AACHEN, Germany, June 27, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- PAION GmbH today announced a Euro 4.9 million grant, awarded over a period of four years, by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia for the development of new therapeutic protein production capabilities. This award, together with a second grant given in 2001 from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), brings a total public funding of Euro 7.7 million to PAION. Previously, the Company has raised Euro 32.4 million from internationally renowned venture capital groups.
The grant from the Ministry of Economy, Small Businesses, Energy and Traffic of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia will be used for the development of disposable and high performance protein production systems. This will enable PAION to undertake large-scale manufacture of its pipeline of therapeutic proteins. The BMBF grant, approximately Euro 2.8 million for a period of five years, is part of a BMBF program on Sustainable Bioproduction, represented by the Projekttraeger Juelich (PTJ) with the aim of expressing therapeutic proteins in plants.
"The additional funding will enable us to conduct the large scale production of our therapeutic proteins for the treatment of stroke and transform PAION into a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company," commented Dr. Wolfgang Soehngen, CEO and Managing Director of PAION. "This coincides with the successful production of the first batch of serum-free GMP protein, in conjunction with SyncoBio Partners in Amsterdam, to be used in upcoming clinical trials."
PAION aims to establish high quality and cost effective therapeutic protein production - a key success factor for the company's future. PAION's lead compound, Desmoteplase, is a recombinant thrombolytic protein, currently in a global Phase II trial for acute ischaemic stroke. Further highly promising recombinant therapeutic proteins are in preclinical investigations. PAION will constantly generate novel protein drug candidates from its Mechanism Based Comparative Genomics discovery platform and therefore requires an established and cost effective production infrastructure to be independent from large pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies.
About PAION GmbH
PAION is a biopharmaceutical company based in Aachen, Germany, dedicated to the development of innovative therapeutic products for the treatment of stroke. With core competencies in clinical development and international drug registration, PAION is ideally equipped to successfully bring a unique portfolio of stroke products to market based on novel and creative development strategies.
PAION's lead product, the thrombolytic Desmoteplase, is set to fulfil the unmet needs of the acute ischemic stroke market with the successful conclusion of its current global clinical plan. Similarly, the neuroprotective PN-05/MLN 519, being developed in collaboration with the biotechnology leader Millennium, may offer promise as a new treatment paradigm for the same indication.
PAION's development capabilities are supported by a protein-based research strategy, the goal of which is to feed the pipeline with a continuous stream of novel product candidates.
Driven by an experienced international management team and supported by leading investors, PAION is set for rapid global growth and to fulfil its vision of being the "PAIONeer in Stroke."