Amsterdam, The Netherlands, November 20, 2012 – Kiadis Pharma B.V., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for blood cancers, announced today that it has raised EUR 10 million in an equity financing round.
This round was led by the Company’s largest shareholder LSP (Life Sciences Partners) and supported by a large investment from DFJ-Esprit. Other investors included Alta Partners, Quest for Growth, and NOM. The financing will enable Kiadis Pharma to perform a confirmatory multi-center Phase II proof-of-concept study with its lead product ATIR™, and to prepare a pivotal Phase II/III study.
Manfred Ruediger, PhD, CEO of Kiadis Pharma, commented: “We are delighted with the enthusiastic support from existing and new investors, which attests to the exciting clinical data generated for ATIR™ so far and to the progress the Company has achieved over the last year. We are determined to advance ATIR™ in close cooperation with our clinical investigators in North America and Europe.”
About ATIR™
ATIR™ is a cell based medicinal product candidate enabling stem cell transplantations from mismatched (haploidentical) family donors to patients suffering from blood cancer. Stem cell transplantation is the only potentially curative option for many patients but a matching donor is available for only half of the patients in need. ATIR™ thus has the potential to address this unmet need and to make stem cell transplantations available for patients worldwide. Those T-cells in a haploidentical graft which would cause Graft-versus-Host-Disease (GvHD) are selectively eliminated using proprietary technology to produce ATIR™. ATIR™ is administered as an adjunctive treatment on top of a haploidentical stem cell transplantation enhancing early immune reconstitution without causing GvHD.
In a Phase I/II study with ATIR™, safety and proof of concept were provided in terms of absence of grade III/IV GvHD, reduced rates of infection, reduced Transplant Related Mortality and improved Overall Survival. ATIR™ has been granted Orphan Drug Designation both in the EU and the USA. Together, both regions represent a combined primary market potential of more than EUR 1 billion per year.
