Second-round funding
NovImmune SA of Geneva, Switzerland, announced the closing of a CHF 58 million (€37 million) second round private financing. The round was led by a new investor, BZ Bank, along with another new investor, Pictet Private Equity Investors SA. Existing investors including Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch, Novartis Venture Fund and Aravis Venture followed on.
NovImmune’s lead product NI-0801 is in Phase IIa trials, and the company will use the new money to advance this and other products further into clinical development. NI-0801, which targets cell migration mechanisms that are relevant to a number of autoimmune diseases is presently in preclinical development and GMP manufacturing. A second product will begin preclinical development in the course of 2007.
The company also has a collaboration with Swiss biotech Serono SA, covering two fully human monoclonal antibodies, NI-0401, an anti-CD3 antibody in Phase IIa clinical trials in Crohn’s disease, and NI-0501, an anti-interferon-gamma antibody, which is scheduled to begin clinical trials in the near future. Serono has an option to acquire rights for the development and commercialisation of the two antibodies following completion of Phase IIa clinical trials.
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