Activated Cell Therapy Closes $11.7 Million Private Financing; Changes Company Name to Dendreon Corporation.MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Sept. 2, 1997-- Activated Cell Therapy today announced the closing of a $11.7 million mezzanine financing Mezzanine Financing A hybrid of debt and equity financing. Mezzanine financing is typically used to finance the expansion of existing companies, and it is basically debt capital that gives the lender the rights to convert to an ownership or equity interest in the company if the . Major participants in the financing included new investors Kummel küm·mel n. A colorless liqueur flavored chiefly with caraway seeds. [German, from Middle High German kümel, cumin seed, from Old High German kum Investments Ltd., New York Life Insurance Company The New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC) is the largest mutual life-insurance company in the United States, and one of the largest life insurers in the world.[3] and Singapore Bio-Innovations Inc., and previous investors, Sanderling, Vulcan Northwest Ventures, HealthCare Investment Corporation and Shaw Ventures. In conjunction with the financing, the company also announced that it has changed its name to Dendreon Corporation. "This financing, which has added several significant new shareholders, will help us expand considerably our current clinical studies, which focus on the use of dendritic cell dendritic cell n. 1. A cell that has branching processes. 2. Any of the cells in the neural crest of the embryonic ectoderm having extensive processes and developing early as producers of melanin. therapy to treat a variety of cancers," said Christopher S. Henney, Ph.D., Dendreon chief executive officer. "We anticipate that this will be our last private round before undertaking an initial public offering." Dr. Henney noted that the name change from Activated Cell Therapy to Dendreon Corporation was made to reflect the company's focus on using dendritic cells, the body's most powerful potentiator of immune responses, to fight cancer and infectious diseases. The company has developed an innovative platform for the isolation and subsequent activation of peripheral blood peripheral blood Cardiology Blood circulating in the system/body dendritic cells, that allows the company to generate therapeutic agents for a number of cancers and infectious diseases. Prostate cancer prostate cancer, cancer originating in the prostate gland. Prostate cancer is the leading malignancy in men in the United States and is second only to lung cancer as a cause of cancer death in men. is the initial focus for this novel approach. In this case, Dendreon isolates the patient's dendritic cells from a unit of their blood. The dendritic cells are then activated using a proprietary prostate-specific antigen, and these activated cells are returned to the patient to stimulate a vigorous immune response specifically against prostate cancer. The company is currently conducting a series of Phase I/II studies in prostate cancer, with a Phase I trial completed and a Phase II trial underway at the University of California, San Francisco . Dendreon has also received Investigational New Drug approvals to study its dendritic cell therapy in the treatment of multiple myeloma and acquired immune deficiency syndrome Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) A viral disease of humans caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which attacks and compromises the body's immune system. (AIDS). Dendreon Corporation (formerly Activated Cell Therapy) is a leader in the development of novel cell therapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious disease. The company is a pioneer in the use of dendritic cells to stimulate immune responses and the leading clinical group focused on commercializing dendritic cells for therapeutic purposes. CONTACT: Dendreon Corporation Peter S. Garcia, 415/964-6744 or J. Kureczka Associates Joan Kureczka, 415/821-2413 |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion