Thursday, November 26, 2009
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Created by: Tornado Staff
ELARA attracts €4.6 million and former managing partner EMBL Ventures
ELARA Pharmaceuticals, a German developer of drugs for the treatment of cancers, has closed a €2.6 million Series A financing round. Lead investor in the deal was EMBL Ventures. Also joining in were Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and Wagnisfinanzierungsgesellschaft für Technologieförderung in Rheinland-Pfalz mbH (WFT). The investment ‘triggered’ an additional €2 million from the BMBF GOBio and the Biotechnologie Rhein-Neckar (BioRN) Spitzencluster programs, leading to a total funding of € 4.6 million. The funding will support the development of ELARA’s lead candidate to IND.
ELARA Pharmaceuticals spun out of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg in 2006. The company focuses on hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) antagonizing drugs for the treatment of different cancers. The HIF signaling pathway is central for regulating the transcription of genes in response to decreases of oxygen, or hypoxia. For example, it promotes the formation of blood vessels, but also stimulates growth and deregulates apoptotic processes in favor of cell survival. When it comes to cancer, HIF heavily impacts tumor growth, vascularization, formation of metastases and treatment failure.
ELARA has developed a portfolio of HIF signaling pathway inhibitors. These have demonstrated a favorable pharmacokinetic profile and low toxicity in vivo. The company’s lead product candidate is a new chemotype with exposure and potent activity against Multiple Myeloma in different cell and tissue lines. ELARA has developed two additional backup series with potential for other cancer indications. The most advanced program has reached animal efficacy and tolerability testing.
In addition to its funding success ELARA also announced the appointment of Christof Antz as chief business officer. He has experience both as a biotech entrepreneur and investor and will be heading up the company’s business development activities, including partnering with pharma companies and raising additional funds. Antz is a former managing partner of EMBL Ventures and chairman of ELARA’s board. Concluding, Gerhard Keilhauer, CEO of Lipid Therapeutics and former Head of the Preclinical Oncology at BASF Pharma/Knoll, also joined the board of ELARA.
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