Germany-based biopharmaceutical company Probiodrug secured €15m ($19.2m) in funding on Wednesday from investors including Biogen Idec New Ventures, a corporate venturing unit belonging to pharmaceutical corporation Biogen Idec, and biotechnology investment company BB Biotech.
Also investing in the round were Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, which acts as a division of the Edmond de Rothschild banking group, venture capital (VC) firms Life Science Partners and TVM Capital, investment holding company HBM BioVentures, investment fund Goodvent/ IBG and new investor Wellington Management, along with unnamed private investors.
Priobiodrug will use the capital to finance the continual development of its inhibitors, the lead compound of which is in clinical development to treat Alzheimer’s Disease. The results of the Phase 1 trials were released in November and showed oral dosing of the compound was safe.
The funding brings the total equity raised by Probiodrug to about $90m, including a $54m series B round closed in 2009. Additional backers include banking groups Sachsen LB, Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg (via its CFH investment subsidiary) and KfW (under its KfW Mittelstandbank subsidiary), and VC firm Bayern Kapital.