Symphogen Raises €100 Million in Private Equity Round

Jan 06 2011

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Symphogen, a private biopharmaceutical company developing superior antibody therapeutics (monoclonal, monoclonal mixtures and polyclonal) to treat cancer, infectious and autoimmune diseases, announced today that it closed a €100 million placement of Preferred Stock to a group of investors.  Novo A/S led the round. Essex Woodlands Fund VIII joined previous investments made by Funds V and VI. Together, Novo A/S and Essex Woodlands are contributing 70% of the investment, which is scheduled to occur over three equal tranches.  The Danish Pension Fund PKA also joined as a new investor.  The € 100 million raised is the largest ever financing for a private European biotech company. Symphogen intends to use the proceeds to accelerate advancement of its lead clinical oncology product Sym004 as well as its other clinical and preclinical oncology opportunities both for proprietary pursuit and partnering.

Kirsten Drejer, PhD., Symphogen Chief Executive Officer, commented,  “Our overall goal is to progress Symphogen’s early stage clinical oncology pipeline; to enhance our platform; and to move our preclinical oncology programs to proof-of-concept in humans.  Our work in infectious diseases and our partnerships with Genentech and Meiji Seika Kaisha, Ltd. remain fully funded.”

Symphogen’s Drejer will present an overview of the company’s business, financial and clinical strategies next week in San Francisco at the J.P. Morgan 29th Annual Healthcare Conference, January 10, 2011 at 10 am at the Westin St. Francis Hotel, Elizabethan Rooms C and D.  The presentation will be made available on the company’s website at www.symphogen.com.

Joining Symphogen’s Board of Directors as Chairman is Goran A. Ando, MD.

Dr. Ando commented, “We now have unique financial resources to build a sustainable and eventually profitable biopharmaceutical company. By leveraging Symphogen’s proprietary platform and its initial clinical successes, the investors believe that the company is positioned to commercialize proprietary oncology products on its own as well collaborate on new products with partners in other focus disease areas, including infectious and autoimmune disease.”

Multiple Milestones Achieved in 2010

During 2010, Symphogen announced key milestones in several of its programs, including:

•  The initiation of Phase 1 trial of Sym004 in patients with advanced solid tumors. Sym004 has been shown to exhibit superior anti-cancer efficacy in vivo in a range of tumor xenograft models as compared to marketed monoclonal anti-EGFR antibodies by a mechanism of action that is distinct from that of monoclonal antibodies;

•  An Orphan Drug designation for Rozrolimupab (Sym001) in ITP; and more recently, reacquisition of full development rights. Phase 2 data is expected to be reported late in 2011;

•  Receipt of a milestone payment from Genentech for an antibody therapeutic against an infectious disease target; and

•  Several journal publications, including an article in CANCER RESEARCH, in January 2010, reporting pre-clinical data demonstrating the superior efficacy of anti–EGFR monoclonal antibody combination Sym004.

•  Endorsements by key cancer researchers, as follows:

Dr. Josep Tabernero, M.D., Head of the Medical Oncology Department and Phase I Unit at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain commented, “There is definitely strong market need for more efficacious anti-EGFR antibody therapies. My early-stage research experience with EGFR-family inhibitors leads me to believe that there is significant promise for the Sym004 drug candidate, and we look forward to reviewing the Phase I data later this year.”

Dr. Samuel Broder, Former Director of the National Cancer Institute and a consultant to the company, noted, “Symphogen has made a major discovery in reproducibly targeting receptor tyrosine kinases for internalization and degradation. This represents a paradigm shift in science, and has deep ramifications for value creation through internal programs, pharma/biotech partnerships, or both.”

Lead Oncology Product

Symphogen’s lead oncology product candidate, Sym004, entered into Phase 1/2 development in April 2010 in the US and Europe to evaluate its safety, tolerability and efficacy for the treatment of advanced solid tumors. Sym004 is composed of two anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibodies targeting different non-overlapping EGFR epitopes. Data from the first part of this two-part trial are expected in early 2011; a Phase 2 extension of the trial should follow soon thereafter.

