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New Leaf Venture Partners Announces $12 Million Financing in
Tioga Pharmaceuticals NEW YORK & MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 9, 2006--New Leaf Venture Partners (NLV Partners) announced today that it has invested in a $24 million Series A private equity financing in Tioga Pharmaceuticals Incorporated. Tioga Pharmaceuticals is engaged in the development of novel therapies for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. Tioga is developing asimadoline, a proprietary small molecule, for treating irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and post operative ileus. NLV invested $12 million in the Series A financing, which was led by Forward Ventures. BB Biotech Ventures II also participated in the financing. The capital will be used to fund a 600 patient phase IIb clinical trial for irritable bowel syndrome and a 130 patient phase IIa trial for post operative ileus. Dr. Allen Mangel, Tioga's Chief Medical Officer and the former worldwide head of gastrointestinal clinical development at GlaxoSmithKline, stated: "I am excited to be leading the clinical development of asimadoline. I believe this is the most promising medicine in development today for the treatment of IBS." Asimadoline is a proprietary small molecule therapeutic discovered and developed by Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany. Tioga has acquired all rights to asimadoline from Merck. The compound has been tested in nearly 800 subjects and demonstrated a promising safety profile. It has shown encouraging clinical efficacy for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome and has the potential for treating other gastrointestinal diseases. In connection with the financing, James Niedel, M.D., Ph.D., a managing director at NLV Partners, has joined Tioga's board of directors. Dr. Niedel commented, "Tioga was formed to address diseases with broad markets and clear, unmet medical needs, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), which affects 70 million people in the United States and Europe. Early clinical data suggest that asimadoline is safe, with enormous potential to improve the lives of patients with this disease. We at New Leaf look forward to working with Dr. Allen Mangel, Tioga's Chief Medical Officer and one of the world's leading experts in IBS, to complete its clinical development." About NLV Partners NLV Partners is a life science-dedicated venture capital firm with offices in Menlo Park and New York. Founded by the former members of Sprout Group's Healthcare Technology venture team, NLV Partners invests primarily in companies focused on clinical-stage biopharmaceutical products, early-stage medical devices, and molecular diagnostics. In addition, the NLV Partners team will continue to manage the existing $800 million healthcare technology portfolio of Sprout Group. Contact Burns McClellan, New York on Behalf of NLV Partners Justin Jackson 212-213-0006 ext. 327 jjackson@burnsmc.com |