Cellular Genomics Raises $22.3 Million in First Close of Series C Financing

22-Jan-2004

Cellular genomics Inc. (CGI), a chemical genetics based drug discovery and development company, announced that it has raised $22.3 million in the initial close of a Series C private equity financing. This Series C Round is being led by Lilly BioVentures, and has been joined by new investors Coastview Capital and Emerging Technology Partners, as well as existing investors including Vector Fund Management, MPM Capital, Flagship Ventures, and Connecticut Innovations. "We are very pleased to have attracted new investors with such broad knowledge of the drug discovery and development process, and are gratified by the continued strong support of our distinguished group of existing investors," said Louis Matis, M.D., president and chief executive officer of CGI. "Building on the rapid progress we have made to date, the funds raised in this round will allow us to advance our novel and exciting drug discovery programs in cancer, angiogenesis, and autoimmune/inflammatory diseases into clinical development and to achieve key clinical milestones." Upon this first close of the financing, Nick Colangelo, managing director of Lilly BioVentures, and Douglas Reed, M.D., managing director of Vector Fund Management, have joined the CGI board of directors. Existing board members include Michael Steinmetz, Ph.D. general partner of MPM Capital, Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., senior managing director and CEO of Flagship Ventures, Ron Lennox, D.Phil., partner at CHL Medical Partners, Greg Gardiner, Ph.D., former group director of R & D at Pfizer, and Louis Matis, M.D., president and CEO of CGI. "We were attracted by CGI's unique combination of breakthrough chemical genetics technologies and novel drug discovery programs," said Nick Colangelo, managing director of Lilly BioVentures. "The company has made impressive progress in leveraging their technologies for drug development, and we look forward to working with the company's outstanding team to realize the significant potential of their exciting therapeutic programs." "CGI's technology can significantly improve our understanding of the biology of kinases, which is one of the most attractive classes of targets in the pharmaceutical industry today," said Douglas Reed, M.D., managing director of Vector Fund Management. "I've been impressed with how quickly CGI has been able to identify highly potent lead candidates against several novel kinase targets, and we expect this work to lead to a number of attractive pharmaceutical partnerships over the next few years."

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