US-based mutual insurance company Sham has helped Alizé Pharma, a France-based metabolic diseases and cancer group, raise €3.3m ($4.1m).
The round was joined by Octalfa, a family office, Cema Inc, a Canada-based holding company, and Thierry Abribat, Alizé’s founder and president. In 2009 Sham, Octalfa and Cema invested in a €3m round, taking the amount raised by Alizé since its founding in 2007 to €4.8m.
Alizé Pharma owns five families of patents, with a total of 34 patents and patent applications for the protection of UAG (UnAcylated Ghrelin), which tests show can treat type 2 diabetes and the Prader Willi syndrome, a rare genetic condition. Alizé Pharma launched its UAG programme five years ago in collaboration with the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam and the University of Turin, with research collaboration with US-based pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly.