TaiGen's $37M Series C Boosting Anti-Infective, Oncology Pipeline
Privately held Taiwanese firm TaiGen Biotechnology Co. Ltd. added $37 million in its latest venture round to support ongoing development of lead products for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections, stem cell mobilization and hepatitis C.
The Series C round involved the private placement of Series C stock to new and existing investors, including Boston-based MPM Capital and several Taiwan-based venture capital and government funds - the National Development Fund, YFY Group, Taiwan Sugar Corp., Yao-Hwa Glass Management Commission and Taiwan Global BioFund. In its last reported fundraising, TaiGen brought in $38 million in Series B financing in 2004.
Proceeds from the Series C round are expected to "greatly expedite our growth," Ming-Chu Hsu, president and CEO of TaiGen, stated in a press release.
Given the difficult economic environment, he added, being able to raise money offers a "strong validation" of the firm's research programs, and it results from the "significant progress we made in the past few years in our clinical development programs."
Founded in 2001, the firm, based in Taipei, Taiwan, with a subsidiary in Beijing, has focused most of its efforts on research and development, with a specific spotlight on infectious diseases, cancer and diabetes-related complications. Its most advanced compound is Nemonoxacin, a broad-spectrum nonfluorinated quinolone, which has shown a noninferiority clinical cure rate compared to levofloxacin in a Phase II study in community-acquired pneumonia and is in an ongoing Phase II study to treat MRSA in diabetic foot infections.
TaiGen licensed rights to Nemonoxacin from Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals in 2004 in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and other Southeast Asian nations.
Under the terms of that deal, TaiGen is expected to handle development through Phase II, at which time it and P&G might opt to sign a large partner for Phase III development and commercialization in the U.S. and European markets.
Beyond Nemonoxacin, the firm is working on TG-0054, a stem cell mobilizer. Designed to target the chemokine cell-surface receptor CXCR4 - a mechanism similar to Cambridge, Mass.-based Genzyme Corp.'s Mozobil (plerixafor), a CXCR4 chemokine antagonist recently approved for stem cell transplants - TaiGen's compound is in development for stem cell transplantation, chemosensitization and critical limb ischemia.
TG-0054 is finishing up a Phase I trial in the U.S., and initially is aimed at assisting stem cell transplants in cancer patients.
In preclinical development, TaiGen is advancing a protease inhibitor against hepatitis C virus.
The company also has worked in collaboration with other firms. In 2002, it signed an agreement with Italian biotech BioXell SpA to research drug targets from the G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) family to treat chronic inflammatory diseases. And a year earlier, TaiGen signed another GPCR-focused deal with San Diego-based Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc.
That deal gave the company rights to rights to Arena's Constitutively Activated Receptor Technology for certain GPCRs in exchange for $7 million up front and additional payments later. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 21, 2001.)
In other financings news:
? Cardio3 BioSciences SA, of Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium, said it raised ?7.2 million (US$9.3 million) in Series B funding to support clinical development of its lead product, C-Cure, a second-generation cell therapy designed to allow the differentiation of a patient's own cells into cardiopoietic cells to grow into new heart cells and repair heart muscle. The company intends to begin enrolling 240 patients in a trial to test C-Cure's potential in treating heart failure. The Series B round included investments from new and existing investors: Belgium-based Life Science Research Partners, Luxembourg-based venture firm Hunza Ventures II and Grifols, a Spanish holding company specializing in the pharmaceutical hospital industry. In parallel with the equity financing, Cardio3 also brought in an additional ?6.5 million in cash advances from the Walloon Region General Directorate for Economy, Employment & Research. Those funds, which bear no interest, become repayable upon the commercialization of C-Cure.
? GeneNews Ltd., of Toronto, said it accepted subscriptions for five-year 15 percent redeemable convertible secured debentures in the aggregate principal amount of $718,782, representing the second tranche of a private placement offering announced in December. At that time, the company's board authorized the sale of up to $3.45 million in aggregate principal amount of debentures. Under the terms, each purchaser of a debenture also will receive one warrant for every 25 cents of principal amount. Net proceeds from the debentures will be used for general working capital purposes, the continued marketing of the ColonSentry test in Canada and pre-launch preparation for the commercial launch of the ColonSentry test in the U.S. and Asia.