Wellington Partners said it is the lead investor in a $23.7 million Series C financing round for Genticel which was closed this week. Wellington Partners committed about $5 million and the remaining came from existing shareholders, including EdRIP, IDInvest, InnoBio, IRDI and Amundi. The funds will be used primarily to finance a phase II program for the Toulouse, France-based HPV- vaccine developer’s lead product ProCervix.
PRESS RELEASE
Wellington Partners leads € 18.2 million financing round at Genticel
First investment of new Wellington Partners IV Life Science Fund
Financing for phase II program of ProCervix, a therapeutic HPV 16/18 vaccine
Dr. Rainer Strohmenger will join Genticel Board
Munich, April 24, 2013. Wellington Partners today announced that it acted as lead investor in a € 18.2 million series C financing round at Toulouse/France-based therapeutic HPV- vaccine developer Genticel which was closed earlier this week. Wellington Partners committed € 4 million to this financing, the remaining € 14.2 million were provided by the existing shareholders including EdRIP, IDInvest, InnoBio, IRDI and Amundi. The funds will be used primarily to finance a phase II program for Genticel’s lead product ProCervix. Dr. Rainer Strohmenger, General Partner at Wellington Partners, will join the Supervisory Board of Genticel.
Genticel is developing therapeutic vaccines against HPV infection with high-risk types, which in case of persistent infection may lead to cervical cancer, the second most frequent type of cancer in women. About 250,000-300,000 women die from cervical cancer every year, typically at a relatively young age. It is assumed that 80% of all women become infected with HPV once in their lives and more than 300 million women at the age of 25 years and over carry an HPV infection, thereof approx. 50% with a high-risk type. The most predominant high-risk types are HPV 16 and 18, which are the cause for 70% of all cervical cancers. With more than 140 million
Pap tests and a quickly increasing, double-digit million number of HPV tests performed every year in the developed countries, the diagnostic market in cervical cancer screening is already well established. In 2006 the first preventive vaccines against HPV 16/18 infections were introduced into the global markets and became commercially very successful products. However, there is still no effective treatment available against established infection with high-risk HPV types. ProCervix, Genticel’s lead product, is a proprietary, first in class therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of women infected with HPV types 16 or 18 who have not yet developed high-grade cervical lesions or cancer. The Phase Ib trial (47 patients) displayed no dose limiting toxicity and no patient drop-out. ProCervix induced a dose-dependent immune response as well as viral clearance in a substantially larger percentage of patients as compared to placebo. “The field of cervical cancer screening and treatment is an area in medicine that we know very well from our involvement in mtm laboratories AG, which we successfully sold to Roche 20 months ago”, commented Dr. Rainer Strohmenger.
“We are highly excited about Genticel’s lead project ProCervix, which has demonstrated in the phase I clinical trial that it can cure infections with high-risk HPV types 16 and 18 in 3 out of 4 treated patients, thus effectively preventing progression to high-grade cervical disease. There are more than 90 million women in the world infected with HPV types 16 and 18 who could benefit from this treatment, making this market a clear blockbuster opportunity.”
Benedikt Timmerman, founder and CEO of Genticel, added: “The commitment from Wellington Partners, one of the most reputable life science investors in Europe, is further endorsement of Genticel’s therapeutic HPV vaccine development. The Wellington life science team members are bringing outstanding clinical development and medical expertise to our shareholder base, both from therapeutic vaccines and from cervical cancer screening. They have immediately understood the unique properties of our lead product ProCervix. This investment will allow us to take ProCervix through a multi-center multi-national phase II program. It will further strengthen our database supporting the efficacy and safety of this highly novel, curative treatment for high-risk HPV-infections.”
About Wellington Partners
Wellington Partners is among the most successful pan-European Venture Capital firms. With more than € 800 million under management and offices in Munich, London and Zurich, Wellington Partners invests in start-up companies throughout Europe that have the potential to become global leaders in the areas of digital media, resource efficiency and life sciences.
Since 1998, Wellington Partners has invested in more than 100 companies, including publicly listed firms like Actelion, Evolva, Wavelight (acquired by Alcon) and Xing as well as privately held companies like AyoxxA, Grandis (acquired by Novartis), immatics, implanet, invendo medical, mtm laboratories (acquired by Roche), Oxagen, Oxford Immunotec, Quanta, Sapiens, Sensimed, Supersonic Imagine, Symetis and Spotify. For further information, please visit www.wellington-partners.com.
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