CAMBRIDGE, U.K., Dec. 17, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Astex Technology, the structure-based drug discovery company pioneering the use of high throughput X-ray crystallography (HTX(tm)) technology, today announced the receipt of a further 5.7m pounds ($8.1m) from its current investors: Abingworth, Advent International, Alta Partners, GIMV and Oxford Bioscience Partners. These additional funds will enable the company to continue building its structure-based drug discovery technologies for the identification of novel small-molecule therapeutics.
The 5.7m pound financing takes private funds raised this year to a total of 28.4m pounds ($40.3m), following the initial investment of 22.7m pounds in May 2001.
"Astex has made significant progress in a short period of time, as exemplified by their recent discovery of the first structure of a human cytochrome P450," said Dr. Stephen Bunting, Director of Abingworth and Chairman of the Board at Astex. "The strong demand from existing investors, stimulated by Astex' achievements, has resulted in this larger-than-planned top-up financing."
Timothy J. Haines, Chief Executive of Astex said, "We are delighted with the continued support we are receiving from our investors, which provides further endorsement of the enormous potential that Astex offers. These funds put us in a strong position to rapidly progress the novel drug discovery approaches being developed at Astex."
Astex Technology is a structure-based drug discovery company pioneering the use of high throughput X-ray crystallography for the rapid identification of novel drug candidates. The company's unique structural screening approach utilizes protein crystal structures to detect the binding of drug fragments, which are then optimized into potent lead compounds. Facilitating this approach is the company's integrated drug discovery platform of HTX(tm) technologies, which covers all aspects of structure-based research, including protein production, crystallization, structure determination, bioinformatics and computational and medicinal chemistry. Astex is focusing its drug discovery approaches on protein targets from families and/or pathways, including kinases, phosphatases and proteases implicated in human disease. Astex has two research agreements with Janssen Research Foundation, a division of Johnson & Johnson, and a structural biology research agreement with AstraZeneca focused on solving novel cytochrome P450 crystal structures.
Notes for Editors:
Astex's investors are Abingworth Management, Advent International, Alta Partners, GIMV and Oxford Bioscience Partners.
Abingworth was founded in 1973 and is a key player among life science venture capital investors on both sides of the Atlantic. Specializing in early-stage life science and biomedical companies, Abingworth has funds under management of some $250 million. The company has backed more than 50 life science firms, most of which have gone public or been acquired. Abingworth is a strongly science driven organization and has the resources and approach to assist seed stage start-up companies and take them beyond the IPO stage. Since its formation in 1973, Abingworth has raised nine funds, four of which are entirely dedicated to life sciences.
Advent International is a leading international private equity firm, with more than $4.5 billion under management and offices in 16 countries. The company invests in both early stage venture capital and later-stage private equity opportunities in the USA, Europe, Asia and Latin America. The focus is on high-potential companies in selected growth industries, including telecommunications, media, software, electronics, business services, health care and life sciences. Since founding in 1984, Advent International has financed over 500 companies, more than 125 of which have completed initial public offerings. In the past decade, the portfolio companies have raised over $8 billion through IPOs and high-yield offerings.
Alta Partners is an international venture capital firm investing in life sciences and information technology companies. Since its inception in 1996, the firm has raised in excess of $1.0 billion to fund promising new ventures in biotechnology, biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, communication technologies, internet infrastructure and enterprise software. Today, there are over 120 companies in the Alta portfolio in the US and Europe.
GIMV NV was established in 1980 and has been listed on the Brussels stock exchange since June 1997. GIMV provides risk capital for innovation (venture capital) and for expansion (growth financing and buyout) to around 250 industrial, commercial and service companies. GIMV operates from Flanders through an international network in Europe, the USA and Asia.
Oxford Bioscience Partners (OBP) is a life science venture capital firm that provides equity financing and management assistance to start-up and early-stage, entrepreneurial-driven companies in the bioscience and healthcare industries. The General Partners of OBP currently manage venture funds with combined committed capital or more than $400 million. The General Partners of Oxford Bioscience Partners have achieved considerable success and above average returns in the bioscience/ healthcare industries over the past 15 years through investments in more than 100 companies.
Should you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to contact Noonan/Russo Ltd. on +44 (0)20 7726 4452.