Affibody raises €11.4 million in placement

Funding round

Affibody AB, a specialist in the detection and treatment of cancer, raised €11.4 million in a private placement with new and existing investors. Among the new investors are the Third Swedish National Pension Fund, Kaupthing Bank, Lage Jonason, Stena Sessan and Ingvar Kamprad.

The money will be used for further development of Affibody’s product for diagnosing an aggressive form of breast cancer, which is expected to be launched in 2009.

“Research within the cancer arena is heading towards more specific diagnostic methods and individualised treatment regimes. Affibody has a unique position in this, as our targeting molecules can be efficiently used for the identification and treatment of certain cancer forms,” says Ulf Boberg, CEO of Affibody.

Affibody’s proprietary technology platform centres on highly specific, high-affinity ligands that can be designed to bind to any target protein. The company has used this to develop an in-house portfolio of cancer diagnostics and treatments, and has agreed a number of collaborations in which it is developing Affibody molecules for use by partners. In molecular imaging of cancer the partners include GE Healthcare.