$16.5 Million Investment in CoLucid Pharmaceuticals Represents Milestone for Indiana Future Fund, BioCrossroads.INDIANAPOLIS -- Three Future Fund Venture Capital Firms Name Location Founding date Managing Partners/Directors Specialty Capital managed 5AM Ventures Menlo Park, CA; Waltham, MA 2002 John Diekman, PhD (managing partner), Scott Rocklage, PhD (managing partner), Andrew Schwab (managing partner) life sciences $200M [1] Participate in Deal; Significant Outside Venture Capital Leverages Future Fund Financing When the Indiana Future Fund was formed by the BioCrossroads initiative in 2003, its mission was to help expand Indiana's venture capital activity. In an exciting development, BioCrossroads announced today a $16.5 million Series A financing in CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a new Indianapolis-based biopharmaceutical company. The company has been formed with a novel clinical stage migraine molecule licensed from Eli Lilly and Company Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) is a global pharmaceutical company and one of the world's largest corporations. Eli Lilly's global headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the United States. . In addition, CoLucid has acquired a novel chemistry platform from Sention, Inc. Pappas Ventures seed funded and formed the company. The Series A financing was co-led by New Jersey-based Domain Associates and Pappas Ventures with other investors including Triathlon triathlon, athletic event made up of three contests. Since the 1970s the term has come to mean especially a race combining swimming, bicycling, and running. A notable example is Hawaii's Ironman Triathlon, held since 1978, which features a 2. Medical Ventures and Pearl Street Venture Funds. The Series A funding will be used to further progress the migraine molecule through clinical trials and to advance the preclinical chemistry platform to a point of having a clinic-ready program. "This is a proud day in BioCrossroads' drive to build Indiana's 'next-generation' life sciences economy," said David Johnson David Johnson may refer to:
Johnson continued, "We have a strong history of neurosciences research at some of our leading life sciences institutions, including Lilly and the IU School of Medicine. BioCrossroads is helping to create an environment where small, emerging companies have the resources they need to grow. And because of our existing life sciences industry, we have the talent to run these businesses. CoLucid will have the capital, the talent and the market access it needs to thrive and grow in Indiana for years to come." "We have a long-term commitment to neuroscience neu·ro·sci·ence n. Any of the sciences, such as neuroanatomy and neurobiology, that deal with the nervous system. neuroscience the embryology, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology of the nervous system. research at Lilly and the formation of an Indiana-based venture such as this facilitates capturing the full value of our discovery pipeline by leveraging excesses in internal innovations," said Darryle Schoepp, Vice President of Neuroscience Discovery Research at Lilly. The Indiana Future Fund is a $73 million fund-of-funds focused on early-stage Indiana life sciences investment opportunities, and is managed by Credit Suisse The Credit Suisse Group (SWX:CSGN, NYSE: CS) is a financial services company, headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. It is the second-largest Swiss bank, behind UBS AG. . The Indiana Future Fund was organized by BioCrossroads, Indiana's life sciences initiative. Pappas Ventures, Pearl Street Venture Funds and Triathlon Medical Ventures represent three of six venture capital firms that have received investments from the Indiana Future Fund. Burrill & Company, EDF (algorithm) EDF - earliest deadline first. Ventures and Spring Mill Venture Fund are the other Future Fund firms. "The decision to capitalize on Cap´i`tal`ize on` v. t. 1. To turn (an opportunity) to one's advantage; to take advantage of (a situation); to profit from; as, to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes s>. synergies between Sention and the Lilly migraine compound was an extremely smart business decision," said Dr. August Watanabe, chairman of the BioCrossroads Board of Directors and former executive vice president of science and technology at Lilly and former president of Lilly Research Laboratories Lilly Research Laboratories is the organizational name of the global pharmaceutical research and development organization of Eli Lilly and Company, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical corporations. . "It will allow CoLucid to continue to grow and capitalize on the pipeline of proprietary compounds Sention has developed to treat central nervous system disorders Nervous system disorders A satisfactory classification of diseases of the nervous system should include not only the type of reaction (congenital malformation, infection, trauma, neoplasm, vascular diseases, and degenerative, metabolic, toxic, or deficiency ." In the last 10 years, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the PriceWaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree (TM) Survey, there has only been one other first round, or Series A, biotech investment in Indiana. That deal was worth approximately $7.6 million. The CoLucid deal, at $16.5 million, is more than double that amount. The Midwest has seen 61 Series A biotech investment deals in the last 10 years, averaging just under $4.6 million. National statistics during the same time frame indicate an average Series A biotech investment deal of $6.4 million. The survey defines biotech as developers of technology promoting drug development, disease treatment, and a deeper understanding of living organisms. It includes human, animal, and industrial biotechnology The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking. Industrial biotechnology (known mainly in Europe as white biotechnology products and services. Also included are biosensors, biotechnology equipment, and pharmaceuticals. Another interesting part of this deal is the participation of Domain Associates. Over its 20 year history, Domain Associates has been involved in the formation of over 170 companies and has $1.4 billion in capital under management. The firm has offices in California and New Jersey. From the beginning, the Future Fund identified the need to explore investment opportunities between Indiana Future Fund and non-Future Fund venture capital firms to make the kinds of large investments that typify the capital needs of emerging life sciences companies. The inclusion of a top-tier national fund like Domain Associates is a critical step in leveraging the Indiana Future Fund monies with outside capital to build new and emerging Indiana-based life sciences companies. "CoLucid represents an early 'proof of concept' for the Indiana Future Fund," said Michael Arpey, Credit Suisse Managing Director. "While this deal took a year to pull together, that's an extremely short period of time for a deal of this magnitude. It also proves the wisdom in how the fund was designed, which was to leverage both local knowledge and national perspective in the marketplace and to make Indiana a net importer of venture capital. Additionally, all the firms involved in this deal will take an active role in the development of CoLucid. This is a great model for other Future Fund deals." Said Joshua Salisbury, Vice President of Corporate Business Development for Lilly and Chairman of the Advisory Board, Indiana Future Fund, "The business of venturing is about connecting people, ideas, and capital. CoLucid brings together a Lilly asset with Indiana Future Fund and other capital, with support from BioCrossroads. We certainly believe that this can serve as a template for future innovation in Indiana." "This investment reinforces the fact that Indianapolis is a premier location for new and emerging life sciences businesses," said Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson Barton "Bart" Peterson (born June 15, 1958 to parents Howard and Lori) has been mayor of the U.S city of Indianapolis, Indiana, since 2000. A Democrat, he defeated Sue Anne Gilroy 52 percent to 41 percent in 1999 to become Indianapolis' first Democratic mayor since 1967. . "As our recent ranking as one of the top five cities in the nation for entrepreneurs indicates, CoLucid is a welcome addition to our already impressive -- and growing -- list of life sciences companies." About BioCrossroads BioCrossroads is Indiana's life science initiative, a public-private collaboration that supports the region's research and corporate strengths while encouraging new business development. With government, industry and academic resources aligned to accelerate business growth, the region is fertile ground for investors and entrepreneurs to build new ventures. Learn more at www.biocrossroads.com. To learn more about the Indiana Future Fund, visit www.indianafuturefund.com. About CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CoLucid Pharmaceuticals is a development stage biopharmaceutical company developing and discovering therapeutics that will be used to treat neurological neurological, neurologic pertaining to or emanating from the nervous system or from neurology. neurological assessment evaluation of the health status of a patient with a nervous system disorder or dysfunction. dysfunctions. CoLucid develops pharmaceuticals with novel mechanisms of action to treat migraine headaches Migraine Headache Definition Migraine is a type of headache marked by severe head pain lasting several hours or more. Description Migraine is an intense and often debilitating type of headache. . The company also possesses a robust chemistry platform that will produce unique bifunctional bi·func·tion·al adj. 1. Having two functions: bifunctional neurons. 2. Chemistry Having or involving two functional groups or binding sites: neuromodulators to treat indications such as Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (ăls`hī'mərz, ôls–), degenerative disease of nerve cells in the cerebral cortex that leads to atrophy of the brain and senile dementia. . |
|
||||||||||||||||||

Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion