Fundraisings and IPOs

* On July 1, 2014, uniQure, a dutch company specialized in human gene therapy, announced the closing of an additional $10 million venture debt loan with Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. (HTGC), increasing the total loan amount to $20 million including the initial $10 million that uniQure announced in July 2013. “The expansion of our original agreement with Hercules and its restructuring to incorporate further beneficial terms for uniQure provide us with greater balance sheet strength and flexibility. We will devote our additional capital both to rapidly advancing our pipeline and to accessing early-stage opportunities that will leverage our gene therapy platform and manufacturing expertise,” commented Jörn Aldag, uniQure Chief Executive Officer. The initial agreement with HTGC earmarked a portion of the venture debt financing to support the build-out of a state-of-the-art AAV-based gene therapy manufacturing facility in Lexington, MA. uniQure anticipates the facility to be fully operational in 2015.
* On July 30, 2013, uniQure has raised $ 10 million (€ 7.5 million) in venture debt from Hercules Technology Growth Capital, to finance the build-out of its US plant, and for general working capital purposes. The company has just announced that it has commenced build-out of a state-of-the-art 55,000 square foot US manufacturing plant in Lexington, Massachusetts for the production of commercial grade Adeno Associated Virus (AAV)-based gene therapy products to complement its current EMA-approved site in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Uniqure expects the facility to be operational by early 2015. The US site will significantly expand the Company’s current production capacity. Once completed, it is expected to allow uniQure to capitalize on its modular manufacturing platform and leverage its process leadership in commercial grade AAV manufacturing. With two validated manufacturing sites on stream, Uniqure will be able to ensure it can supply commercial grade material for its pipeline of products as they advance into pivotal studies and will be positioned as the partner of choice for the manufacturing, development and commercialization of AAV-based gene therapies. In connection with its US expansion, Uniqure has appointed Lance Weed as VP US Operations. He was previously Executive Director, Site Operations at Amgen, and prior to that VP of Operations at BioVex Inc.