05/2003 Press Release
BioAlliance Pharma Complete Third Fundraising
Round of €10M
Paris, 19th May 2003 - BioAlliance Pharma announces the successful completion of a fund raising of €10M, it’s third round of fund raising since the founding of the company in 1997. The investment round was led by Auriga Partners (Damien Salauze) who were joined by two other new investors ING (Denis Biju-Duval / Alain Parthoens), the dutch bank and insurance company and the French Co-Investment Fund (Didier Jardin). This round was supported by the majority of previous investors, two funds managed by Capricorn Venture Partners (Claude Stoufs), ABN-AMRO Capital France (Dominique Agrech), SPEF Ventures (Isabelle de Cremoux) and a number of individual investors.
Dominique Costantini, co-founder of the company with Gilles Avenard, commented after the fund raising: “Our goal is to develop innovative drugs and technologies and then bring them to an industrial partner for the marketing phase. The team at BioAlliance are all supportive of our vision for the medium and long term.”
Gilles Avenard continues: “BioAlliance focuses on Cancer and Aids and has developed a way of tackling the problems of resistance to anti-cancer and anti-viral chemotherapy”. He points out, “there is an advantage in having a portfolio of technologies and products that is constructed in such a way that the different platforms are at varying stages of maturity.”
Damien Salauze of Auriga summarises the strengths of BioAlliance in three points:
- “The company is pursuing both long term projects which have greater risk but strong upside potential (for example the development of innovative molecules that target Cancer and Aids) and medium term projects already in clinical trials (development of products based on their original drug-delivery status). The company has also developed a product to treat mycotic infections in Cancer or Aids patients which is already in Phase III clinical trials. Finally they have a technology (Phénoscript®, which measures the resistance of the HIV virus to anti-viral medicines) that is already on the US and European markets and is already generating royalties. If the strategy is successful, the most innovative products would on their own justify a flotation or an acquisition offer from large Pharma. In the short or medium term, BioAlliance is likely to be of interest to pharmaceutical laboratories interested in the acquisition of products close to registration and with large sales potential.”
- “The Company has built a network of alliances which enables the research and development to be in part out-sourced to leading French academic laboratories. This reduces the risk and allows us to diversify our research at a reduced cost while maintaining high international regulatory standards. Therefore pharmaceutical development, which is often the weaker area of many biotechnology companies, is one of BioAlliance’s strengths.”
- “BioAlliance Pharma is focussing on two areas, Cancer and Aids, which are very large markets, and where development costs and time to market are relatively reduced in comparison with some other areas”
Claude Stoufs (Capricorn Venture Partners) comments: “This most recent fundraising, which will be expanded in the coming weeks, confirms the development potential of the company and supports our decision to invest in every round since the initial fund raising in 1999.”
Denis Biju-Duval of ING says: “ BioAlliance is our first investment in the French life-sciences sector. We are encouraged by the fact that this company has a portfolio of well advanced products and a number of those could be of interest to large pharma companies in the coming months.”
Didier Jardin states that: “since 2002 when the co-investment fund was created, it has sought to be a facilitator in supporting companies in the Biotech sector. We are pleased to note that BioAlliance technologies are sourced from the best academic labs in France.“
For further information please contact :
Dominique Costantini
BioAlliance Pharma
59, Boulevard du Général Martial Valin
75015 PARIS - France
Tél : +33 1 45 58 76 00
dominique.costantini@bioalliancepharma.com
www.bioalliancepharma.com
Gilles Avenard
BioAlliance Pharma
59, Boulevard du Général Martial Valin
75015 PARIS - France
Tél : +33 1 45 58 76 00
gilles.avenard@bioalliancepharma.com
www.bioalliancepharma.com
Damien Salauze
Auriga Partners
18, Avenue Matignon
75008 PARIS - France
Tél : +33 1 53 30 07 07
salauze@aurigapartners.com
www.aurigapartners.com
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