Commented CEO Drejer, “The US FDA’s approval to begin clinical development of a mixed antibody product represents a significant milestone for Symphogen and a pioneering achievement in next-generation antibody-based therapeutics. “
Sym004 is a recombinant IgG1 antibody product consisting of two antibodies against the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Sym004 is unique by inhibiting cancer cells by three separate and complimentary mechanisms of actions. Sym004 inhibits ligand binding, activation and subsequent downstream signaling of the EGF receptor. In addition, Sym004 induces rapid and efficient internalization and degradation of the EGF receptor and finally Sym004 induces immune-mediated killing of the cancer cells.

About Symphogen

Symphogen is developing superior antibody therapeutics (monoclonal, monoclonal mixtures and polyclonal) to help people with serious diseases and significant unmet medical needs. With its proprietary, unique Symplex™ discovery, SymSelect™ lead selection and Sympress™ manufacturing platforms, the company captures the diversity and specificity of the natural immune response in rationally designed recombinant antibody compositions. Symphogen is maturing a diversified pipeline of internal and partnered products across multiple indications including cancer, autoimmune and infectious disease. Symphogen is a private biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, with a US subsidiary in Princeton, New Jersey. For more information, please visit www.symphogen.com.

About Symphogen’s Proprietary Platforms

…Symplex™
The Symplex™ antibody discovery process begins by isolating B-lymphocytes, which are responsible for making antibodies, from naturally immune human donors displaying a high number of antibodies against a particular target antigen, such as an infectious agent. The Symplex™ technology enables the exact identity of the original donor antibody repertoire to be maintained and mimics the natural human immune response. All processes leading to the isolation of specific antibodies have been automated, making Symplex™ a fast method to generate naturally high-affinity and high-specificity drug leads.

…SymSelect™
The SymSelect™ functional lead selection platform is a unique, flexible and high throughput method for rational testing and ranking of thousands of antibody mixtures with regard to their biological activity. The SymSelect™ platform rapidly identifies optimal antibody mixtures and significantly reduces the time from antibody discovery to lead selection.

…Sympress™
Symphogen’s Sympress™ technology uses a proprietary mammalian expression platform to enable the manufacturing of target-specific, fully human recombinant polyclonal antibodies. Based on industry-standard antibody expression cell lines, Sympress™ enables consistent and reproducible manufacturing of recombinant polyclonal antibodies.

About new BOD Chairman Goran A. Ando, MD

Dr. Ando is vice chairman of the Board of Director of Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO), a Senior Advisor to Essex Woodlands and serves as the Board of Directors of Novo A/S. He was CEO of Celltech Group plc, UK, until 2004. He joined Celltech from Pharmacia, now Pfizer, US, where he was executive vice president and president of R&D with additional responsibilities for manufacturing, IT, business development and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) from 1995 to 2003. From 1989 to 1995, Dr Ando was medical director, moving to deputy R&D director and then R&D director of Glaxo Group, UK. He was also a member of the Glaxo Group Executive Committee.

About Novo A/S

Novo A/S is the holding and investment company of the Novo group, and is wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Novo A/S was formed in 1999 to actively manage the assets of the foundation. In total, Novo A/S has more than $ 20 billion under management and is an active and significant investor in life science companies.

About Essex Woodlands Health Ventures

With $2.5 billion under management, Essex Woodlands is one of the largest and oldest venture capital firms pursuing investments in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, health care services, and health information technology. Since its founding in 1985, Essex Woodlands has maintained its singular commitment to the healthcare industry and has been involved in the founding, investing, and/or management of over 100 healthcare companies ranging across all sectors, stages and geography. The team is comprised of 25 senior investment professionals with offices in Palo Alto, Houston, New York and London. For more information, please visit www.ewhv.com.

Contacts:

Dr. Kirsten Drejer, Chief Executive Officer
Symphogen A/S
Phone: +45 22 10 99 59 or +45 45 26 50 50
E-mail: [email protected]

Mr. Thomas Feldthus, Chief Financial Officer
Symphogen A/S
Phone: +45 22 10 99 57 or +45 45 26 50 50
E-mail: [email protected]

Dr. Göran Ando, Chairman of the Board
+ 44 7739 537 624
E-mail: [email protected]

Ms. Heidi Roennest, Executive Office Manager & PA to CEO Kirsten Drejer
Phone: +45 61 18 74 94
E-mail: [email protected]

Media contacts:

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