Investment
The government-owned fund Finnish Industry Investment and the Swedish investment company Karolinska Development III, an affiliated company of Karolinska Institutet Holding, have invested €1.5 million into BioCis Pharma, a specialist in inflammation, allergy and cancer.
The company’s technology platform is based on the therapeutic properties of cis-urocanic acid. The first products are being developed for topical treatment of inflammatory skin conditions, including dermatitis and psoriasis, and for melanoma. In addition, BioCis Pharma has a product for treating bladder cancer in development.
“With this investment, we will speed up our product development projects. We aim to start the first clinical study with healthy subjects and patients early next year,” said Dr Lasse Leino, CEO of BioCis.
“BioCis Pharma fits very well in our life science portfolio and we believe that our international networks and strategic expertise of the industry will give a lot of benefit to BioCis Pharma,” said Investment Manager Lennart Hansson of Karolinska Development.
“BioCis Pharma has several advantages. The products are [likely to be] safer and better tolerated than the current therapies,” said Investment Manager Leila Ylikahri from Finnish Industry Investment.
Founded in 2003 and based in Turku, Finland, BioCis operates on a virtual model with three full-time employees.
Finnish Industry Investment Ltd is a government-owned investment company that invests the proceeds from the privatisation of state-owned companies in promoting the growth and internationalisation of Finnish businesses.
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