AC Immune Shapes its Future as World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer 2009:
CHF 40 million raised in successful round C
Key appointments of Chief Financial Officer and Chief Medical Director
Ecublens/Lausanne, Switzerland, January 26, 2008 - AC Immune SA, a leader in Alzheimer´s disease drug development, announced today that it has successfully completed its financing round C by raising CHF 40 million from existing investors and it has made two key appointments of Chief Financial Officer and Chief Medical Director. These developments build on the significant progress in its clinical pipeline announced in December and its recent award as Technology Pioneer 2009 by the World Economic Forum whose annual meeting takes place this week in Davos, Switzerland. Prof. Andrea Pfeifer, CEO of AC Immune
AC Immune will use these funds, along with existing cash resources, to advance at full speed its proprietary development programs in Alzheimer's disease. In Q4 2008 the company initiated the Phase II clinical trial of its small molecule drug candidate ACI-91 and it plans to start the Phase I/II clinical trial of the vaccine ACI-24 during H1 2009. The funds will also support advancement of the extensive preclinical pipeline in Alzheimer's disease and leverage existing product candidates in diagnostic and other areas. Its partner Genentech is conducting a Phase I trial with the anti-Abeta antibody under exclusive license from AC Immune. Key appointments to leadership team
The company has strengthened its Leadership Team by appointing Jean-Fabien Monin as Chief Financial Officer and Michael Wagener, MD, as Chief Medical Director. Jean-Fabien brings 14 years experience at bioMérieux where he held the position as CFO Central Europe. Michael spent 11 years at Novartis serving as Clinical Program Director for all global Phase 1-IV clinical studies in immunology. Biographies can be found at www.acimmune.com About AC Immune SA: AC Immune SA is leader in Alzheimer´s disease drug development with their corporate headquarters in Ecublens/Lausanne, Switzerland. AC Immune combines its proprietary immunology (SupraAntigenTM) and chemistry (MorphomersTM) platform technologies to generate conformation-specific Alzheimer's therapies. AC Immune develops innovative therapeutics with "best in class" potential against Alzheimer´s Disease along three axes: vaccines, antibodies and small molecules. The anti-Abeta antibody for passive immunization is partnered with Genentech and entered clinical Phase I trial in 2008. Its proprietary products ACI-91 (small molecule) entered Phase II clinical trials in 2008 and ACI-24 (vaccine) is planned to enter Phase I in 2009. These are backed by a rich portfolio of compounds at preclinical stage. Therapeutic molecules are leveraged for Alzheimer´s disease diagnostic and other CNS and non-CNS diseases. Since its foundation in 2003, the company has raised CHF64 million in three financing rounds. At the end of 2006, the company closed a more than US$300 million out-licensing agreement with Genentech.
For further information, please contact:
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Eva Schier Corporate Communications Manager Phone: +41-21-693 91 34
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www.acimmune.com Nick Miles Bell Pottinger Switzerland Phone: +41-79-678 76 26
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