Hypnion Secures $47.5 Million in Series B Financing.Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers BIOWIRE2K WORCESTER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 2003 Company Developing New Class of Therapies for Chronic, Debilitating de·bil·i·tat·ing adj. Causing a loss of strength or energy. Debilitating Weakening, or reducing the strength of. Mentioned in: Stress Reduction Sleep Disorders Sleep Disorders Definition Sleep disorders are a group of syndromes characterized by disturbance in the patient's amount of sleep, quality or timing of sleep, or in behaviors or physiological conditions associated with sleep. ; Large Underserved Market Could Represent $10 Billion in U.S. Sales Hypnion, Inc. today announced it raised $47.5 million in a Series B round of private equity financing Equity Financing The act of raising money for company activities by selling common or preferred stock to individual or institutional investors. In return for the money paid, shareholders receive ownership interests in the corporation. led by Forward Ventures and MPM MPM Multi-Processing Module (Apache) MPM Manufacturing Process Management MPM Milwaukee Public Museum MPM MMW (Millimeter Wave) Power Module MPM Master of Project Management (degree) Capital. With the current round of financing, Hypnion expects to enter clinical trials with several proprietary compounds that have superior preclinical efficacy and safety compared to the current market leaders in sleep and wake promotion. Other investors included Advanced Technology Ventures, S.R. One, Limited, JAFCO and Coastview Capital, along with returning Series A investors Oxford Bioscience Partners, Flagship Ventures, and GIMV. "This latest round of financing by some of the most important names in venture funding demonstrates the confidence our investors have in the viability and market potential of the products we are developing," said John Dee 
"Hypnion is poised for success given the promise of its compounds, the advantages the company has in lead optimization, and the strength of its team," said Joel Martin, Partner with Forward Ventures. "The large size of the market for sleep disorder Sleep disorder Any condition that interferes with sleep. At least 84 have been identified, according to the American Sleep Disorders Association. Mentioned in: Insomnia, Night Terrors therapies and the improvement that Hypnion's products represent over existing drugs makes Hypnion an attractive investment for us," said Nick Galakatos, General Partner with MPM Capital. More than 50 million people in the U.S. suffer from serious sleep disorders that include insomnia, sleep apnea sleep apnea, episodes of interrupted breathing during sleep. Obstructive sleep apnea is a common disorder in which relaxation of muscles in the throat repeatedly close off the airway during sleep; the person wakes just enough to take a gasping breath. , excessive daytime sleepiness excessive daytime sleepiness Sleep disorders A subjective difficulty in maintaining an awake state, and an increase ease of falling asleep when the person is sedentary; EDS may be quantified with subjective rating scales of sleepiness and circadian rhythm circadian rhythm: see rhythm, biological. circadian rhythm Inherent cycle of approximately 24 hours in length that appears to control or initiate various biological processes, including sleep, wakefulness, and digestive and hormonal activity. abnormalities such as jet-lag and shift-work disorders. Current therapies for these conditions have significant limitations when used chronically or for treating the elderly. The market leader in sleep therapeutics is currently Ambien(R), a $1 billion U.S. product, and the leader in wake-alertness is ProVigil(R), a $200 million U.S. product with rapidly growing sales. Hypnion has proprietary rights to the world's most advanced in-vivo sleep-wake testing system -- SCORE-2000(TM). Based on 15 years of research at Stanford University Stanford University, at Stanford, Calif.; coeducational; chartered 1885, opened 1891 as Leland Stanford Junior Univ. (still the legal name). The original campus was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. David Starr Jordan was its first president. and developed by Hypnion's Chief Science and Technology Officer, Dr. Dale Edgar, SCORE-2000(TM) is highly predictive of human response for many sleep-wake efficacy and side-effect parameters, significantly lowering clinical trial risk. Through SCORE, Hypnion is targeting innovative medicines designed to be highly efficacious and less prone to undesirable side effects Side effects Effects of a proposed project on other parts of the firm. than existing drugs. The patient population for sleep disorders is larger than those for anxiety or depression and represents a potential $10 billion market in the U.S. Initially the company is transforming safe, marketed compounds into sleep-wake therapeutics by designing patentable analogs that have optimal sleep-wake efficacy and minimal side effects. These compounds work on primary sleep-wake pathways that have no evidence of addiction or abuse potential. The company has three such preclinical drug programs and many more under evaluation. Under the leadership of Dr. James White, Executive Vice President of Research and Development and Dr. Dale Edgar, Hypnion has selected a clinical development candidate for its lead insomnia program and several backup compounds. The company expects to select preclinical development candidates for two other lead programs this year. Hypnion also announced today several new members of the company's board of directors: Joel Martin, Ph.D., Partner, Forward Ventures; Nicholas Galakatos, Ph.D., General Partner, MPM Capital; Jean M. George, Partner, Advanced Technology Ventures; and Edward Scolnick, M.D., former President Merck Research Laboratories. Other Board Directors include, Jonathan J. Fleming, Managing Partner, Oxford Bioscience Partners; David K. Stone, Managing Director, Flagship Ventures; Elkan R. Gamzu, Ph.D., Principal, enERGetics en·er·get·ics n. (used with a sing. verb) 1. The study of the flow and transformation of energy. 2. The flow and transformation of energy within a particular system. and John F. Dee, President and CEO of Hypnion. Hypnion's scientific advisory board, executive management team and scientific team include the world's leading experts in sleep disorders. About Hypnion Hypnion is a neuroscience drug discovery company whose objective is to become the worldwide leader in sleep-wake neurobiology Neurobiology Study of the development and function of the nervous system, with emphasis on how nerve cells generate and control behavior. The major goal of neurobiology is to explain at the molecular level how nerve cells differentiate and develop their and pharmaceuticals. This field includes both disorders of sleep (e.g., insomnia, sleep apnea, excessive daytime sleepiness) and circadian rhythm abnormalities (e.g., jet-lag, shift-work disorders), which affect over 50 million people in the U.S. alone. The Company was founded by leading scientists in the field of sleep research to enable the discovery and development of new therapies for this large and relatively untapped market. For more information visit www.hypnion.com. About Forward Ventures Forward Ventures is Southern California's largest venture fund focused exclusively on the life sciences. Forward Ventures identifies candidates for early stage investments that both accelerate the development of innovative and effective treatments for serious diseases and produce significant returns for investors. The fund's partners apply their combination of scientific and medical research, business and financial expertise and wide range of relationships to benefit its portfolio companies, participating actively in building each successful enterprise. For more information, contact Forward Ventures at 858/677-6077 or via the Web at www.forwardventures.com. About MPM MPM Capital L.P. is a global investment management firm focused solely on life sciences investing. One of the largest investment management firms dedicated to the life sciences sector, MPM Capital has offices in Boston, San Francisco, and Munich. MPM's portfolio includes early stage start-ups as well as large capitalization public companies, representing biopharmaceutical and medical device companies, encompassing platform technology as well as product-driven opportunities. The firm manages over $2.1 billion in assets through the MPM BioVentures Family of venture capital funds Venture Capital Funds An investment fund that manages money from investors seeking private equity stakes in small and medium-size enterprises with strong growth potential. Notes: and the MPM BioEquities public market funds. More information on MPM can be found at www.MPMCapital.com. |
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