Date: 2016-10-06
Type of information: Fundraising
Company: PDC*line Pharma (France)
Investors: Meusinvest (Belgium) Spinventure (Belgium) the Financière Spin-off Luxembourgeoise/INVESTSUD Group (Belgium), international business angels including Serge Goblet (Tolefi), Baudouin Jolly, Françoise Jolly-de Vaucleroy, Parness SA, Jean-Paul Prieels (former senior vice president of R&D at GSK Vaccines) and Riccardo Cortese (former CEO of Okairos and current CEO of Nouscom)
Amount: €4 million
Funding type: financing round, loan, grant
Planned used: PDC*line Pharma is a spin-off of the French Blood Bank (EFS) that develops a new class of potent and scalable therapeutic universal antigen presenting cell, based on a proprietary cell line of Plasmacytoid Dendritic cells (PDC*line) which can be loaded with various types of target tumor antigens. The product can be obtained in large quantities, with GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) compliant quality and very competitive production costs. It is injected into cancer patients to induce a potent anti-tumor CD8+ immune response. A first phase 1b clinical study has been conducted on nine patients with advanced skin cancer (melanoma) at Grenoble University Hospital and Nantes University Hospital. This clinical trial is nearing completion, with results expected in the second quarter of 2017. These funds will be used to prepare a new clinical study to prove the efficacy of the technology and to finalize the industrialization of the production process. The company will also continue to investigate the mechanism of action and potential applications of its technology platform.
Others: • On December 6, 2016, PDC*line Pharma announced a first funding round of €4 million ($4.24 million), including €2.6 million ($2.76 million) in capital and €1.4 million ($1.48 million) in bank loans, grants and recoverable advances. Eric Halioua, serial entrepreneur and manager with a solid biotechnology and cell therapy background, has joined the company as CEO and president of the board of directors. The financing round drew investment from three Belgian institutional investors (Meusinvest, Spinventure and the Financière Spin-off Luxembourgeoise/INVESTSUD Group), and a group of international business angels including Serge Goblet (Tolefi), Baudouin Jolly, Françoise Jolly-de Vaucleroy, Parness SA, Jean-Paul Prieels (former senior vice president of R&D at GSK Vaccines) and Riccardo Cortese (former CEO of Okairos and current CEO of Nouscom). In addition, the company obtained nearly €1.4 million ($1.48 million) in bank loans, EU funding (SME Instrument), and grants in Belgium (Walloon Region, Wallonia Biotech Coaching incubator - WBC) and in France (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Initiative). Eric Halioua (MS, MBA), the new CEO, joined the two PDC*line Pharma founders, Laurent Levy (MS, MBA), chief operating officer, and Joel Plumas (PhD), chief scientific officer, in 2016, to undertake the fundraising. He assumed the position of president of the board of directors and company CEO. He has raised nearly €80million ($85 million) over the course of his career and has had numerous successes in the sale and initial public offering of biotechnology companies. Halioua has also managed several biotechnology companies with products in clinical development. On the occasion of this financing round, PDC*line Pharma has set up an office in Liège, Walloon Region; gaining a foothold within a leading international cluster in immuno-oncology and cell therapy.
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
