Oxigene gets $40M for pipeline work

Symphony Capital Partners is handing over $40 million to Oxigene to help the company advance its pipeline of vascular disrupting agent drug candidates for cancer and eye disease. Symphony will provide up to $25 million to Symphony ViDA newly-created company that will help accelerate OXi4503 and Zybrestat ophthalmology programs. Symphony will also invest $15 directly into Oxigene for general purposes, including oncology drug development. The group will put two members on Oxigene's board as part of the financing.

"The Symphony partnership significantly enhances OXiGENE's financial position, augments our drug development expertise, and helps accelerate the development and commercialization of our three clinical-stage VDA drug programs... Oxigene retains exclusive rights to all programs and gains further flexibility to partner its programs at a more advanced stage of development and from a position of greater strength. Furthermore, the collaboration terms transfer the development risk of the OXi4503 and ZYBRESTAT for ophthalmology programs to Symphony, as our purchase option for the Symphony ViDA assets represents a right but not an obligation to reacquire the programs," said John Kollins, COO of Oxigene.

- see Oxigene's release

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