SR One Co-Leads Euro 18 million investment in Octoplus
OctoPlus (Leiden, The Netherlands), a drug delivery and development company announced today that it has raised Euro 18.25 million (US$ 23.85 million) in a second financing round from an international group of investors. The investment was led by Life Sciences Partners II B.V. (LSP; Amsterdam, The Netherlands) and S.R. One, Ltd. (West Conshohocken, PA, USA). Other investors participating in this round of financing are Innoven Partenaires (Paris, France), Fortis Private Equity (Brussels, Belgium) and SurModics, Inc. (Minneapolis, MN, USA). Fortis Bank acted as OctoPlus' exclusive financial advisor and placement agent in the financing.The funds will be used primarily to further expand OctoPlus� portfolio of products based on its proprietary drug delivery platforms OctoDEX� and PolyActive�. These platforms enable development of novel controlled release formulations for established and experimental biopharmaceutical drugs. Controlled release formulations reduce injection frequency and increase patient comfort and compliance. They can also improve safety and efficacy of a drug by avoiding large fluctuations of drug levels in the blood and achieving prolonged high concentrations in target organs and tissues. Products in development at OctoPlus address a multi-billion US$ market opportunity and are amongst others controlled release formulations for recombinant human growth hormone and interferon-alpha.
�We are very pleased with both the level of funding as well as the high quality of investors participating in this financing round�, commented Joost Holthuis, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of OctoPlus. �This funding allows us to further expand our proprietary product pipeline and is a major step in the next growth phase of OctoPlus�.
Ren� Kuijten, M.D., Ph.D., Partner at Life Sciences Partners, commented, �LSP is very pleased with its role as lead investor in OctoPlus� second financing round. The company has made a smooth transition from a contract research organization to a full-fledged drug development company. We are very pleased to become involved with a company with a talented and experienced management team, with a very promising technology platform and a basket of promising product candidates. All of us are committed to building a premier biotechnology company.�
Philip Smith, Ph.D., General Partner at S.R. One commented, "OctoPlus is poised to become a leader in the development of sustained release drug delivery technology and S.R. One is excited to be a co-lead in this financing with LSP. We are looking forward to working with Joost Holthuis and his team".
About OctoPlus OctoPlus is a product-oriented drug delivery company that focuses on the development of innovative drug delivery systems to build a pipeline of product candidates. OctoPlus is also an internationally established provider of pharmaceutical development services and GMP manufacturing for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The company is located in Leiden, The Netherlands.
About LSP Life Sciences Partners (LSP) is a leading European Life Science venture capital fund, providing private equity capital to early stage life sciences companies. Based in Amsterdam and Munich, LSP�s management has focused for over 15 years on investing in human life sciences. LSP�s management has invested in more than 35 Biotech start-ups, many of which went public or merged with leading companies in the industry. By carefully balancing risks, and by adding value as lead investor and board member of most portfolio companies, LSP�s management has established itself among the top tier players in the industry. With a strong management team and an extensive scientific and financial network in place, LSP currently has � 170 million in capital under management (www.lspvc.com).
About S.R. One S.R. One, Limited is an evergreen venture capital fund with $200 million under management, established in 1985. It is a wholly owned affiliate of GlaxoSmithKline, one of the world�s leading health care companies. S.R. One, Limited, invests in companies at all stages of development that engage in all aspects of drug discovery and development, including biologics, and platform tools and technologies. For more information on S.R. One, Limited, its staff and portfolio companies, please visit the company�s website at www.srone.com.
For further information please contact: Joost Holthuis, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer
Tel+ 31 (0) 71 5244044 Email: holthuis@octoplus.nl Website: www.octoplus.nl
20 January 2005
2008 SR One Ltd