/
About Innovis
Innovis Investment Partners Australia LP is a venture capital fund focusing on private and micro-cap public companies in Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare.
CONTACT: Lewis Lee, Director & CEO of Xenome Ltd, +61-7-3720-8055; or
Cherrell Hirst MD, CEO of QBF Pty Ltd., +61-7-3009-6850,
c.hirst@qbf.qic.com, for QBF and Innovis
Web site: http://www.qbf.qic.com/
http://www.xenome.com/
http://www.qic.com/
