Funding
PDC Biotech of Vienna, Austria, has announced the close of a €4 million first round co-led by MIG Verwaltungs AG and Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners.
Proceeds from the financing will be used to complete preclinical work and carry out the first clinical study of the company’s lead compound, PDC31, which is being developed for the treatment of preterm labour and primary dysmenorrhea. The company is expecting to conclude the remaining preclinical work in mid-2010 and then conduct the Phase I/II trial.
PDC31 is a peptide antagonist of the prostaglandin F2a (FP) receptor, the lead in a series of FP antagonists exclusively licensed to PDC Biotech GmbH from Theratechnologies, a Canadian biopharmaceutical company.
Patricia Griffin and Diane Kalina, the two Canadians who co-founded of PDC in Austria, said, “We are delighted to have such outstanding investors who understand the potential of our company and who are able to provide the necessary capital to advance our programmes despite the difficult financing market.”
The company was previously awarded €1 million in seed funding from the Austria Wirtschaftsservice and a grant of €517,000 from the Zentrum für Innovation und Technologie, an agency of the city of Vienna for promotion of innovation and technology. The total funds raised since inception now amount to over €5.56 million.
The company moved to Austria in May 2008 following the €1 million in seed funding it received from the Austria Wirtschaftsservice, the federal promotional bank of the Republic of Austria.
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