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ActoGenix raises EUR 11,5 million in series A stock financing

21 Sep 2006 - ActoGeniX NV, a recently founded biopharmaceutical company, announced the successful closing of its Series A financing round, raising EUR11.5 million from a syndicate of life sciences investors. The transaction was co-led by GIMV (Antwerp, Belgium) and Life Sciences Partners (LSP, Amsterdam, The Netherlands), with Biotech Fund Flanders also participating. ActoGeniX is a spin-off from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute of Biotechnology (VIB) and Ghent University and was founded last June with seed capital from GIMV, VIB and individuals of the management team.
 
This financing shall allow ActoGeniX to initiate development of a pipeline of therapeutic products based on its TopAct(TM) technology platform. TopAct(TM) is a proprietary delivery system comprising living non-pathogenic micro-organisms for the oral administration of biopharmaceuticals. VIB and Ghent University, the original inventors of this technology, transferred to ActoGeniX the TopAct(TM) patent portfolio. ActoGeniX' products shall address a broad range of diseases, including gastrointestinal diseases, auto-immunity, allergy and metabolic diseases. The Company's lead product for the treatment of Crohn's disease has already been successfully tested in patients.
 
Dr. Mark Vaeck, who joined the company as CEO, brings experience in the start-up and growth of biotech businesses in Europe and the USA. In his former position, as the co-founder and CEO of Ablynx NV (Ghent, Belgium) he raised EUR30 million in equity financing and concluded several corporate deals with major pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Bernard Coulie joins ActoGeniX as Vice President Research & Development coming from Johnson & Johnson Europe where he held the position of Therapeutic Area Leader Internal Medicine. Dr. Lothar Steidler, the principal inventor of the TopAct technology, will become Director Technology Development at ActoGeniX.