MUNICH, Germany and LONDON, Oct. 11, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Trigen Holdings AG, the cardiovascular drug discovery and development company, today announced the completion of a 26.5m euro (US$31.9m) financing round with an international syndicate of new and existing investors. Wellington Partners (Munich, Germany), with insiders HealthCap (Stockholm, Sweden) and 3i (London, UK), co-led the round which included SR One (the venture investment subsidiary of GSK, Pennsylvannia, USA), Quintiles PharmaBio Development (North Carolina, USA), Quest for Growth (Leuven, Belgium), BIT (London, UK) and Merifin (Brussels, Belgium) along with other private investors.
The new funds will be used to progress Trigen's lead products in clinical development. Specifically TGN 255, Trigen's intravenous direct thrombin inhibitor (DTI), will begin during 2006 a global Phase III program to register the product for anticoagulation during haemodialysis. TGN 167, Trigen's oral DTI, will progress further in Phase I/Ib trials. PR-15, Trigen's novel anti-platelet agent, will be advanced into Phase I clinical trials.
Dr. Sanjay Kakkar, CEO of Trigen said, "In addition to being able to progress our lead products in clinical development this round is an important step in Trigen's corporate development. We have expanded our shareholder base with additional high quality specialist VC, crossover and corporate venture funds."
Wellington Venture Partner Dr. Thomas Widmann joins Trigen's Supervisory Board as a result of this financing. He commented, "Trigen's pipeline numbers among the most promising in the cardiovascular sector in Europe. This will open up enormous potential for the company in the years to come." Dr. Widmann was a co-founder and the first CEO of Actelion -- one of Europe's most successful biotech companies which globally develops and markets drugs addressing high unmet medical needs.
About Trigen
Trigen Holdings AG is a biopharmaceutical company, with operations in London and Munich and a leader in cardiovascular drug discovery and development, focusing on thrombosis and vascular dysfunction. The company was formed in March of this year through the merger of Trigen Holdings plc (London, UK) and ProCorde GmbH (Munich, Germany). Its product pipeline includes TGN 255, TGN 167 and PR-15 (which is expected to enter the clinic early in 2006). The company also has an extensive portfolio of exciting pre-clinical and discovery stage programmes targeting thrombosis, atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular pathologies. In addition, Trigen benefits from two established discovery platforms, SIGSCREEN(R) and THROMSCAN(R) which have been applied in collaborations with a number of multinational pharmaceutical companies.
About Wellington Partners
Wellington Partners, formed in 1991, invests in start-ups throughout Europe in the fields of information and communication technology and life science, and numbers among Europe's most successful early-stage investors. The Munich-based company today manages a total fund volume of 400 million euro. To date, Wellington Partners has invested in over 75 companies and has sold 23 of them at a profit, in four cases through an IPO. Serving as the lead or co-lead-investor, the company has already accompanied e.g. Chipbroker ACG or biotech player Actelion in their IPOs, and sold e.g. WLAN AG to Swisscom and the German auctioneer Alando to eBay. Further information: www.wellington-partners.com.
Notes to Editor
TGN 255 is an intravenous, small molecule, direct thrombin inhibitor (DTI) being developed to prevent thrombosis in certain in-hospital and acute care populations. Trigen recently announced successful preliminary Phase II trial data in the drug candidate's first target indication, anticoagulation during haemodialysis. The results demonstrated that TGN 255 was well tolerated in all 25 patients. Each patient underwent at least 3 dialysis sessions with TGN 255 following a baseline session with unfractionated heparin. The results suggest that TGN 255 provided effective and convenient anticoagulant cover in this setting with a high level of control and with no increase in bleeding risk. Final results are expected in Q4 2005.
TGN 167 is an orally active small molecule DTI being developed to prevent and treat thrombosis chronically in the out-patient setting. The product has completed a Phase I study in 20 healthy volunteers. TGN 167 was well tolerated at all doses and increased the thrombin clotting time, a measure of potential efficacy, with minimal effects on activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), a measure of potential bleeding risk. Trigen is currently developing controlled release formulations of TGN 167 after which the product will progress further in clinical trials.
PR-15 is a novel anti-platelet protein to treat arterial thrombosis. The agent is expected to enter Phase I trials in early 2006.