Date: 2012-03-28
Type of information: Fundraising
Company: Promethera Biosciences (Belgium)
Investors: Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (Germany)
Shire (UK)
Mitsui Global Investment (Japan)
ATMI (USA)
SambrInvest (Belgium)
Walloon Region (Belgium)
Amount: € 23.6 million ($31.4 million)
Funding type: series B financing round
Planned used:
Others: Promethera Biosciences, the Belgian cell therapy company operating in the field of liver diseases, has completed a fundraising round that generated € 23.6 million, including € 17 million in capital. Among the new investors are the venture arms of pharmaceutical industry leaders Boehringer Ingelheim and Shire, Japanese investment fund Mitsui Global Investment, US company ATMI and Belgian venture capital fund SambrInvest. These five investors join the Belgian investors attracted in the first round: Vesalius Biocapital, the lead investor, SRIW, Vives-Louvain Technology Fund, Life Science Research Partners, NivelInvest, Financière Spin-off Luxembourgeoise, Sopartec (UCL\'s technology transfer company), as well as several business angels.
In addition, the Walloon Region, which has backed the project since its inception, has granted a loan of € 6.6 million to support the clinical development of the HepaStem product.
Since its Series-A fundraising in 2009, Promethera Biosciences has achieved several major achievements. Most outstanding is the GMP accreditation following the successful transfer and scaling up of the production process developed at Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) into a larger-scale pharmaceutical operation. Meanwhile, the company has been granted authorisations from the respective agencies to start its phase I/II clinical study in Belgium and the UK for its innovative cell therapeutic product HepaStem® which may hold a cure for liver diseases and offer a breakthrough technology for repairing severe liver defects.
To date, 14 batches of HepaStem® have been produced at its new site, in Mont Saint Guibert.
Since the discovery of HHALPC (Heterologous Human Adult Liver Progenitor Cells, forming the basis for Promethera HepaStem product) by Professor Sokal and Dr Najimi at the UCL laboratories in 2005, Promethera Biosciences has made considerable scientific advances. The patent protecting the HHALPC cell and all of its applications has been officially awarded in Europe. The proof of concept for the therapeutic use of the cells has been demonstrated in three different animal models. Between 2009 and 2011, injections of HHALPC were safely administered to three patients - a world first – at Cliniques Universitaires St Luc by Professor Sokal and his team. These various achievements have enabled Promethera Biosciences to obtain the first authorisations from the British (MHRA) and Belgian (AFMPS) regulatory authorities to begin the phase I/II clinical study of HepaStem®. As part of the clinical study, the cell therapeutic product is assessed in a paediatric setting involving children suffering from Crigler- Najjar syndrome or urea cycle disorders. Most young patients have only limited other therapeutic options and may die at an early age. The major innovation of Promethera HepaStem® resides in the simplicity of the treatment – a simple injection into the vein leading to the liver – which may make it possible to avoid radical and invasive surgery such as a liver transplant. Promethera HepaStem could be used to treat a wide variety of liver pathologies.
In parallel, Promethera® Biosciences is developing HepaScreen®, a cell model designed to mimic and reproduce the metabolism and stimulate the detoxification of new drugs by the human liver.
Therapeutic area: Regenerative medicine - Liver diseases
