Search 

Helsinn is a privately owned pharmaceutical group with headquarters in Lugano, Switzerland, and operating subsidiaries in Ireland and the United States. Helsinn’s business model is focused on the licensing of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and nutritional supplement products in therapeutic niche areas. Helsinn Group in-licenses early-to-late stage new chemical entities, completes their development through the performance of pre-clinical /clinical studies and Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Control (CMC) development, and files and attains their market approvals worldwide. Helsinn’s products are out-licensed to its network of local marketing and commercial partners, selected for their deep in-market knowledge and know-how whom Helsinn assists and supports by providing a full range of product and scientific management services, including commercial, regulatory financial, legal, and medical marketing advice. The active pharmaceutical ingredients and the finished products are manufactured according to the highest quality, safety, and environmental standards at Helsinn’s GMP facilities in Switzerland and Ireland and supplied worldwide to its customers. Further information on Helsinn Group is available at www.helsinn.com.

Ipsen is a global specialty-driven pharmaceutical company with total sales exceeding €1.1 billion in 2011. Ipsen’s ambition is to become a leader in specialty healthcare solutions for targeted debilitating diseases. Its development strategy is supported by four franchises: neurology / Dysport®, endocrinology / Somatuline®, uro-oncology / Decapeptyl® and hemophilia. Moreover, the Group has an active policy of partnerships. R&D is focused on innovative and differentiated technological patientdriven platforms, peptides and toxins. In 2011, R&D expenditure totaled more than €250 million, above 21% of Group sales. The Group has total worldwide staff of close to 4,500 employees.

Ipsen’s shares are traded on segment A of Euronext Paris (stock code: IPN, ISIN code: FR0010259150) and eligible to the “Service de Règlement Différé” (“SRD”). The Group is part of the SBF 120 index. Ipsen has implemented a Sponsored Level I American Depositary Receipt (ADR) program, which trade on the over-the-counter market in the United States under the symbol IPSEY. For more information on Ipsen, visit www.ipsen.com.

Launched in 2007 and backed by Santé Ventures, Terapio is a biopharmaceutical company developing clinical applications based on the naturally-occurring RLIP76 protein. RLIP76 is a membrane-associated cellular transport protein that is an integral part of the cell’s normal process of removing toxic metabolites formed by oxidative insults. However, in cases of elevated oxidative stress, such as occurs with exposure to radiation and chemical toxins, the endogenous RLIP76 system can be overwhelmed, leading to cell death. Supplementing cellular levels of RLIP76 through exogenous administration of Terapio’s liposomal formulation of the RLIP76 protein promotes protection by relieving this cellular stress and allows recovery by tissue cells. This mechanism of action has broad applicability to a variety of additional clinical indications, including the treatment of the toxic side effects of therapeutic radiation and chemotherapy in oncology patients and CNS diseases – a key part of Terapio’s commercial pipeline.

For biodefense applications, Terapio has accumulated a large body of data demonstrating that the protein is effective in protecting and rescuing animals exposed to otherwise lethal exposures of whole body radiation. Therefore, the company is pursuing the prevention and treatment of Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS) as a lead indication. No effective countermeasures for ARS exist today, making this a highly unmet need.

Terapio has performed multiple 30-day survival studies with the RLIP76 protein in animal models of ARS and demonstrated that administered either before and/or after exposure to lethal doses of radiation results in greater than 90% survival of treated animals, versus 20% survival of controls.

Terapio is seeking a lead or syndicate investors to participate with Santé Ventures in Terapio’s Series B financing. Terapio plans at least $10M in Series B financing where Santé Ventures, the Series A lead investor, will participate on a pro rata basis. The use of proceeds for Series B will be primarily used for drug development, preclinical and nonclinical programs, and regulatory activities required to fund the company to the valuation inflection point associated with completing the pivotal nonhuman primate efficacy trial under the FDA Animal Rule.

Virometix is a privately held young innovative Swiss Biotech company developing a new class of vaccines, which should overcome limitations of current biological vaccines in terms of safety, efficacy, speed, stability and manufacturing cost. Virometix Synthetic Virus-Like Nanoparticle (SVLP) technology platform offers the following value propositions:

Safety. Virometix SVLP-based vaccines avoid the use of life pathogens and the safety concerns associated with the biological manufacturing processes used for conventional vaccines.

Quality. SVLPs are based on a proprietary lipopeptide self-assembly process that leads to atomically defined nanoparticles with a constant size and number of lipopeptide monomers per particle, which increases the specificity and quality of the elicited immune response and assures lot-to-lot consistency.

Efficacy. SVLPs efficiently deliver antigens to antigen presenting cells for optimal B- and T-cell responses and induce antibodies that bind with very high affinity to the native target antigen.

Convenience. SVLPs do not require sonication, refolding, extrusion or similar processes. SVLPs can be prepared by simply dissolving freeze-dried lipopeptide monomers in a buffer suitable for injection shortly before use.

The protective potential of Virometix nanoparticles has been demonstrated for various targets in in vitro and in vivo. Virometix currently develops vaccines for infectious diseases and cancer and offers collaborative research and licensing partnerships for selected vaccines in these areas, and licensing opportunities for selected areas outside Virometix core focus.